The selfie of Magnus Carlsen and Alua Nurman is viral, for the right and the wrong reasons
The Grenke Chess Festival 2026, is taking place April 2–6 in Karlsruhe, Germany, with over 3,500 participants (and approaching 4,000 registrations), surpassing previous editions, making it the biggest world class open chess tournament in the world.
Among the participants is the five times world champion Magnus Carlsen, who is also the winner of last year’s Grenke Chess with record breaking performance. In round 2 of Grenke Chess 2026, Carlsen played with the black pieces against Alua Nurman. What would have been a normal game, started with what every chess players dreams of: Alua Nurman took a selfie with Magnus Carlsen.
That selfie turned into a viral story that is now rivaling Carlsen’s table bang as the most seen chess video of recent times. At the time of writing of this article, Denge+ has 2,5 million video views, OwBrain1 has 1 million, La Twitchance has 1 million, BPT with 900k, Non aesthetic things with 1,8 million, Diccionario VIP with 650k, and even Chessdom.com Twitter/X account crossed 1 million views in just a day. The main reason for the interest boom: the selfie got viral for the RIGHT and WRONG reasons at the same time.
The right reasons
The right reasons behind the viral success of the selfie are straightforward and wholesome: Magnus Carlsen is one of the most famous chess players in the world, so having him personally take a selfie with a fan is considered a genuine honor; the picture itself is undeniably cute and charming; and the moment represents a nice, generous gesture from Carlsen, making it feel cool and memorable for everyone involved.
The wrong reasons
The wrong reasons, however, stem from sensationalism and misunderstanding: many media outlets quickly speculated that Magnus Carlsen had called the arbiter to forfeit the young player Alua Nurman, and they eagerly pounced on the story in search of views and clicks. In reality, this is completely wrong, Carlsen actually called the arbiter to protect her. FIDE Laws of Chess (Article 11.3.2) ban electronic devices like phones from playing venues to prevent cheating. Carlsen alerted the arbiter post-selfie to enforce this, protecting Nurman from disqualification.
The record of Magnus Carlsen at Grenke
The table bang by Carlsen
Denge+with Alua Nurman – Magnus Carlsen 2,5 million views
OwBrain1 with Alua Nurman – Magnus Carlsen 1 million views
La Twitchance with Alua Nurman – Magnus Carlsen 1 million views
BPT with Alua Nurman – Magnus Carlsen 900k views
Non aesthetic things with Alua Nurman – Magnus Carlsen 900k views
Diccionario VIP with Alua Nurman – Magnus Carlsen 650k views