MAGNUS
Is this documentary about the ‘Mozart of chess’ a checkmate or a blunder? Matt Jarvis finds out
Dir: Benjamin Ree | Arrow Films | Documentary |Digital, VoD, Blu-Ray, DVD | 75 minutes | Age: U | arrowfilms.co.uk
“ It’s hard to be cool when I play chess,” says a young Magnus Carlsen within the opening minutes of the new Benjamin Ree documentary that bears his name.
Shot over a decade, the film follows Carlsen as he works his way up from a nervous newcomer to become the youngest-ever world number one chess player and – aged just 22 – World Chess Champion. Yet, as the movie’s title suggests, Ree focuses more closely on the man behind the pieces than his achievements on the board.
The most prominent aspect of this is the pressure mounted upon Carlsen – by his father, who first encourages the hobby and is shown watching intensely from the sidelines during major matches; by classmates, who bully him for his hobby; and by various opponents, with World Champion at the time Vishy Anand portrayed as specialising in the psychological aggression of chess, refusing to shake hands or make eye contact with Carlsen when they ultimately meet in the 2013 finals.