Magnus Carlsen shows off incredible memory by recreating 26-piece position after 2-second glance at chess board!
Tales of Magnus Carlsen’s memory have always been part of chess folklore. There are stories of how by the time he was six, he had memorised the flags and names of over 200 countries of the world. Now, in a recent video, he has shown off his impressive memorisation skills by recreating a 26-piece position on the chessboard after looking at it for just two seconds. In the video, posted online by the chess app Take Take Take, Magnus Carlsen is given memory tests by grandmaster David Howell, who allows Carlsen various time limits — 60 seconds, 30 secs, 15 secs, 10, 5 and then finally two seconds — to look at a position before asking him to recreate the position on the board in a minute. On each occasion, there are 26 pieces on the board. The position that Carlsen was asked to recreate after looking at the board for just two seconds had appeared during Bobby Fischer’s game against Donald Byrne in 1956 when Fischer was just 13. Carlsen not just recreated the position but then also started to play out the next moves that were played in the game with almost full accuracy. Significantly, FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky reminded chess fans that he hasn’t forgotten about the jeans controversy, and took another dig at Carlsen. He wrote, “Now a serious question – as we get back to review the dress code for FIDE events this year. Carlsen was recently in action at the Grenke Chess Freestyle Open 2025, where he came out on top with a perfect 9/9 score. Posting a photo of the Grenke prize ceremony, Sutovsky questioned the dress code of the top GMs on the stage, along with Jan Henric Buettner.
