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On 30 November 2016, after three tense weeks of play, and a nail-biting, sudden death playoff, Magnus Carlsen won his third World Chess Championship after defeating his Russian opponent, Sergey Karjakin in New York.

A Grandmaster at 13 and the World Champion at 23, Carlsen has taken the chess world by storm. To date he is the highest ranked player in the game – outranking legendary players such as Kasparov and Karpov.

From socially awkward child to good-looking posterboy for the game, the Norwegian’s rise to dominance has been a seismic shock to the chess world. Hailing from a nation with no pedigree in the game, and relying on an intuition rather than the computer-driven, research method of his peers, Carlsen’s meteoric career was entirely unlikely.

Now a documentary feature film, Magnus, tells the Cinderella story of this improbable superstar. Here the film’s director, Benjamin Ree, speaks to ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Arts about charting the life of the chess world’s biggest name.

Originally published 25 November and updated 31 November 2016.

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