Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen is the current World Chess Champion, World Rapid Chess Champion and World Blitz Chess Champion.
He’s also something else: Dr. Drunkenstein.
According to a piece on Slate, that’s the name Carlsen, 29, has been using to compete in and dominate speed chess tournaments across the internet. Though he won’t always do it, Carlsen often livestreams his matches across a variety of platforms and gives his audience a look into what he’s thinking while he plays.
When he livestreamed the matches for others to see in the past, Carlsen could sometimes be seen drinking Coronas while speaking in Norwegian with his friends and singing along with rap music.
But, more recently, Carlsen has ditched the Dr. Drunkenstein name — and the Coronas — and has instead been using the names “DamnSaltyThatSport,” “manwithavan” and “DrNykterstein” while trolling his opponents with opening sequences that are meant to showboat, not succeed.
For chess fans, getting the opportunity to see Carlsen do what he does best in real-time is a special opportunity that a YouTube commenter compared to “watching Bach compose a fugue, or watching Shakespeare write a sonnet.”
“It’s a gift enough, simply being able to watch a world champion play endless hours of fast-paced chess,” according to Slate. “But hearing Carlsen think out loud is a rare treat in the world of sports.”
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