Agdestein Simen (15.05.1967)

Norwegian Grandmaster (1985). Coach.

Agdestein became the youngest Norwegian chess champion, in 1982, at the age of 15. In 1984, he was the runner-up (behind Valery Salov) at the European Junior Championships and also made his debut as a professional footballer with his local team, Lyn; in 1985 he became Norway’s first grandmaster (the youngest in the world at the time), and in 1986 he shared first equal in the World Junior Championship with Cuba’s Walter Arencibia, going on in the same year to make his full international debut for Norway against Italy in a football match.

By 1989, when he was the World’s No.16 and playing in the Interpolis Tournament alongside the likes of Garry Kasparov and Viktor Korchnoi, he had had eight appearances for Norway, and went on to play for them in the World Cup. At the time, Kasparov described him as: “The strongest amateur among top grandmasters.” Sadly, a serious football injury (torn knee ligaments) in 1992, cutting short his professional career when he was on the verge of signing for one of the top German Bundesliga teams. Being out of football with such a serious injury not only affected him physically but also psychologically, and resulted in a big dip in his chess rating. This was followed by a couple of unhappy years when he lost the Norwegian No.1 spot and fell out of the World’s top 200. The lull in his career lasted until 1999 when he came back with a vengeance winning the Cappelle la Grande. Agdestein runs a school for talented chess players in Oslo, as well as being a chess columnist for top Norwegian newspaper, VG.

The winner in the Isle of Man in 2003 and Cannes in 2004. In 2005 he collected its seventh national title by beating Magnus Carlsen in a playoff match 3½-2½. Agdestein scored two tournament victories in 2013, when he won the Open Sant Martí in Barcelona with 8½ points out of 9 possible, with a rating performance of 2901, and the Oslo Chess International-Håvard Vederhus’ Memorial with 7 points out of 9.

In a match, he drew 2-2 with Anatoly Karpov in 1991 and 2-2 with Michael Adams in 1994 and lost to Alexy Shirov 2½-1½ in 1992.

Peak rating: 2630 in 1993.