Throughout the long-documented history of chess, we have seen many incredible players, names that constantly come up in the conversations of the greatest to ever do it. One of these names and a player with perhaps the strongest case for the title of the best is Magnus Carlsen.
Below, we will be going over his progression as a player, as well as some of the basic facts and interesting information regarding his life.
Early Life
Born on November 30, 1990, in Tonsberg, Norway, Magnus developed an early interest in the game of Chess. His father, Henrik Albert Carlsen, was a team captain of the local chess club and taught his son the game/basic rules when he was just 5 years old. It is safe to say that his father’s interest in the game helped Carlsen get an early grip around it, and see the beauty of chess.
Tracking his ELO progressions over the years, we see that by age 8, he had already achieved a rating that allowed him to participate in the Norwegian Chess Federation’s yearly tournaments. His rapid rise through the ranks was incredible, earning his first GM norm at 10, and becoming the third youngest grandmaster at the time.
Such impressive growth at an early age obviously pushes one into a certain career direction, but Carlsen still managed to have a normal and happy childhood, balancing schoolwork, and having many different hobbies and interests. Among other things, He enjoyed soccer, basketball, cross-country skiing, and reading fantasy novels outside of chess.
Hobbies and Interests
Surely, knowing Carlsen’s status as a chess player, one would think that chess is Carlsen’s undeniable biggest interest and passion. However, as he has stated on numerous occasions, that might not be the case. Carlsen has cultivated several other hobbies and interests away from the 64 squares.
One of his biggest non-chess pursuits is the game of poker, to which he has voiced a preference, over chess on several occasions. Magnus first became interested in poker around 2008 when he was 17 years old. He was immediately drawn to the mix of skill, psychology, probability, and luck involved in the game. He is an avid online poker player and has participated in many major live tournaments as well.
In fact, Magnus has a partnership with a gambling site, advocating for reputable and responsible platforms. With so many newer establishments on the rise, including big names, such as Ignition Casino, it will be interesting to observe whether they go for a gambling partnership with Carlen, seeing as he is not only outspoken about his love for poker, but is also an impressive player and a winner, at least amongst celebrities.
Even when not playing on online casino platforms, he does decently well in tournaments, perhaps his most impressive performance coming in April 2022, where he briefly held a second place spot out of 1055 competing players.
Now that he has put the WCC title behind him, who knows how much improvement his Poker game will see. It is very clear that Carlsen passes the intelligence threshold to be a great player, and perhaps with more time spent on the craft, depending on what his goals are, we may see him in future tournaments, outside of online platforms.
Rise to the World Championship
Carlsen had many different accomplishments and awards even before capturing the world chess championship, but in this article, we will be specifically focusing on his reign as the champ.
Magnus qualified for the Candidates tournament, and competed in it at the age of 22, in 2013. At the time, he was already ranked number one in the world, and had a lot to prove going into the tournament, looking for a chance to challenge the champion, Vishy Anand.
Candidates 2013 was a very close and intense tournament, with Magnus Carlsen ultimately winning in a tiebreak, with 8.5/14 points, just barely beating Vladimir Kramnik. At this point, he was already a well-solidified ‘super GM’, with an incredible overall game, and an even greater understanding of endgames.
Due to this, he managed to defeat the above-mentioned champion, ending the reign of the Indian legend Vishwanathan Anand, and becoming the youngest World Chess Champion of all time. Of course, Carlsen was far from done, as his career was just starting to hit its peak.
In 2014, he managed to reach the ELO (Chess rating) of 2882, the highest recorded peak out of anyone in history. He was on top of his game and it showed, as he defended his title in the same year, and proceeded to do it 3 more times throughout the years, making him a five-time champ, just one shy from the world record still held by Garry Kasparov.
What is fascinating is that Carlsen willingly stepped down from the title, as opposed to being dethroned by newer challengers. After his fifth win in the year 2021, he decided to stop competing in the most prestigious chess tournament on the planet and gave up his championship, which was captured by a Chinese player Ding Liren, the current champ at the time of writing, soon to face the winner of the most recent Candidates, Gukesh D.
