Magnus Carlsen’s Rise To The Top

Welcome to my first blog readers! Kindly excuse me if there are any rookie mistakes!

Who is Magnus Carlsen?

Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen ( Known as Magnus Carlsen) (born 30 November 1990)is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is a former five-time World Chess Champion (2013–2023) . In 2023 he chose not to defend his title  but  is one of the highest rated players in the history of chess.

Childhood 

His father, a keen amateur chess player, taught him to play at age five, although he initially showed little interest in it.He has three sisters, and in 2010 stated that one thing that first motivated him to take up chess seriously was the desire to beat his elder sister at the game.

The first chess book Carlsen read was a booklet named Find the Plan by Bent Larsen,and his first book on openings was Eduard Gufeld's The Complete Dragon.[15] Carlsen developed his early chess skills playing by himself for hours on end—moving the pieces around, searching for combinations, and replaying games and positions his father showed him. Simen Agdestein emphasises Carlsen's exceptional memory, stating that he was able to recall the locations, populations, flags and capitals of all the countries in the world by age five. Later, he memorised the locations, populations, coats-of-arms and administrative centres of "virtually all" 356 Norwegian municipalities.He participated in his first tournament—the youngest division of the 1999 Norwegian Chess Championship—at 8 years and 7 months, and scored 6/11.

  
Carlsen, aged 13, in Molde giving a simultaneous exhibition, July 2004
Carlsen was coached at the Norwegian College of Elite Sport by the country's top player, Grandmaster (GM) Simen Agdestein, who in turn cites Norwegian football manager Egil "Drillo" Olsen as a key inspiration for his coaching strategy.In 2000, Agdestein introduced Carlsen to Torbjørn Ringdal Hansen, a former Norwegian junior champion and later International Master (IM) and Grandmaster(GM), as Ringdal served a one-year alternative civilian service programme at the college.

From autumn 2000 to the end of 2002, Carlsen played almost 300 rated tournament games, as well as in several blitz tournaments, and participated in other minor events.In October 2002, he placed sixth in the European Under-12 Championship in Peñiscola.The following month, he tied for first place in the 2002 World Under-12 Championship in Heraklion, placing second to Ian Nepomniachtchi on tiebreak.[25] He then obtained three IM norms in relatively quick succession: the first at the January 2003 Gausdal Troll Masters (score 7/10, 2453 PR); the second at the June 2003 Salongernas IM-tournament in Stockholm (6/9, 2470 PR); and the third at the July 2003 Politiken Cup in Copenhagen (8/11, 2503 PR). He was officially awarded the IM title on 20 August 2003.

After finishing primary school, Carlsen took a year off to participate in international chess tournaments in Europe during the autumn of 2003, then returned to complete secondary education at a sports school.During the year away from school, he placed joint-third in the European Under-14 Championship and ninth in the 2003 World Under-14 Championship.He is also attained the GM title early, making him one of the youngest to receive the grandmaster title .

Present life

2023: 

Carlsen ceased to be World Champion after the World Chess Championship 2023, ceding the title to Ding Liren. In an interview after the match, Carlsen said he is suffering from a lack of motivation to play classical chess, because of the dominance of opening preparation. Long forced lines made it very difficult to get a real game between the two players, and one needed to find new ideas in even formerly low-theory lines such as the London system. As a result, he does not find classical chess much fun anymore, preferring rapid and blitz. Carlsen estimates that the chances of him participating in the next Candidates Tournament (currently scheduled for 2024) are less than 1%, due to the lack of motivation.

Source: 1st part wrote by myself, 2nd part : Part of Wikipedia edited by me , 3rd part written completely by me.

My og blog will be released later cause of exams (Wrote this blog for testing this blog thing)