Magnus

Magnus (2016) is a Norwegian documentary you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Benjamin Ree. The subject is Magnus Carlsen: grandmaster at thirteen, world number one while still a teenager, world chess champion at twenty-three after defeating Viswanathan Anand in Chennai.

Most top-level players are shaped by strict academies and grinding regimens. Carlsen's path ran through his living room. His father Henrik built an environment where chess was something you played because you loved it, not because a schedule demanded it. Coach Espen Agdestein watched a kid's instincts outpace any formal system. Ree assembled decades of home video and archival footage into an unusually close portrait of a prodigy who arrived at the peak without being hollowed out on the way there. The championship match against Anand plays like a thriller without needing any help.

Stream Magnus (2016) online on iFILM.