Play chess against Mo Salah? I would love that

The football-mad world No 1 on the players he'd like to face, why he feels he has never played the perfect gameand his retirement plans

- Sean Ingle

One small measure of how Magnus Carlsen has made chess cool came earlier this month, when the world's best player walked through a London cafe tailed by school kids repeatedly shouting one word - "Magnus! Magnus!" as they attempted to grab selfies on the run. Yet such is the ripple effect of the chess boom, fuelled by the pandemic and the Netflix series The Queen's Gambit, that the game has been catapulted into far more unexpected spaces.

England footballers Harry Kane, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Anthony Gordon have all spoken about their love of chess. Chelsea's manager, Enzo Maresca, wrote a 7,000-word thesis on how it can help train the mind of a football coach. Last year Mohamed Salah admitted he was "addicted to chess", had a rating of around 1400 - well above average - and namechecked Carlsen. "I'm not Magnus, but I'm good," he said. "No one has a chance with Magnus. But hopefully we will play one day."

So would Carlsen be up for a game against the Liverpool striker? Of course he would. "I'm a huge football fan and definitely a fan of Salah," he says. "I've not met him yet but I would certainly love to as well as other sports people who I admire who play chess."

In 2018, the Norwegian routed Salah's teammate Alexander-Arnold in 17 moves in a game that lasted five minutes. Is there anyone in the Premier League who might fare better? "[Arsenaland Norway midfielder] Martin Ødegaard plays a little bit," says Carlsen. "He was playing a lot for a while, and then not so much. He's not a bad player, but he's kind of private about it.

"As for the best, I don't know. There are a lot of decent players. But I don't know if there are any very good players among the sports people I have faced."