- The world's most successful chess player just became the highest ranked player in the world's largest fantasy soccer league.
- On Sunday, Magnus Carlsen jumped to first in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game, which has 7.2 million players.
- The 29-year-old changed his Twitter bio to: "World Chess Champion. The highest ranked chess player in the world. Current (live) #1 Fantasy Premier League player."
- Carlsen is the world's most successful chess champion, a chess Grandmaster, and current world champion, and puts his fantasy success down to a mix of luck and data analysis.
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The world's most successful chess champion just breezed to the top of the table in the world's most popular fantasy soccer game.
Magnus Carlsen announced on Sunday that he was first in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game, which has 7.2 million players, after he benefitted from two goals from his captain, Liverpool FC attacker Mohammed Salah.
His team, called Kjell Ankedal, is currently made up of a mix of Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, and Leicester City players, who've helped him get 1159 points so far.
He's just one point ahead of the team of former Liverpool player Nick Tanner, who he overtook on Sunday.
The 29-year-old changed his Twitter bio to: "World Chess Champion. The highest ranked chess player in the world. Current (live) #1 Fantasy Premier League player."
Fans have pestered Carlsen, who is the current World Chess Champion, to reveal his secret, but he claims it is simply part luck, part data analysis.
"Since a lot of people are asking about my #FPL strategy, mine is the not so groundbreaking one of part stats and part gut feeling. Part @Opta-mist and part optimist. Patent pending," he tweeted on December 9.
Carlsen was referring to Opta, a sports data company.
Carlsen is widely regarded as one of the best chess players in history, and was a child prodigy.
"In chess, you know when you've done well and when you've done poorly, but it's hard for me to take praise for fantasy league, when I've just been lucky," Carlsen told Norwegian TV in October when he first entered the top three places.
Bio needed an update pic.twitter.com/Wc7z0FUVuj
- Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) December 14, 2019