World chess champion topped Fantasy Football standings ahead of 7 MILLION others

World chess champion Magnus Carlsen believes that a combination of studying hordes of data and following his gut instinct helped him top the Premier League Fantasy Football standings.

The 29-year-old Norwegian's team had, for a brief moment, stood proudly ahead of seven million other online competitors during the Christmas period, making him the best fantasy football player on the planet.

Carlsen also recorded victories across three chess championships, while a brace from Mohamed Salah against Watford helped propel him into unexpected stardom.

But the chess grandmaster played down his achievement, and insists that simply poring over statistics in the hope of finding undervalued players remains the key to success.

'It was a great and fun feeling when Salah netted that second goal but I am not pretending that it's a metaphor for anything else,' Carlsen told The Guardian.

'Because even if you are good, which I do not claim to be, you also need to be extraordinarily fortunate to be first overall.

'It's sort of like sports betting. You can give yourself a better chance by looking at the data... but you still need to follow your gut feeling too, and be fortunate.'

This season marks Carlsen's sixth in the competition, which allows players to select a squad within a set budget and bank points depending on performances.

Carlsen had been able to recite the names of all Norwegian municipalities and every capital city across the globe by the tender age of five, but listed reigning over the fantasy football rankings as another notable accomplishment.

He added: 'While things have gone a bit south since then, I still feel like having served myself into No 1 in the world is something I will always be very proud of.'

But despite making waves across social media, 'the Mozart of chess' retained his competitive nature when contacted by other hopefuls.

'I was half thinking: "I'm competing against you!" And also I am I'm not kidding myself into believing I am in a position to give other people advice,' Carlsen said. 'I am just a fan who enjoys playing.'