MagnusCarlsen Chess

Magnus Øen Carlsen (Norwegian: [sven ˈmɑŋnʉs øːn ˈkɑːɭsn̩]; born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster and the current World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, Carlsen earned his grandmaster title at the age of 13 years and 148 days.

Native to Tønsberg, Carlsen was introduced to chess at the age of 5 and played in his first tournament at the age of 8. He earned his grandmaster title in 2004 and was competing successfully against the world's strongest grandmasters by 2007. He surpassed an Elo rating of 2800 in 2009 and reached No. 1 in the FIDE rankings in 2010, becoming the youngest person ever to achieve those feats.

Carlsen became World Champion in 2013 by defeating Viswanathan Anand. In the subsequent year, he retained his title against Anand, won both the 2014 World Rapid Championship and World Blitz Championship, thus becoming the first player to simultaneously hold all three titles, and reached a peak rating of 2882, the highest in history. In 2016, he defended his title against Sergey Karjakin.

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 more difficult for opponents to prepare against him and reduce the effect of computer analysis. He has stated the middlegame is his favourite part of the game as it "comes down to pure chess." His positional mastery and endgame prowess have drawn comparisons to those of former World Champions Bobby Fischer, Anatoly Karpov, Vasily Smyslov, and José Raúl Capablanca.