Salah challenges Carlsen to a chess match

Football star Mohamed Salah says he is addicted to chess, and looks forward to battling it out with world number one Magnus Carlsen.

In an interview with Sky Sports , Salah was asked if he played any other sports when he was younger. The Liverpool forward said he used to play paddle tennis, tennis and golf. "But now I'm addicted to chess, and I play online every day with other people anonymously," he revealed.

Striker Mohamed Salah in an interview with Sky Sports in November 2023. Photo: SS

Salah, 31, is a mainstay of Liverpool, winning the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League in 2020. He was the Premier League's best player in the 2017-2018 season, won the Golden Boot three times and received the King of Assists award once. The Egyptian striker was also Africa's best player in the 2011-2020 decade.

Salah said he uses a chess account with his real name, followed by a series of numbers. Many people have messaged his account privately and asked if this is the real Mohamed Salah. Salah said it is, but those people do not believe him and think he is lying. The football star seemed amused and laughed continuously when telling this story to Sky Sports .

When asked what his chess level was, Salah said: "1,400". The host replied: "Is that your ranking in the world?" Salah laughed and said: "No, no. 1,400 is a coefficient, and that number is nothing compared to the world. And the player ranked 1,400 in the world is quite good".

Salah is not wrong, because the player currently ranked 1,400th in the world is International Master (IM) Paulo Bersamina (Philippines), with Elo 2,428. Elo is a rating of a player's ability, based on results with others. A player with an Elo of 1,400 will only be outside the world's Top 100,000. Not to mention that an online rating like Salah's is usually lower than Elo.

Salah added that he would one day play chess with five-time world champion Carlsen. The host suggested that Salah might have the chance, but he replied: "No one has a chance against Carlsen."

Carlsen, 33, has been the world's number one for over 12 years. He holds the record for the highest Elo rating of 2,882, as well as an unbeaten streak of 125 games. Carlsen is also passionate about football, a fan of Real Madrid and was once the world's number one in Fantasy Football. After Salah's interview, Carlsen posted a waving hand emoji on X , then mentioned Salah's name.

Salah said no one else in Liverpool knows how to play chess, but he may be wrong. In 2018, Salah's Liverpool teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold played a friendly match with Carlsen, and was checkmated in 17 moves. Arnold said he has played chess since he was a child, and "it's hard to find someone more passionate about chess than me".

Xuan Binh

Source link