Magnus Carlsen!
Early life
Magnus Carlsen was born on November the 30th 1990 in Tønsberg, a city in South-Eastern Norway. He showed great talent and by the age of 2 he could solve 50 piece jigsaw puzzles and he played with lego sets intended for 10-14 year olds. At the age of 5, Magnus was busy memorizing the areas, population numbers, flags and capitals of every country in the world. His impressive memory helped him as he became intrested in chess. It was when Magnus was 5 that his father, Henrik Carlsen, introduced him to chess. His initial aim was to beat his oldest sister but soon he was replaying games and his first chess book was 'Find the Plan' by GM Bent Larsen, the storngest ever scandinavian player before Carlsen.
Early chess career
Early in his chess career, Carlsen was coached by Norway’s top player, the seven-time national champion GM Simen Agdestein, who, with former Norwegian junior champion Torbjorn Ringdal Hansen helped Carlsen improve his talent quickly. In one year (2000), his rating increased more than 1,000 points, from 904 to 1907. Soon he started to rack up impressive performances and tournament wins. Then his breakthrough performance came, according to Carlsen and his family, at the Norwegian championship for junior teams in September 2000. He scored 3.5 out of 5 against the country’s top players. Still just nine years old, Carlsen had managed to acheive a rating performance of about 2000 in the event. In 2002 he continued his upward trajectory. He came 6th in the Under-12 section of the European Youth Chess Championship, and a few weeks later he tied for first place in the World Youth Chess Championship’s Under-12 section. He secured three IM (International Master) norms at the age of 12, to claim his IM title in August 2003. On the 17th March 2004 (having already collected 2 GM norms), Magnus defeated Karpov, the former world champion. The next day, he was paired with the world champion at the time, Garry Kasparov. Magnus played very well and Kasparov was considered fortunate to escape with a draw. Carlsen had a commanding position but faced time trouble. His battles against two of the greatest players to play chess were widely publicized.
If you want to watch Magnus Carlsen's match against Kasparov, type the link below into your browser.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjEmquJhSas
Youngest Grandmaster in the World!
The next month, in April, Carlsen got his third and final GM norm. At 13 years, 4 months and 27 days of age, Carlsen became the youngest grandmaster in the world. For many years after this he grew more succesfull, doing well in lots of tournaments and improving his rating. By July 2008 he was second in the world rankings, after Viswanathan Anand, the world champion at the time (now 16th).
The youngest 2800 in hitsory!
In September and October 2009, Carlsen had one of his best performances at the Pearl Spring Chess Tournament. The annual tournament, held from 2008 to 2010, was a double round-robin event that featured six super grandmasters. Carlsen won the 2009 tournament with 8/10 points, finishing 2.5 points ahead of the top-rated player in the world at the time. But the amazing part is Carlsen’s tournament performance rating - 3001. That’s the fourth-highest performance rating in a tournament since the Elo rating system was established in 1970 and the best performance ever by a teenager. The tournament boosted him by 29 points, from 2772-2801. This made him the youngest ever player to break the 1800 barrier.
Forwards and backwards
In 2009 Magnus won the World Blitz Championship Tournament and the London Chess Classic Tournament. In January 2010 he won the annual elite tournament in Wijk aan Zee with 8.5 out of 13 points. The field had an average rating of 2719 and included GMs like Kramnik, Alexei Shirov, Anand, and Hikaru Nakamura. In June, Carlsen won Bazna Kings 2010, going undefeated with 7.5/10 and a 2918 performance rating. He won the tournament two full points ahead of GM Radjabov and GM Boris Gelfand. Then Carlsen suffered a setback. At the Grand Slam Masters Final in October, he faced Kramnik, Anand, and Shirov in a four-player tournament that had an average rating of 2789—the highest-rated event in history at the time. Carlsen suffered two losses and finished third, achieving a performance rating of only 2719. Rated 2826 coming into the tournament, Carlsen dropped to 2802 following the event, and he lost his grip on being the world’s number-one player. Anand, rated 2804, took the top spot. Next for Carlsen was the 2010 Pearl Spring Chess Tournament, which took place days after the Grand Slam. He finished in 1st with 7/10 points, one point in front of Anand. Carlsen ended the year with a third-place finish in the World Blitz Championship and another win at the London Chess Classic.
Back to number 1!
In FIDE’s ratings list for July 2011, Carlsen overtook Anand, and since that time, Carlsen has remained the highest-rated player in the world. Carlsen had another good year in 2012. At Wijk aan Zee, he finished behind Aronian in a second-place tie with GM Radjabov and GM Fabiano Caruana. Another second-place finish came at the Biel Grandmaster Tournament, this time behind GM Wang Hao. Then came another two wins. At the Grand Slam Chess Final, Carlsen won first place after beating Caruana in blitz tiebreaks 2-0, finishing ahead of the talented American as well as Aronian, Anand, and Karjakin. Finally, in December, Carlsen won the 2012 London Chess Classic, his third win at the tournament. He finished ahead of a star-studded field that included GMs Kramnik, Michael Adams, Nakamura, Anand, Aronian, and Polgar. After his performance at the London Chess Classic, Carlsen broke Kasparov’s rating record (2851). In January 2013, it was official in FIDE’s ratings list. Carlsen had earned a rating of 2861 - the highest ever.
The Undisputed World Champion!
Carlsen started 2013 with another win in Wijk aan Zee. With 10/13 points, equaling Kasparov’s record score in the 1999 tournament, Carlsen finished 1.5 points ahead of second-place Aronian. He also had a couple of second-place finishes at the inaugural Norway Chess 2013 tournament and the Tal Memorial. In September, Carlsen finished a point ahead of Nakamura in his Sinquefield Cup win. One month later, Carlsen faced the world champion at the time, Anand, for the most important title in chess. Previously, though, in March and April, Carlsen had competed in the 2013 Candidates Tournament and won the event on tiebreaks over the world’s number-two player at the time, Kramnik. That set the stage for Carlsen vs. Anand in the World Chess Championship 2013 in Chennai, India (Anand's home town). Carlsen was rated 2870 while Anand, number-eight in the world, was rated nearly 100 points lower at 2775. Anand was a favourite going into the Championship, which was a best of 12, or first to 6.5. If, after the 12 games, the result was 6 - 6, then there would be a blitz tiebreaker. Magnus suffered from stress during the first 4 games, which were all draws. During the break, Magnus took a break to calm down, playing games with his family and having fun. This worked and Magnus Carlsen won the next to games. In the fifth game, Carlsen castled queenside on the white side of a Marshall Gambit opening. With better piece activity and pawn structure, Carlsen kept the pressure on Anand, who had missed a key move in a rook-and-bishop endgame to keep the balance. Carlsen took the first win in the match, and his momentum continued in the next game. This put him up 4-2. The next two games were relatively quiet. In game seven, Carlsen defended well as Black in the Berlin Defense of the Ruy Lopez, leading to a draw. And then, in game eight, Carlsen opted for 1. e4 for the first time, which caught Anand by surprise. Anand then made a mistake by playing the quiet Berlin Defense, which led to piece trades and a symmetrical position, resulting in another draw. After being down, 5-3, Anand decided to play more aggresively as Magnus had nearly won. This didn't work and Magnus won 6.5-3.5. He became the 16th Chess World Champion!
Back to the present
After many years of success, Magnus still holds the title of Chess World Champion, even though he has been challenged many times, even by Viswanathan Anand who he beat to become Champion and Fabiano Caruana, the current number 2 in the world. His Elo rating is 2863 and has been holding his Wold Champion for so long that he nearly has the record for longest time as World Champion (Kasparov holds the record). Recently he managed to hit 100+ games without being beaten. He really is a remarkable man.
