| Magnus Carlsen | |
|---|---|
 Carlsen in 2024 | |
| Full name | Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen |
| Country | Norway |
| Born | 30 November 1990 Tønsberg, Norway |
| Title | Grandmaster (2004) |
| World Champion | 2013–2023 |
| FIDE rating | 2831 (November 2024) |
| Peak rating | 2882 (May 2014) |
| Ranking | No. 1 (November 2024) |
| Peak ranking | No. 1 (January 2010) |
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen[a] (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Champion, the reigning five-time World Rapid Chess Champion, the reigning seven-time World Blitz Chess Champion, and the reigning Chess World Cup Champion. He has held the No. 1 position in the FIDE world chess rankings since 1 July 2011 and trails only Garry Kasparov in time spent as the highest-rated player in the world.[1] His peak rating of 2882 is the highest in history. He also holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at an elite level in classical chess at 125 games.[2][3]
A chess prodigy, Carlsen finished first in the C group of the Corus chess tournament shortly after he turned 13 and earned the title of grandmaster a few months later. At 15, he won the Norwegian Chess Championship, and later became the youngest ever player to qualify for the Candidates Tournament in 2005.[1] At 17, he finished joint first in the top group of Corus. He surpassed a rating of 2800 at 18, the youngest at the time to do so. In 2010, at 19, he reached No. 1 in the FIDE world rankings, the youngest person ever to do so.
Carlsen became World Chess Champion in 2013 by defeating Viswanathan Anand. He retained his title against Anand the following year and won both the 2014 World Rapid Championship and World Blitz Championship, becoming the first player to hold all three titles simultaneously, a feat which he repeated in 2019 and 2022.[4][5] He defended his classical world title against Sergey Karjakin in 2016, Fabiano Caruana in 2018, and Ian Nepomniachtchi in 2021. Carlsen declined to defend his title in 2023, citing a lack of motivation.[6]
Known for his attacking style as a teenager, Carlsen has since developed into a universal player. He uses a variety of openings to make it harder for opponents to prepare against him and reduce the utility of pre-game computer analysis.[7]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ a b Svensen, Tarjei J. (16 February 2024). "The 7 Most Mindblowing Magnus Carlsen Records". Chess.com. Archived from the original on 17 February 2024. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
- ^ Aimee Lewis (15 January 2020). "Magnus Carlsen breaks record for longest unbeaten run in chess". CNN. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
- ^ "Longest unbeaten streak in professional chess". Guinness World Records. 9 October 2020. Archived from the original on 6 September 2023. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
- ^ Barden, Leonard (30 December 2022). "Chess: Magnus Carlsen captures double world crown in Rapid and Blitz". amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org. Archived from the original on 20 May 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
- ^ "World Blitz: Carlsen clinches triple crown, Assaubayeva defends her title". Chess News. 30 December 2022. Archived from the original on 30 December 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- ^ Lourim, Jake (26 July 2022). "Magnus Carlsen Is Giving Up The World Title. But The Carlsen Era Lives On". FiveThirtyEight. Archived from the original on 26 July 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
- ^ Leonard Barden (1 March 2014). "Magnus Carlsen: the greatest of all time or too much of a grinder?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 20 August 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2023.