A Throne of Gold: Evaluating Magnus Carlsen's Net Worth
As Magnus Carlsen chases (his own) all-time FIDE rating record, the Norwegian’s net worth continues to soar, but just how much is the ‘it-boy’ of chess actually worth? Let’s take a look…
Bringing Home the Bacon
It’s thrilling for an amateur player to win even a few hundred dollars at a club tournament, but in 2018 Magnus raked in a walloping $830,000 with his chess prowess alone (about 75% of which came from his World Championship win).
It’s worth noting that years with World Championship matches might be a bit more lucrative for the 28-year-old champion, but Magnus’s ability to dominate events in the interim still pads his wallet quite nicely. His near-sweep of the 2017 Grand Chess Tour, for example, brought in $245,000.
Clearly, Magnus makes a great living through just his chess winnings, but when you’re the dominating force in your field for the better half of a decade, slews of other financial opportunities are bound to present themselves.
Magnus the Chess Champion and Magnus the Brand.
One thing that Carlsen has achieved, which many chess players or even athletes from other sports tend to struggle with is achieving household name status. Sure, Magnus Carlsen is first and foremost the greatest chess player to ever live, but the past several years have also witnessed him evolve into a brand.
Carlsen has a handful of long-time sponsors, such as Arctic Securities and Simonsen Vogt Wiig, both of which are featured as prominently as they are cleverly on his fitted tournament blazers. Additionally, it's not rare to see him starring in luxury ad campaigns for brands like Omega Watches or Porsche.
"Carlsen is as charismatic and independent as he is talented." - Gary Kasparov
An even better example of Magnus the brand would be Play Magnus, a chess app that allows the user to play against simulations of the World Champion from different ages in his life. The company itself was valued at over $16,000,000 in 2016, and as one might expect, the man himself is the main shareholder with 52% ownership.
Considering Play Magnus, cumulative endorsements and his chess winnings, it’s easy to argue that Magnus Carlsen’s net worth clears the 15 million mark with relative ease.
The chess player turned businessman also owns Magnuschess AS, a company generally used to collect his earnings from all of the aforementioned, (chess tournaments, sponsorships and Play Magnus). Magnuschess AS also reports its annual earnings and profits, which also helps triangulate Carlsen’s net worth.
According to Proff.co, the company’s reported profits are as follows:
- 2013 – $2,050,000
- 2014 – $1,950,000
- 2015 – $1,520,000
- 2016 – $1,860,000
- 2017 – $1,590,000
- Total – $8,970,000
Between this estimate and the actual value of his assets in companies like Play Magnus as well as his other investments, the 15 to 20 million range seems, well, right on the money.