Magnus Carlsen on top of Fantasy Premier League

Reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen does not limit himself to the chess board. He has also zoomed up the charts in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) leaderboard.

The 29-year-old Norwegian is at this point on top of the FPL standings, which has more than seven million players worldwide.

FPL, which is affiliated to England's Premier League, is the biggest fantasy football game in the world. Carlsen has been playing the game since the 2014/15 season and his best finish came two seasons ago when he finished in the top 3000 with 2359 points.

Carlsen's team - Kjell Ankedal - has amassed 1152 points in total from 17 gameweeks this term and features the likes of Jamie Vardy (Leicester City), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) and Son Heung-min (Tottenham).

On December 8, Carlsen was placed sixth in the leaderboard. After the West Ham-Arsenal game the following Monday, he moved to fourth and now he has reached the pinnacle, with Saturday's matches of gameweek 17 done and dusted.

The four-time world champion spoke to The Guardian about his strategies and plans before each gameweek. Carlsen's fans had been requesting him to share his thought process for FPL.  

A dose of Opta stats and gut feeling have contributed to Carlsen's phenomenal FPL form this season. He is making the right moves, and at rapid pace, at the moment.