Liverpool star Mohamed Salah has revealed that he is an avid online chess player and wants to meet five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen. The Egyptian forward, widely rated among the best football players in the world, said that he plays chess online “every day, literally every day.”
“I play chess, I am addicted to chess,” said Salah on Sky Sports. He further said that he is not going to reveal the name he uses online while playing the sport but there have been a few opponents who would ask him if he is Salah himself. “I am not saying my name. I put my name and some other numbers so some people they ask ‘are you Mo Salah,’ I say ‘yes,’ they don’t believe it, and say ‘you are lying.’ I say ‘yes, I’m lying,'” he said.
Salah said that he is also rated around 1400. “I’m good, I’m not Magnus, but I’m good. No one has a chance with Magnus. But hopefully we will play one day.” Carlsen, on the other hand, is known to be a huge fan of football and of Salah himself. The Norwegian has regularly featured Salah on his Fantasy Premier League squad that took him to the top of the game with more than 7 million players.
The former world champion appeared to accept the invitation and took to X/Twitter on Sunday to respond with a simple emoji, tagging Salah. Incidentally, Salah’s Liverpool teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold played Carlsen in an exhibition match in Manchester, England back in 2018. Alexander-Arnold ended up losing in 17 moves. “I’ve been playing chess since I was very young, and I’ve always enjoyed it. It’s hard to find someone who wants to play as much as me,” he had said.
Salah further said that while he never played any other sport apart from football when he was young, he has now dabbled with other sports. “I play paddle tennis pretty well, tennis sometimes. I play golf, surprisingly. Not like a proper English guy but I play good gold for an Egyptian,” he said.
