Also during this tournament, Carlsen recorded his first victory over Anish Giri in a classical game. [372] The campaign was coordinated with the RAW World Chess Challenge in New York, an event in which Carlsen played an online team of global chess players, who voted on moves suggested by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura and Judit Polgár. He can convert a minimal advantage into a real one. [78] Carlsen tied for second place with Veselin Topalov at the M-Tel Masters (category 21) tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. [82][83] After the Tal Memorial, Carlsen won the World Blitz Championship, played from 16 to 18 November in Moscow, Russia. [66] At the Linares chess tournament, Carlsen had another 2800+ PR, scoring 8/14. Carlsen won two games, against Gelfand and Nakamura, and drew the rest. [206] He defended his blitz title, going unbeaten to finish clear first on a score of 17/21 (+13−0=8). He later withdrew from the Grand Prix cycle despite his initial success, criticising FIDE for "changing the rules dramatically in the middle of a World Championship cycle". [379] Agdestein's work consisted initially of finding sponsors and negotiating media contacts but, since 2011, he has taken over management tasks formerly performed by Carlsen's father Henrik. In the first round he obtained a winning position against Topalov after pressing in a long endgame, only to lose on time when he mistakenly thought that he would receive 15 minutes of extra time at move 60. [131][132] In the May 2014 rankings, Carlsen achieved an all-time high record of 2882,[337] with a peak of 2889 on the live ratings list achieved on 21 April 2014. These setbacks called into question from some whether Carlsen's activities outside chess, such as modelling for G-Star Raw, were distracting him from performing well at the chessboard. [204] Carlsen represented Vålerenga sjakklubb at the 34th European Chess Club Cup in October. Offerspill was founded by Carlsen in 2019 after the Norwegian Chess Federation turned down Kindred's sponsorship offer. Ultimately, he placed ninth in the round-robin tournament with 4/9 (+1−2=6), losing to Aronian and Kramnik and winning against Karjakin. [229] Carlsen won the event by defeating Hikaru Nakamura 2½–1½ in the final. [101] In the final, Carlsen defeated Anand 1½–½ to win the championship. Is it because he is the world champion? Join GM Simon Williams as he breaks down the best moves from Magnus Carlsen, the world chess champion since 2013. Skilling. It is a totally different question why we call him a genius. Billed as the strongest chess tournament ever held, the remaining 4 players in the event were Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura, Veselin Topalov, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. [390] The group then acquired Chessable, an interactive chess learning platform and marketplace, in September 2019. Burke). Fischer is the most notorious player in history and his chess genius is undisputable. [164] Carlsen then played in the second edition of the Qatar Masters Open, which was held from 20 to 29 December. [53], With a score of 7½/15, Carlsen placed 8th out of 16 participants at the World Blitz Championship in Rishon LeZion, Israel. In March 2019, Play Magnus merged with Chess24.com. "[158], From 22 August to 3 September, Carlsen played in the 2015 Sinquefield Cup. He grew up when I was in power, and perhaps he studied my games. [23][24] During the year away from school, he placed joint-third in the European Under-14 Championship[25] and ninth in the World Under-14 Championship. The complete list of the 50 greatest players of all times comes as the Norwegian World Champion prepares to play in the Skilling Open, the first event on the $1.5 million Champions Chess Tour. [43], Carlsen qualified for a place in the Corus B group due to his first-place finish in Corus group C in 2004. [104], Carlsen's next tournament was the Grand Slam Masters Final on 9–15 October, which he had qualified for automatically by winning three of the previous year's four Grand Slam chess events (2009 Nanjing Pearl Spring, 2010 Corus, 2010 Bazna Kings). [144], On 8 May, Carlsen played an exhibition game at Oslo City against the people of Norway, assisted by a grandmaster panel consisting of Simen Agdestein, Jon Ludvig Hammer, and Leif Erlend Johannessen. In the first round, Carlsen lost with black to Kramnik; this was Carlsen's second consecutive loss to Kramnik, and placed his hold on the world No. In the 11 rounds, he achieved eight draws and three losses in the blindfold games, as well as three wins, seven draws and one loss in the rapid games. Follow Curated Courses or Cherry Pick • Follow courses created by our learning experts and Grand Masters. [326], In the January 2006 FIDE rankings, at the age of 15 years and 32 days, Carlsen attained a 2625 Elo rating, which made him the youngest person to surpass 2600 Elo (the record has since been broken by Wesley So, Wei Yi and John M. The field featured World Champion Viswanathan Anand, female world No. He finished second, with 5½/9, half a point behind Boris Gelfand. [95] In 2011, Carlsen said: "Thanks to [Kasparov] I began to understand a whole class of positions better. [138] Later that month, Carlsen played a four-game friendly rapid match against Borki Predojević, which he won 2½–1½. He surpassed a rating of 2800 at age 18 and reached number one in the FIDE world rankings aged 19, becoming the youngest person ever to achieve those feats. [220], At the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2019 held in October on the Isle of Man, Carlsen placed sixth with 7½/11 (+4−0=7). Drawing the final four games was sufficient to win the tournament with 9 points out of 13, half a point ahead of Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wesley So and Ding Liren. The tournament was a double round robin involving Wang Yue, Boris Gelfand, Ruslan Ponomariov, Teimour Radjabov, and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. ... Carlsen's repertoire is aimed at avoiding an early crisis in the game. In January, Carlsen participated in the 79th Tata Steel Chess Tournament. Magnus makes every one of his pieces better than his opponent's Carlsen vs Eljanov, 2008 [161][verification needed] However, Carlsen lost his No. Billed as "the first professional online chess tournament," the eight-player rapid tournament was held from 18 April to 3 May, with a $250,000 prize fund. [102] Following this event, Carlsen suffered setbacks in his next two tournaments. [56], Playing in the top group of the Corus chess tournament for the first time, Carlsen placed last with nine draws and four losses, scoring 4½/13. In a 2016 interview, Anish Giri said: "Magnus and I are very close in terms of style, but in our approach to the game we're total opposites. [49] He scored 6/8 in the 37th Chess Olympiad and achieved a PR of 2820. This result put Carlsen in shared second place behind former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and equal with Ivanchuk. However, a string of six wins in a row thrust Carlsen into clear first place. "[358] He was the youngest player to reach first position in the ranking at the age of 19 and at 22 he was the youngest player to reach 2800 ELO. ", "Tal Memorial Rd9 – Carlsen takes title in record event", "45th Biel Chess Festival 2012 – The Week in Chess", "Bilbao Rd10: Carlsen takes title in blitz tiebreak", "Second Gran Fiesta UNAM with Carlsen and Polgar", "Carlsen wins London Chess Classic and takes Kasparov's record", "Carlsen beats Kasparov's rating record in London", "LCC R9: Carlsen first, Kramnik second, both with big wins", "Tata R13: Karjakin, Wang score, Carlsen wins Wijk by 1½ points", "Candidates R14 – leaders lose, Carlsen qualifies", "Tal Final: Gelfand wins, Carlsen clear second", "Carlsen beats Predojevic with (only) 2.5–1.5", "Chennai G10: Magnus Carlsen is the new World Champion! A playoff between them was played between 7 and 10 November. 1, as well as the first player from a Western nation to reach the top of the FIDE rankings since Bobby Fischer in 1971. [332], The FIDE rankings in January 2010 recorded Carlsen's rating at 2810, which made him No. Bacrot deprived Carlsen of a win in the classical tournament by holding him to a draw in the final round. His participation in the event as World Champion was unusual as the World Cup is part of the cycle to challenge the World Champion in 2018. [205], From 26 to 30 December, Carlsen played in the 2018 World Rapid and World Blitz Chess Championships, held in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The year 2020 turned out to be one that posed new challenges to everyone, including chess players, with the Covid-19 pandemic shutting down over-the-board chess from March onwards. ", "Magnus Carlsen sjokkerte med opprykkskamp i norsk 1. divisjon", "Carlsen-remis mot Norge: – Dere måtte bruke Houdini for å ha en sjanse", "Norway Chess 2014 – Six Players Announced", "Sinquefield 10: Draws end magnificent event", "Carlsen vant Tata Steel etter remis mot Saric", "GRENKE Final: Carlsen wins in Armageddon! After 11 of 12 games, Carlsen led 6½–4½, thereby defending his World Champion title. [318][319], The Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang (VG) has awarded Carlsen the "Name of the Year" (Årets navn) twice, in 2009[320] and 2013. In the knockout tournament, he upset the 44th-ranked Zurab Azmaiparashvili in round one, and proceeded to defeat Farrukh Amonatov and Ivan Cheparinov to reach the round of 16. [94] On the January 2013 FIDE rankings, Carlsen reached 2861, thus surpassing Garry Kasparov's 2851 record from July 1999. ", "Grenke Classic 2017: Aronian misses win in exciting finale", "Magnus Carlsen wins Grand Chess Tour – Paris in exciting finish", "Grand Chess Tour – Leuven Express: Magnus Carlsen runs away with event", "Magnus Carlsen blitzes the field with record-breaking display in Belgium", "Cull of the grandmasters as World Cup quarter-final line-up is completed", "Carlsen Wins 2017 Chess.com Isle of Man International", "Magnus Carlsen extends gap at top of world rankings with Isle of Man win", "Carlsen vs. Ding Liren – Champions Showdown 2017", "Caruana wins London Classic, but Carlsen takes the Tour", "Veteran Vishy Anand secures surprise title at world rapids in Riyadh", "Carlsen and Dzagnidze are World Blitz Champions! With a performance rating of 2983, this was Carlsen's third best tournament result ever, behind only Nanjing 2009 (3002 TPR) and London 2012 (2994 TPR). [39], In the Norwegian Chess Championship, Carlsen again finished in shared first place, this time with his mentor Simen Agdestein. Carlsen defeated Gashimov, Aronian, Gelfand, and Topalov, but lost against Karjakin. He finished second, scoring 5½/9 (+3−1=5), half a point behind Sergey Karjakin. [47], Carlsen won the Glitnir Blitz Tournament in Iceland. [68], Carlsen was one of 21 players in the six-tournament FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010, a qualifier for the World Chess Championship 2012. [75] In the category 22 Bilbao Masters, Carlsen tied for second with a 2768 PR. The tournament was won by Kramnik with 4/6. Kotronias, Vassilios & Logothetis, Sotiris (2013). With a score of 23½/38, he finished in third place behind Radjabov and winner Levon Aronian. [21] After this, he obtained three IM norms in relatively quick succession; his first was at the January 2003 Gausdal Troll Masters (score 7/10, 2453 PR), the second was at the June 2003 Salongernas IM-tournament in Stockholm (6/9, 2470 PR), and the third and final IM norm was obtained at the July 2003 Politiken Cup in Copenhagen (8/11, 2503 PR). Yu Yangyi (2726) Magnus Carlsen (2872) e4 c5 2. [394][395], As of 2016, Carlsen identifies as a social democrat and mostly follows a vegetarian diet; two of his sisters are vegetarians. Carlsen has the highest nettlesomeness score by this metric, because his creative moves pressure the other player and open up a lot of room for mistakes. [225] Over the next two days, from 29 December to 30 December he took part in the 2019 World Blitz Chess Championship. In the first round, Carlsen conceded a draw to his classmate Brede Hagen (rated 2034)[62] after having a lost position at one point. The match began with seven consecutive draws. [65], In the top group A of the 69th Corus chess tournament, Carlsen scored 8/13, achieving a PR of 2830. Magnus Carlsen, Chess World Champion. 1 blitz ranking after he had a weak second day in the World Blitz Championship, and was unable to retain his World Blitz Champion title, losing it to Alexander Grischuk. He won against Grischuk in round 5, drew against Nakamura and Vachier-Lagrave in rounds 6 and 7, and defeated Aronian in round 8, but he lost the last round against Jon Ludvig Hammer, leaving him in seventh place and with a performance rating of 2693. [156] He was then outplayed by Caruana in the second round, missed a win against Anish Giri in round 3, and lost to Anand in round 4. [122][123], In the London Chess Classic, played 3–12 December, Carlsen's streak of tournament victories ended when he finished third, behind Kramnik and Nakamura. [73], In the Mainz World Rapid Chess Championship, Carlsen finished in second place after losing the final to defending champion Anand 3–1. [228], During the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted the cancellation of many physical tournaments, Carlsen organized the Magnus Carlsen Invitational along with Chess24. [203] In August, he competed in the 6th Sinquefield Cup. "[351] According to Carlsen, however, he does not have any preferences in playing style. Carlsen made headlines after his victory in the C group at the 2004 Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. He then took part in the knockout exhibition event "Cuadrangular UNAM". [27] As a result of the victory, he earned his first GM norm, and achieved a PR of 2702. Carlsen won the tournament by winning both tiebreak games against Caruana. Carlsen's breakthrough occurred in the Norwegian junior teams championship in September 2000, where Carlsen scored 3½/5 against the top junior players of the country, and a performance rating (PR) of about 2000. [59], In May and June, he participated in the Candidates Tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007, facing Levon Aronian in a six-game match at standard time controls, which Carlsen drew (+2−2=2) by coming from behind twice. Carlsen had finished joint first with Naiditsch on 4½/7, beating Michael Adams, Anand, and David Baramidze, and losing to Naiditsch in their classical encounter. [345][346][347] He said in 2015 that the middlegame is his favourite part of the game as it comes down to "pure chess". [345] "[97], Carlsen shared first place alongside Ivanchuk in the Amber blindfold and rapid tournament. Carlsen had a rocky start, losing his games to McShane and Anand in rounds 1 and 3, but winning with white against Adams and Nakamura in rounds 2 and 4. [387] Based in Oslo, Norway, Play Magnus' first product was an iOS app, called Play Magnus, that allows the user to play a chess engine created using a database of thousands of Carlsen's recorded games from the age of five. Both games were drawn, which left Østenstad the champion because he had superior tiebreaks in the tournament. He started well, scoring 2 wins and 4 draws in his first 6 games, but missed mate-in-3 versus Giri in round 7, which Giri described as "the most embarrassing moment" of Carlsen's career. [202], Carlsen participated in the 51st Biel Grandmaster tournament, held from 23 July to 1 August. "[96] In 2012, when asked what he learnt from working with Kasparov, Carlsen answered: "Complex positions. [70] In June, Carlsen won the annual Aerosvit chess tournament,[71] finishing undefeated with 8/11 in a category 19 field and achieving a PR of 2877, his best PR at that point in his career. Magnus Carlsen Chess World Champion. Known for his attacking style as a teenager, Carlsen has since developed into a universal player. [378], As of 2012[update], Carlsen is the only active chess professional with a full-time manager; Espen Agdestein, a FIDE Master and brother of Carlsen's former trainer Simen Agdestein, began working as an agent for Carlsen in late 2008. The reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen has been ranked only second behind Garry Kasparov, while Bobby Fischer is third in the full Hall of Fame that is revealed on chess24 today. Carlsen said at the event's closing ceremony that it was "one of the best tournaments I've ever played, both in terms of performance and also the quality of the games. In addition to Carlsen, Anand, Ding, and Karjakin participated. Each panel member was allowed three chances to let chess engine Houdini propose a move during the game. [142] On 22 March, Carlsen played a game for his club Stavanger in the final team match for promotion to the Norwegian Premier League. [194], From October 2017 to January 2018, Carlsen played in the second edition of Chess.com's Speed Chess Championship. [339], As of November 2019[update], Carlsen is also ranked among the top five in the FIDE rapid and blitz rating lists with Elo ratings of 2849 and 2828, respectively. Magnus Carlsen, Norway’s world chess champion, has broken the world record for successive games without defeat by drawing his 111th against Jorden van Foreest in Wijk aan Zee [197] Carlsen then defeated Giri 1½–½ in the blitz playoff, thus winning the tournament for a record sixth time. Carlsen would have won the classical tournament on the traditional 1–½–0 scoring system, with 7/10. [184], In September, he took part in the Chess World Cup 2017. [9], The first chess book Carlsen read was a booklet named Find the Plan by Bent Larsen,[10] and his first book on openings was Eduard Gufeld's The Complete Dragon. [37] In the semi-finals of the Ciudad de León rapid chess tournament in June, Carlsen played a four-game match against Viswanathan Anand, who was ranked No. On 27 October, he faced Nakamura in the final. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 Sicilian Defense: Open, Najdorf, … This was Carlsen's first classical tournament victory in 435 days. In November 2010, however, Carlsen announced he was withdrawing from the Candidates Tournament. From 27 October to 2 November, Carlsen played in the first official FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship. [224] He then went on to beat Levon Aronian to claim third place. [29] Agdestein said that Carlsen had an excellent memory and played an unusually wide range of openings. [191], From 26 to 30 December, Carlsen played in the 2017 World Rapid and World Blitz Chess Championships, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A post shared by Magnus Carlsen (@magnus_carlsen) The World Champion also speaks about how Beth Harmon looks up to the roof in order to visualize the moves on the chess board. [45], Carlsen was close to winning the 2006 Norwegian Chess Championship outright, but a last-round loss to Berge Østenstad dropped him into another tie for first place with Agdestein. Exhausting for opponents. Skilling is a Scandinavian-owned multi-asset trading platform, which offers online trading on a wide range of world markets, such as Norwegian and international stocks, stock indices, commodities, or cryptocurrencies. [173] In the blitz tournament, he scored 16½/21, finishing second on tiebreak behind Karjakin, and 2 points clear of the rest of the field.[174]. [99], Carlsen played in the Bazna Kings Tournament in Romania on 14–25 June. This year, the event is the fourth leg of the 2020-2021 Champions Chess Tour, after the Skilling Open (won by So), the Airthings Masters (won by GM Teimour Radjabov), and the Opera Euro Rapid (won by So again).. He also compared Carlsen to Boris Spassky in his prime, and stated that "Magnus can literally do almost everything. The other players in the event were Aronian, Nakamura, Caruana, Gelfand and Anand. He plays on for ever, calmly, methodically and, perhaps most importantly of all, without fear: calculating superbly, with very few outright mistakes and a good proportion of the "very best" moves. He thus extended his unbeaten streak in classical chess to 101 games, surpassing Ding's record of 100 games. [375] In 2012, Carlsen was featured in a 60 Minutes segment[376] and appeared as a guest on The Colbert Report. What happened? He finished in first place with 6/9 (+4−1=4), half a point ahead of Levon Aronian, and a full point in front of Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The four-game rapid playoff was drawn as well (+1−1=2), with Carlsen winning the last game to stay in the match. Carlsen recovered somewhat in the latter part of the tournament, achieving a win over Shirov, and finishing with 2½/6. On 5 November, Carlsen withdrew from the 2011 Candidates Tournament, having qualified as the highest rated challenger, citing dissatisfaction with the World Championship cycle format. Carlsen stated he wished for the app to encourage more people to play chess. Their clients includes Norwegian and foreign corporations, institutions, organizations, individuals as well as government. [200] Carlsen won the fifth edition of Shamkir Chess, held from 18 to 28 April, finishing clear first with a score of 6/9 (+3−0=6). Carlsen won five games, lost two and drew six, sharing first place with Levon Aronian. [76], Playing in Group A of the 71st Corus chess tournament, Carlsen tied for fifth with a 2739 PR. The Magnus Carlsen Invitational was organised from scratch in a couple of weeks after the Candidates Tournament was stopped midway through. [26], Carlsen made headlines after his victory in the C group at the 2004 Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. [366], Carlsen modelled for G-Star Raw's Fall/Winter 2010 advertising campaign along with American actress Liv Tyler. He finished with +5−2=7, and won the tournament on tiebreak over Vladimir Kramnik. Scoring 13½/18, he finished three points ahead of his nearest competitors. [365], Carlsen also plays speed chess online under many screen names. [195] He defeated Gadir Guseinov, So and Grischuk in the first three rounds 20½–5½, 27½–9½ and 15½–10½, respectively. He invariably aims for middlegames that lend themselves to a strategic approach. He is best known for trollish openings and playing strong despite banter and gags. Carlsen, playing white, won in 43 moves. He scored an undefeated 8/10, winning every game as white (against Topalov, Wang Yue, Leko, Teimour Radjabov, and Dmitry Jakovenko), and also winning as black against Jakovenko. In that event, Carlsen was paired with Garry Kasparov, then the top-rated player in the world. [333] This meant that Carlsen became, at the age of 19 years and 32 days, the youngest ever world No. [222] In late November, Carlsen won the Tata Steel Rapid & Blitz, the final leg of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, with a score of 27/36. [178], Carlsen played in the Paris leg of the 2017 Grand Chess Tour, which was held from 21 to 25 June. Particularly notable was his win over Sipke Ernst in the penultimate round, when Carlsen sacrificed material to give matein just 29 moves. [46] Nonetheless, in the playoff held from 19 to 21 September, Carlsen won 3–1. [201] From 28 May to 7 June, he competed in the sixth edition of Norway Chess, placing second with 4½/8 (+2−1=5), half a point behind winner Caruana. And one debate that will never die is that of Bobby Fischer versus Magnus Carlsen. [19] In October 2002, he placed sixth in the European Under-12 Championship in Peñiscola. [182], From 2 to 11 August, Carlsen competed in the Sinquefield Cup, the first classical event of the Grand Chess Tour. [361][362][363] Jon Speelman, analysing several of Carlsen's endgames from the 2012 London Classic (in particular, his wins against McShane, Aronian, and Adams), described what he calls the "Carlsen effect": ... through the combined force of his skill and no less important his reputation, he drives his opponents into errors. He won after defeating Hikaru Nakamura in a tiebreak match, drawing the first game with black and winning the second game with the white pieces. He finished in first place, ahead of Radjabov and Caruana. He defeated Caruana and Aronian in rounds 1 and 3, respectively, but lost to So in round 6. Particularly notable was his win over Sipke Ernst in the penultimate round, when Carlsen sacrificed material to give mate in just 29 moves. Carlsen won his last two games to tie for first on 6½/11 (+2−0=9) with Ding, but lost the tiebreak 1–3, drawing both rapid games then losing two consecutive blitz games. [55] In November, Carlsen achieved a shared 8th place of 10 participants in the Mikhail Tal Memorial in Moscow with two losses and seven draws. In the 39th Chess Olympiad from 19 September to 4 October, he scored 4½/8, losing three games, to Baadur Jobava, Michael Adams, and Sanan Sjugirov; these were his first losses with the black pieces in more than a year. Carlsen won his White games against Nakamura, Nisipeanu, and Ivanchuk and drew the rest of the games. [108] Carlsen said he did not believe there was a direct connection. Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (Norwegian: [svɛn ˈmɑ̀ŋnʉs øːn ˈkɑːlsn̩]; born 30 November 1990)[1][2] is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the current World Chess Champion, World Rapid Chess Champion, and World Blitz Chess Champion. [129][130], Carlsen won the London Chess Classic in December with five wins (over McShane, Aronian, Gawain Jones, Adams and Judit Polgár) and three draws (against Kramnik, Nakamura and Anand).