The making of a champion is always fascinating.

So when The Telegraph on Monday evening asked Magnus Carlsen’s father Henrik “what does it take to nurture a talent as precocious as a world chess champion?”, the answer was always going to be interesting.

After a pause, the 57-year-old former mechanical engineer said: “Magnus, from an young age, had two hobbies, chess and football. And may be he was 12 when he was faced with the choice to either be a football star or a chess master… That’s the time he realised he could do very well in chess.

“At that moment, my wife (Sigrun, a chemical engineer) and I had one critical job: Not to stop him or destroy those possibilities. In retrospect, we are proud of what we did at that point in time… My message is: don’t stop the kid from doing whatever he is good at. Just let him do that. What he has done is more than any parent can hope for. Now I am just so thrilled that my wife and I didn’t stop him from becoming what he is today.”

Henrik thinks Norway’s laidback way of seeing life has also helped Carlsen prosper.

“The Norwegian system is quite flexible. It’s less disciplined and there is less focus on performance unlike other European countries. That meant he was allowed to spend a lot of time on his hobbies. Once he developed his competitive streak, he realised he could excel more through hard work,” he said.

Henrik shared an interesting tale. “Magnus was five when he made his first move. He and his sister (Ellen, now a doctor) started playing with me. If you are playing chess with your children, you have to allow them to beat you. It’s not easy... You have to make a lot of mistakes on purpose.”

These days parents put immense pressure on their children to win matches. According to Henrik that’s wrong.

“Motivation and pride come from the child. Of course, there are ways to stimulate the child, but putting pressure on children to perform doesn’t sound right to me… You want to encourage a certain degree of humility and work ethic. But you need to focus on the process and not the result. We always believed that in childhood, the more you learn through enjoyment is better.

“Talking about Magnus, from seven and half years he was really interested in chess… He started spending more time on the chess board and fortunately again I was not pushing him... It was his own doing. So, in our case, it was like allowing him to play the game,” he said on the sidelines of Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz tournament, a part of the Grand Chess Tour.

Carlsen’s love for football began at a very early age. He is a die-hard Real Madrid supporter and Henrik says the love affair began when he used to travel to the Spanish capital to play matches.

“We were fortunate enough to watch some matches. He still plays a lot of football back home… It creates a kind of balance between chess and football. Other people may have chess and education but Magnus left high school without finishing it properly. After that he didn’t have any formal education. He is interested in a lot of things but the main passions remain chess and football.”

Disappointments are part of a sportsperson’s life. But what about their parents?

“Well I try not to have any expectations. He is so successful now that as a parent, I am so spoiled. I should not expect anything. But then when Magnus loses a match and takes it very personally, I try to be supportive. Twenty years back I felt let down after a tournament but then I realised that he is doing his best. And it’s not about me, it’s about Magnus. So I should be there beside him like a rock.”