Carlsen Magnus Øen (30.11.1990)

Norwegian Grandmaster (2004), World Champion since 2013,  World Rapid Champion in 2014, 2015 and 2019, World Blitz Champion in 2009, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019. Norwegian Champion in 2004 and co-Champion in 2005. Norwegian U18 Champion in 2002.

Mettlesomeness is the word coined by the chess world to describe Magnus Carlsen’s universal yet unique playing style. A normal elite player would make a large percentage of accurate moves, which in turn shows why they are so good. Magnus, however, shows a range of creativity in his moves that pressure his opponent to open up a lot of room for mistakes to creep into their game. Magnus, typically, doesn’t rely on opening theory quite as much as his contemporaries do. Rather, his repertoire is such that the focus is shifted immediately to the middlegame, where his now fabled strategic understanding begins to display itself. Magnus is also believed to have legendary endgame skills and is often compared to the best endgame players in history. Kasparov believes that he saw a bit of every past champion in Magnus’s play when he worked with him half a decade back.

In his younger days, Carlsen was blessed with a refreshingly attacking style of play. He learned chess from his father Henrik Carlsen, himself a strong club player.

Magnus Carlsen is the highest-rated player ever in the history of chess. He became a Grandmaster in 2004, at the age of 13 years, 148 days. This made him the third-youngest grandmaster in history. On 1 January 2010, at the age of 19 years, 32 days, he became the youngest chess player to be ranked FIDE world No. 1. Since 2011, he has been ranked no. 1 in the world until today.

In November 2013, Carlsen won the title of World Champion, by defeating Viswanathan Anand in India. He retained his title in 2014 in Russia by once more defeating Viswanathan Anand and in 2016 in New York against Sergey Karjakin.

In the May 2014 FIDE rating list, Carlsen reached his highest rating of 2882, which is the highest rating in history. The same year, he also won the World Rapid Championship and the World Blitz Championship, thus holding all three world championship titles.

“You could say that both Fischer and Carlsen had or have the ability to let chess look simple.” — Vishy Anand on Magnus Carlsen

As of today, Magnus Carlsen is the world champion and ranked number 1 in classical chess, in rapid chess, and in blitz chess. He is still going strong, with no signs of exhaustion.

Best results: Winner or shared first at Corus III 2004, Bygger Master 2005, Wijk aan Zee B in 2006, Amsterdam 2006 and Bosnia GM 2006, Gausdal Classic 2007, Biel 2007,  Corus 2008 (jointly with Levon Aronian), Aerovit 2008, Baku Grand Prix 2008. Amber Tournament (Blindfold) 2009, Magistral Ciudad de Leon 2009, Pearl Spring Chess Tournament 2009, World Blitz Championship 2009, London Chess Classic, 2009, Corus 2010, Amber 2010 jointly with Vassily Ivanchuk, Arctic Securities Chess Stars 2010, Nanjing Pearl Spring Tournament 2010, London Chess Classic 2010, Bazna Kings Tournament 2011, Biel 2011,  Tal Memorial Moscow 2011, Sao Paulo 2012, Grand Slam final 2012, London Chess Classic 2012, Tata Steel 2013, The Candidates Tournament 2013 in Lonon, Sinquefield Cup 2013, Zurich 2014, Gashimov Memorial 2014, World Blitz and Rapid Championships in 2014, Tata Steel 2015, Grenke Baden 2015, Shamkir Chess 2015, World Rapid championship in 2015, London Classic 2015, Qatar Master 2015, Tata Steel 2016, Norway chess 2016 and Bilbao Masters 2016,  Chess.com IoM Masters 2017, London Classic 2017, Tata Steel 2018, Shamkir Gashimov Memorial 2018, Sinquefield Cup 2018. Tata Steel 2019, Gashimov Memorial 2019,  Grenke Classic 2019, Lindores Abbey Chess Stars Tournament 2019, Norway Chess 2019, Grand Chess Tour Zagreb 2019, and Grand Swiss Tournament 2019.

Carlsen has been coached by Simen Agdestein, Peter Heine Nielsen since 2009, and for few months by Garry Kasparov.

Peak rating: 2882 in 2014.  Since 2010, Carlsen is at the top of the world ranking list.