History of CM
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (Norwegian: [sʋɛn ˈmɑŋnʉs
øːn ˈkɑːɭsn̩] ; born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian
chess grandmaster, No. 1 ranked player in the world
and reigning World Chess Champion in classical, rapid
and blitz. His peak rating is 2882, the highest in
history .
A chess prodigy, Carlsen became a Grandmaster in
2004, at the age of 13 years, 148 days, making him at
that time the second youngest grandmaster in history,
although he has since become the third youngest. On 1
January 2010, at the age of 19 years, 32 days, he
became the youngest chess player in history to be
ranked world No. 1 . In November 2013, Carlsen
defeated Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess
Championship 2013 , thus becoming the new world
chess champion . On the May 2014 FIDE rating list,
Carlsen reached his top Elo rating of 2882, [1] the
highest in history. He successfully defended his title in
November 2014, once again defeating Anand.
Carlsen was known for his attacking style as a
teenager and later developed into a more universal
player. He does not focus on opening preparation as
much as other top players and plays a variety of
openings, making it harder for opponents to prepare
against him. His positional mastery and endgame
prowess have drawn comparisons to those of former
world champions José Raúl Capablanca , Vasily
Smyslov, and Anatoly Karpov.
Childhood
Carlsen giving a simultaneous
exhibition in Molde in July 2004
Carlsen was born in Tønsberg , Norway, on 30
November 1990, to Sigrun Øen and Henrik Albert
Carlsen, both engineers ( sivilingeniør) by profession.
[2] The family spent one year in Espoo , Finland, and
then in Brussels , Belgium, and in 1998 returned to
Norway and settled in Lommedalen , Bærum . They
later moved to Haslum .[3] Carlsen showed an aptitude
for intellectual challenges at a young age: at two
years, he could solve 50-piece jigsaw puzzles; at four,
he enjoyed assembling Lego sets with instructions
intended for children aged 10–14. [4] His father taught
him to play chess at the age of 5, although he initially
showed little interest in the game. [5]
The first chess book Carlsen read was Find the Plan
by Bent Larsen ,[6] and his first book on openings was
Eduard Gufeld 's The Complete Dragon . [7] Carlsen
developed his early chess skills by playing alone for
hours at a time—moving the pieces around the
chessboard, searching for combinations, and replaying
games and positions shown to him by his father.
Simen Agdestein emphasises Carlsen's extreme
memory, claiming that he was able to recall the areas,
population numbers, flags and capitals of all the
countries in the world by the age of five. Later, Carlsen
had memorised the areas, population numbers, coat-
of-arms and administrative centres of "virtually all"
Norwegian municipalities .[8] Carlsen participated in
his first tournament—the youngest division of the 1999
Norwegian Chess Championship —at the age of 8
years and 7 months, scoring 6½/11. [9]
Carlsen was later coached at the Norwegian College of
Elite Sport by the country's top player, Grandmaster
(GM) Simen Agdestein, [10] who in turn cites
Norwegian football manager and Egil "Drillo" Olsen as
a key inspiration for his coaching strategy. [2] In 2000,
Agdestein introduced Carlsen to Torbjørn Ringdal
Hansen, an International Master (IM) and former
Norwegian junior champion, as Ringdal served a one-
year siviltjeneste at the college. Over the course of
this year, Carlsen's rating rose from 904 in June 2000,
to 1907. Carlsen's breakthrough occurred in the
Norwegian junior teams championship in September
2000, where Carlsen scored 3½/5 against the top
junior players of the country, and a performance rating
(PR) of about 2000. [11] Apart from chess, which
Carlsen studied about three to four hours a day, his
favourite pastimes included football , skiing, and
reading Donald Duck comics. [12] Carlsen also
practiced ski jumping until the age of ten. His personal
best is 21 metres. [13]
From autumn 2000 to the end of 2002, Carlsen played
almost 300 rated tournament games, as well as
several blitz tournaments, and participated in other
minor events. [14] After this, he obtained three IM
norms in relatively quick succession; his first was at
the January 2003 Gausdal Troll Masters (score 7/10,
2345 PR), the second was at the June 2003
Salongernas IM-tournament in Stockholm (6/9, 2470
PR), and the third and final IM norm was obtained at
the July 2003 Politiken Cup in Copenhagen (8/11,
2503 PR). He was officially awarded the IM title on 20
August 2003. [15] After finishing primary school,
Carlsen took a year off to participate in international
chess tournaments held in Europe during the fall
season of 2003, returning to complete secondary
education at a sports school. [16][17] During the year
away from school, he finished in a tie for third in the
European Under-14 Boys Championship. [18]
Chess career
Carlsen vs. Ernst, 2004
a b c d e f g h
8 8
7 7
6 6
5 5
4 4
3 3
2 2
1 1
a b c d e f g h
Position after 17...c5. The game
continued 18.Ng6 fxg6 19.Qxe6+ Kh8
20.hxg6 Ng8 21.Bxh6 gxh6 22.Rxh6+
Nxh6 23.Qxe7 Nf7 24.gxf7 Kg7 25.Rd3
Rd6 26.Rg3+ Rg6 27.Qe5+ Kxf7 28.Qf5+
Rf6 29.Qd7#
Carlsen made headlines after his victory in the C
group at the Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee.
Carlsen obtained a score of 10½/13, losing just one
game (against the highest-rated player of the C group,
Duško Pavasovič). [19] As a result of the victory, he
earned his first GM norm, and achieved a PR of 2702.
Particularly notable was his win over Sipke Ernst in
the penultimate round, when Carlsen sacrificed
material to give mate in just 29 moves. [20] The first
23 moves in that game had already been played in
another game—Almagro Llanas– Gustafsson , Madrid
2003 (which ended in a draw )—but Carlsen's over-
the-board novelty immediately led to a winning
position. Carlsen's victory in the C group qualified him
to play in the B group in 2005, and it led Lubomir
Kavalek , writing for the Washington Post , to give him
the title " Mozart of chess". Agdestein said that Carlsen
had an excellent memory and played an unusually
wide range of openings. [21] Carlsen's prowess caught
the attention of Microsoft, which became his sponsor.
[22]
Carlsen obtained his second GM norm in the Moscow
Aeroflot Open in February. On 17 March, in a blitz
chess tournament in Reykjavík , Iceland, Carlsen
defeated former World Champion Anatoly Karpov . The
blitz tournament was a preliminary event leading up to
a rapid knockout tournament beginning the next day.
In that event, Carlsen was paired with Garry Kasparov ,
then the top-rated player in the world. Carlsen
achieved a draw in their first game and lost the
second one, and was thus knocked out of the
tournament. [23]
In the sixth Dubai Open Chess Championship, held
18–28 April, Carlsen obtained his third and final GM
norm. This caused him to become the world's
youngest GM at the time, as well as the third-youngest
GM in history (after Sergey Karjakin , who earned the
title at the age of 12 years and 7 months[24] and
Parimarjan Negi). [25] Carlsen played in the FIDE
World Chess Championship , thus becoming the
youngest player ever to participate in one, but was
knocked out in the first round by Levon Aronian. [26]
In July, Carlsen and Berge Østenstad (then the
reigning Norwegian champion) tied for first in the
Norwegian Chess Championship, each scoring 7/9. A
two-game match between them was arranged to
decide the title. Both games were drawn, which left
Østenstad the champion because he had superior
tiebreaks in the tournament. [27]
In the Smartfish Chess Masters event at the Drammen
International Chess Festival 2004–05, Carlsen
defeated Alexei Shirov , then ranked No. 10 [28] in the
world, as well as the co-winner of the tournament. [29]
In the semifinals of the Ciudad de León rapid chess
tournament in June, Carlsen played a four-game
match against Viswanathan Anand, who was ranked
No. 2 in the world at the time and had won the 2003
World Rapid Chess Championship .[30] Anand won 3–
1. [31]
In the Norwegian Chess Championship, Carlsen again
finished in shared first place, this time with his mentor
Simen Agdestein. A playoff between them was played
between 7 and 10 November. This time, Carlsen had
the better tiebreaks, but the rule giving the title to the
player with better tiebreak scores in the event of a 1–
1 draw had been revoked previously. The match was
closely fought—Agdestein won the first game, Carlsen
the second—so the match went into a series of two-
game rapid matches until there was a winner. Carlsen
won the first rapid game, Agdestein the second. Then
followed three draws until Agdestein won the
championship title with a victory in the sixth rapid
game. [32]
Carlsen in Warsaw, 2005
At the end of 2005, Carlsen participated at the Chess
World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. In the
knockout tournament, he upset the 44th-ranked Zurab
Azmaiparashvili in round one, and proceeded to defeat
Farrukh Amonatov and Ivan Cheparinov to reach the
round of 16. There, Carlsen lost to Evgeny Bareev , [33]
but then won against Joël Lautier and Vladimir
Malakhov before losing again to Gata Kamsky. Thus,
Carlsen finished in tenth place and became the
youngest player to be an official World Championship
Candidate. [34] In October, he took first place at the
Arnold Eikrem Memorial in Gausdal with a score 8/9
and a PR of 2792. [35]
Carlsen qualified for a place in the Corus B group due
to his first place finish in Corus group C in 2004. His
shared first place with Alexander Motylev with 9/13
(+6−1=6) qualified him to play in the Corus group A
in 2007. [36]
At the traditional international 'Bosna' tournament in
Sarajevo 2006, Carlsen shared first place with Liviu-
Dieter Nisipeanu (who won on tiebreak evaluation)
and Vladimir Malakhov; this could be regarded as
Carlsen's first “A” elite tournament win, although it
was not a clear first. [37]
Carlsen was close to winning the 2006 Norwegian
Chess Championship outright, but a last-round loss to
Berge Østenstad dropped him into another tie for first
place with Agdestein. It also prevented Carlsen from
beating Agdestein's record as the youngest Norwegian
champion ever. [38] Nonetheless, in the playoff held
from 19–21 September, Carlsen won 3–1. After two
draws at standard time controls, Carlsen won both
rapid games in round two, securing his first Norwegian
championship win. [39]
Carlsen won the Glitnir Blitz Tournament [40] in
Iceland. He achieved a 2–0 win over Viswanathan
Anand in the semifinals and achieved the same score
in the finals. [41] He scored 6/8 in the 37th Chess
Olympiad and achieved a PR of 2820. [42]
In the Midnight Sun Chess Tournament, Carlsen
finished second behind Sergei Shipov .[43] In the Biel
Grandmaster Tournament, he placed second, beating
the tournament winner Alexander Morozevich twice.
[44]
In the NH Chess Tournament held in Amsterdam in
August, Carlsen participated in an "Experience" vs.
"Rising Stars" Scheveningen team match. The "Rising
Stars" won the match 28–22, with Carlsen achieving
the best individual score for the Rising Stars team
(6½/10) and a 2700 PR, thus winning the right to
participate in the 2007 Melody Amber tournament. [45]
With a score of 7½/15, Carlsen placed 8th out of 16
participants at the World Blitz Championship in Rishon
LeZion, Israel. [46] In the rapid chess tournament
Rencontres nationales et internationales d'échecs in
Cap d'Agde , France, he reached the semifinal, losing
there to Sergey Karjakin. [47] In November, Carlsen
achieved a shared 8th place of 10 participants in the
Mikhail Tal Memorial in Moscow with two losses and
seven draws. He finished ninth in a group of 18
participants in the associated blitz tournament, which
was won by Anand. [48]
Carlsen playing Levon Aronian at
Linares 2007
Playing in the top group of the Corus chess
tournament for the first time, Carlsen placed last with
nine draws and four losses, scoring 4½/13. [49] In the
prestigious Linares chess tournament, Carlsen played
against the following top-rated players: Veselin
Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, Peter Svidler , Alexander
Morozevich, Levon Aronian, Peter Leko , and Vassily
Ivanchuk . Despite being rated significantly lower than
any of them, he finished in second place on tiebreaks
with 7½/14, having scored four wins, seven draws and
three losses, and achieving a PR of 2778. [50]
Carlsen played for the first time in the Melody Amber
blind and rapid chess tournament in Monte Carlo in
March. In the 11 rounds, he achieved eight draws and
three losses in the blindfold games, as well as three
wins, seven draws and one loss in the rapid games.
This resulted in a shared ninth place in the blindfold,
shared second place in the rapid (behind Anand), and
a shared eighth place in the overall tournament. [51]
In May and June, he participated in the Candidates
Tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship
2007 , facing Levon Aronian in a six-game match at
standard time controls, which Carlsen drew (+2−2=2)
by coming from behind twice. The four-game rapid
playoff was drawn as well (+1−1=2), with Carlsen
winning the last game to stay in the match. Eventually,
Aronian eliminated Carlsen from the tournament after
winning both tiebreak blitz games. [52]
In July and August, Carlsen won the Biel Grandmaster
Tournament with a 6/10 record and a PR of 2753. His
score was matched by Alexander Onischuk and they
played a match to break the tie. After drawing two
rapid and two blitz games, Carlsen won the
armageddon game. [53] Immediately after the Biel
tournament, Carlsen entered the open Arctic Chess
Challenge in Tromsø , but his fourth place result with
+5=4 was a slight underperformance in terms of
rating. In the first round, Carlsen, surprisingly,
conceded a draw to his classmate Brede Hagen (rated
2034) [54] after having a lost position at one point. [55]
A game which attracted some attention was his sixth-
round win over his father, Henrik Carlsen. [56]
Carlsen reached the semifinal round of the World
Chess Cup in December, after defeating Michael
Adams in the round of 16 and Ivan Cheparinov in the
quarterfinals. In the semifinal, he was eliminated by
the eventual winner, Gata Kamsky, scoring ½–1½. [57]
Carlsen in 2008
In the top group A of the Corus chess tournament,
Carlsen scored 8/13, achieving a PR of 2830. Carlsen
won five games, lost two and drew six, sharing first
place with Levon Aronian. [58] At the Linares chess
tournament, Carlsen had another 2800+ PR, scoring
8/14. He finished in sole second place, ½ point behind
the winner World Champion Viswanathan Anand. [59]
In March, Carlsen played for the second time in the
Melody Amber blind and rapid chess tournament, held
in Nice for the first time. In the 11 rounds he achieved
four wins, four draws and two losses in the blindfold,
and three wins, two losses, and six draws in the rapid.
This resulted in a shared fifth place in the blindfold,
shared third place in the rapid and a shared second
place in the overall tournament. [60]
Carlsen was one of 21 players in the six-tournament
FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2009 , a qualifier for the World
Chess Championship 2012 . In the first tournament, in
Baku, Azerbaijan , he finished in a three-way tie for
first place, with another 2800 PR. Carlsen later
withdrew from the Grand Prix cycle despite his initial
success, criticizing how FIDE was "changing the rules
dramatically in the middle of a [World Championship]
cycle". [61]
Carlsen won a rapid match against Peter Leko held in
Miskolc, Hungary, scoring 5–3. [62] In June, Carlsen
won the annual Aerosvit event, [63] finishing
undefeated with 8/11 in a category 19 field and
achieving a PR of 2877, his best PR at that point in
his career. [64] Playing in the category 18 Biel
Grandmaster Tournament, Carlsen finished third with
6/10, with a PR of 2740. [65]
In the Mainz World Rapid Chess Championship,
Carlsen finished in second place after losing the final
to defending champion Anand 3–1. [66] In the
qualification round Carlsen scoring 1½–½ against
Judit Polgár, 1–1 against Anand and 1–1 against
Alexander Morozevich . [67] In the category 22 Bilbao
Masters, Carlsen tied for second with a 2768 PR. [68]
Playing in Group A of the Corus chess tournament,
Carlsen tied for fifth with a 2739 PR. [69] In the
Linares chess tournament, Carlsen finished third with
a 2777 PR. [70] Carlsen tied for second place with
Veselin Topalov at the M-Tel Masters (category 21)
tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. He lost to eventual
winner Alexei Shirov in their final game, dropping him
from first. [71]
Carlsen won the category 21 Nanjing Pearl Spring
tournament, 2½ points ahead of second-place finisher
Topalov, the world's highest-rated player at the time.
He scored an undefeated 8/10, winning every game as
white (against Topalov, Wang Yue, Leko, Radjabov,
and Jakovenko), and also winning as black against
Jakovenko. By rating performance, this was one of the
greatest results in history, with a PR of 3002. [72]
Chess statistician Jeff Sonas has declared it one of
the 20 best tournament performances of all time, and
the best chess performance of all time by a teenager.
[73]
In the Tal Memorial, played from 5 to 14 November,
Carlsen started with seven straight draws, but finished
with wins over Ruslan Ponomariov and Peter Leko.
This result put Carlsen in shared second place behind
Kramnik and equal with Ivanchuk. [74][75] After the
Tal Memorial, Carlsen won the World Blitz
Championship, played from 16 to 18 November in
Moscow, Russia. His score of 28 wins, 6 draws and 8
losses left him three points ahead of Anand, who
finished in second place. [76]
Carlsen at the World Blitz
Championship 2009
Carlsen entered the London Chess Classic as the top
seed in a field including Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura ,
Michael Adams, Nigel Short , Ni Hua, Luke McShane
and David Howell. He defeated Kramnik in round one
and went on to win the tournament with 13/21 (three
points were awarded for a win, and one for a draw;
using classical scoring he finished with 5/7) and a PR
of 2844, one point ahead of Kramnik. This victory
propelled him to the top of the FIDE rating list,
surpassing Veselin Topalov. [77]
Based on his average ranking from the July 2009 and
January 2010 FIDE lists, Carlsen qualified for the
Candidates Tournament that would determine the
challenger to World Champion Viswanathan Anand in
the World Chess Championship 2012. In November
2010, however, Carlsen announced he was withdrawing
from the Candidates Tournament. Carlsen described
the 2008–12 cycle as "[not] sufficiently modern and
fair", and wrote that "Reigning champion privileges,
the long (five year) span of the cycle, changes made
during the cycle resulting in a new format
(Candidates) that no World Champion has had to go
through since Kasparov, puzzling ranking criteria as
well as the shallow ceaseless match-after-match
concept are all less than satisfactory in my
opinion." [78]
In early 2009 Carlsen engaged former World
Champion Garry Kasparov as a personal trainer. [79]
In September their partnership was revealed to the
public by Norwegian newspapers. [80][81]
Responding to a question in an interview with Time
magazine in December 2009 regarding whether he
used computers when studying chess, Carlsen
explained that he does not use a chess set when
studying on his own. [82]
Carlsen won the Corus chess tournament played 16–
31 January with 8½ points. His ninth-round loss to
Kramnik ended a streak of 36 rated games
undefeated. [83] Carlsen appeared to struggle in the
last round against Fabiano Caruana , but saved a draw,
leaving him half a point ahead of Kramnik and Shirov.
[84]
In March it was announced that Carlsen had split from
Kasparov and would no longer use him as a trainer,
[85] although this was put into different context by
Carlsen himself in an interview with the German
magazine Der Spiegel, in which he stated that they
would remain in contact and he would continue to
attend training sessions with Kasparov. [86] In 2011,
Carlsen said: "Thanks to [Kasparov] I began to
understand a whole class of positions better. ...
Kasparov gave me a great deal of practical help." [87]
In 2012, when asked what he learnt from working with
Kasparov, Carlsen answered: "Complex positions. That
was the most important thing." [88]
Carlsen shared first place alongside Ivanchuk in the
Amber blindfold and rapid tournament. Scoring 6½/11
in the blindfold and 8/11 in the rapid, Carlsen
accumulated 14½ from a possible 22 points. [89] In
May it was revealed that Carlsen had helped Anand
prepare for the World Chess Championship 2010
against challenger Veselin Topalov, which Anand won
6½–5½ to retain the title. Carlsen had also helped
Anand prepare for the World Chess Championships in
2007 and 2008 . [90]
Carlsen played in the Bazna Kings Tournament in
Romania on 14–25 June. The tournament was a
double round robin involving Wang Yue, Boris Gelfand ,
former FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov,
Teimour Radjabov, and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu . He
finished with 7½/10 and a 2918 PR, winning the
tournament by two points ahead of Radjabov and
Gelfand. [91] Carlsen then played in a rapid
tournament 28–30 August at the Arctic Securities
Chess Stars tournament in Kristiansund, Norway. The
field featured World Champion Viswanathan Anand,
female world No. 1 Judit Polgár, and Jon Ludvig
Hammer . In the preliminary round robin, Carlsen
scored 3½/6 to qualify for the final, second behind
Anand. [92] In the final, Carlsen defeated Anand 1½–½
to win the championship. [93] Following this event,
Carlsen suffered setbacks in his next two
tournaments. In the 39th Chess Olympiad from 19
September to 4 October, he scored 4½/8, losing three
games, to Baadur Jobava , Michael Adams, and Sanan
Sjugirov ; these were his first losses with the black
pieces in more than a year. [94] His team, Norway,
finished 51st out of 149 teams. [95]
Carlsen's next tournament was the Grand Slam
Masters Final on 9–15 October, which he had
qualified for automatically by winning three of the
previous year's four Grand Slam chess events (2009
Nanjing Pearl Spring, 2010 Corus, 2010 Bazna Kings).
Along with Carlsen, the finals consisted of World
Champion Anand and the highest two scorers from the
preliminary stage held in Shanghai in September:
Kramnik and Shirov. [96][97] The average Elo of the
participants at the time was 2789, making the Grand
Slam Final the strongest chess tournament in history.
In the first round, Carlsen lost with black to Kramnik;
this was Carlsen's second consecutive loss to
Kramnik, and placed his hold on the world No. 1
ranking in serious jeopardy. In his second round,
Carlsen lost with the white pieces to Anand; this was
his first loss as White since January 2010. Carlsen
recovered somewhat in the latter part of the
tournament, achieving a win over Shirov, and finishing
with 2½/6. The tournament was won by Kramnik with
4/6. [98] Carlsen finished this tournament with a
rating of 2802, two points behind Anand at 2804 who
temporarily ended Carlsen's reign at world No. 1.
These setbacks called into question from some
whether Carlsen's activities outside chess, such as
modelling for G-Star Raw, were distracting him from
performing well at the chessboard. [99] Carlsen said he
did not believe there was a direct connection. [100]
Carlsen's next tournament was the Pearl Spring chess
tournament on 19–30 October in Nanjing, China,
against Anand, Topalov, Vugar Gashimov, Yue, and
Étienne Bacrot .[101] This was the only tournament in
2010 to feature Anand, Carlsen and Topalov, at the
time the top three players in the world, and was the
first tournament in history to feature three players
rated at least 2800. With early wins over Bacrot, Yue,
and Topalov with white, Carlsen took the early lead,
extending his winning streak with white in Nanjing to
eight. This streak was halted by a draw to Anand in
round seven, but in the penultimate round Carlsen
secured first place by defeating Topalov with black.
This was his second victory in the tournament over the
former world No. 1; his final score of 7/10 (with a PR
of 2903) was a full point ahead of runner-up Anand.
[102]
Carlsen at the 2010 London Chess
Classic
In the World Blitz Championship, held in Moscow on
16–18 November, Carlsen attempted to defend his
2009 title. With a score of 23½/38, he finished in third
place behind Radjabov and winner Levon Aronian.
[103] After the tournament, Carlsen played a private
40-game blitz match against Hikaru Nakamura, [104]
winning with a score of 23½–16½. [105]
Carlsen won the London Chess Classic on 8–15
December in a field comprising World Champion
Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Nakamura, and British
players Adams, Nigel Short, David Howell, and Luke
McShane. Carlsen had a rocky start, losing his games
to McShane and Anand in rounds 1 and 3, but winning
with white against Adams and Nakamura in rounds 2
and 4. He joined the lead with a win over Howell in
round 5, and managed to stay in the lead following a
harrowing draw against Kramnik in round 6, before
defeating Short in the last round. Since the tournament
was played with three points for a win, Carlsen's
+4−2=1 score put him ahead of Anand and McShane
who scored +2=5 (a more traditional two-points-for-
a-win system would have yielded a three-way tie, with
Carlsen still on top, having the better tiebreaker due to
four games with black—Anand and McShane played
only three times with black). [106]
Carlsen competed in the GM-A group of the Tata Steel
Chess (Corus) tournament on 14–30 January in Wijk
aan Zee in an attempt to defend his title; the field
included World Champion Viswanathan Anand, Levon
Aronian, former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik,
Alexander Grischuk, Hikaru Nakamura, and former
FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov, among
others. Despite losing games with white against Anish
Giri and reigning Russian champion Ian
Nepomniachtchi, Carlsen finished with 8/13, including
victories over Kramnik and tournament winner
Nakamura. [107] Although Carlsen's performance
raised his rating from 2814 to 2815, Anand's 8½/13
score elevated his rating to 2817, making him the
world No. 1 for the March 2011 FIDE rating list. [108]
The first tournament victory of the year came in the
Bazna Kings tournament, a double round robin played
in Medias on 11–21 June. Carlsen finished with
6½/10, equal with Sergey Karjakin but with a better
tiebreak score. Carlsen won his White games against
Nakamura, Nisipeanu, and Ivanchuk and drew the rest
of the games. [109]
The Grand Slam Chess Final was held as a double
round robin with six players, in São Paulo (25
September–1 October) and Bilbao (5–11 October).
Although Carlsen had a slow start, including a loss
against bottom-ranked Vallejo Pons, he finished
+3−1=6, equal with Ivanchuk (whose +4−3=3 finish
was equal due to three points for a win). Carlsen then
won the blitz tiebreak against Ivanchuk. The other
players were Anand, Aronian, Nakamura, and Vallejo
Pons. [110]
Another tournament victory was achieved in the Tal
Memorial in Moscow 16–25 November as a round
robin with ten players. Carlsen won two games,
against Gelfand and Nakamura, and drew the rest.
Although he finished equal on points with Aronian, he
placed ahead since the tiebreak was determined by the
number of Black games; Carlsen had five Black games
while Aronian only had four. [111]
In the London Chess Classic, played 3–12 December,
Carlsen's streak of tournament victories ended when
he finished third, behind Kramnik and Nakamura.
Carlsen won three games and drew five. Although he
did not win the tournament, Carlsen gained rating
points, rising to a new personal record of 2835. [112]
Carlsen at the Tata Steel Chess
Tournament in 2012
At the Tata Steel Chess Tournament held 14–29
January in Wijk aan Zee, Carlsen finished in a shared
second place with 8/13, behind Aronian, and equal
with Radjabov and Caruana. Carlsen defeated
Gashimov, Aronian, Gelfand, and Topalov, but lost
against Karjakin. [113] At the Blitz chess tournament at
Tal Memorial, Moscow 7 June, Carlsen shared first
place with Morozevich. In the main event (a category
22 ten-player round robin), he won two games and
drew seven. He finished in first place, ahead of
Radjabov and Caruana. [114]
Carlsen then went on to finish second in the Biel
Grandmaster Tournament, with 18 points, just one
point behind Hao using the 3–1–0 scoring system. As
in the Tal Memorial earlier in 2012, Carlsen managed
to finish the tournament without any losses (+4−0=6).
He also defeated the winner Hao in both of their
individual games. In the exhibition blitz tournament at
Biel before the GM tournament, Carlsen was eliminated
(+1−2=0) in the first round by Étienne Bacrot. Bacrot
deprived Carlsen of a win in the classical tournament
by holding him to a draw in the final round. Carlsen
would have won the classical tournament on the
traditional 1–½–0 scoring system, with 7/10. [115]
The Grand Slam Chess Final was again held as a
double round robin with six players, in São Paulo and
Bilbao. Carlsen started with a loss against Caruana,
but after three wins in the second (Bilbao) round,
finished +4−1=5, equal first with Caruana, and ahead
of Aronian, Karjakin and Anand. Carlsen won the
tournament by winning both tiebreak games against
Caruana. [116]
From 24 to 25 November, Carlsen took part in the
chess festival Segunda Gran Fiesta Internacional de
Ajedrez in Mexico City. As part of it, Carlsen took on
an online audience (dubbed as "The World") with the
white pieces and won. He then took part in the
knockout exhibition event Cuadrangular UNAM.
Carlsen first beat Lázaro Bruzón 1½–½, thus
qualifying for a final against Judit Polgár (who had in
turn beat Manuel León Hoyos 1½–½). Carlsen lost the
first game, but won the second one, and in the tiebreak
defeated Polgár 2–0. [117][118]
Carlsen won the London Chess Classic in December
with five wins (over McShane, Aronian, Gawain Jones ,
Adams and Judit Polgár) and three draws (against
Kramnik, Nakamura and Anand). [119] This win, the
third time Carlsen had won the tournament in the past
four years, increased his rating from 2848 to a new
record of 2861, breaking Kasparov's 13-year record of
2851. [119][120] By rating performance, this was one
of the best results in history, with a PR of 2994. [121]
Carlsen in play during round seven at
Tata Steel in Wijk aan Zee, 2013
Carlsen played in the 75th Tata Steel Chess
Tournament from 11 to 27 January in Wijk aan Zee. In
the 13-round tournament, he scored 10 points
(+7−0=6), winning clear first 1½ points ahead of
second-place finisher Aronian. [122] On 1 February,
Danish GM Peter Heine Nielsen joined the team of
assistants who helped Carlsen prepare for the
Candidates Tournament in March . Before this, Nielsen
was on Viswanathan Anand's team. [123]
Carlsen played in the 2013 Candidates Tournament,
which took place in London, from 15 March to 1 April.
He finished with +5−2=7, and won the tournament on
tiebreak over Vladimir Kramnik. As a result, he earned
the right to challenge Anand for the World Champion
title. [124]
In May, Carlsen played in the tournament Norway
Chess. He finished second, scoring 5½/9 (+3−1=5),
half a point behind Sergey Karjakin. [125]
Carlsen played in the Tal Memorial from June 12 to
June 23. He finished second, with 5½/9, half a point
behind Boris Gelfand. Carlsen ended the tournament
with +3−1=5, losing to Caruana but beating Anand,
Kramnik and Nakamura. [126] Later that month,
Carlsen played a four-game friendly rapid match
against Borki Predojević, which he won 2½–1½. [127]
In the Sinquefield Cup , held in September, Carlsen
finished first, scoring +3−0=3, a point ahead of
Nakamura. [128]
Carlsen faced Anand in the World Chess
Championship 2013 in Chennai , India, from 9 to 22
November. Carlsen won the match 6½–3½ by winning
games five, six and nine and drawing the remainder.
Thus, Carlsen became the new world chess champion.
[129]
1. Carlsen vs Anand {draw}
2. Anand vs Carlsen {draw}
3. Carlsen vs Anand {draw}
4. Anand vs Carlsen {draw}
5. Carlsen vs Anand {1-0}
6. Anand vs Carlsen {0-1}
7. Anand vs Carlsen {draw}
8. Carlsen vs Anand {draw}
9. Anand vs Carlsen {0-1}
10. Carlsen vs Anand {draw}
From 29 January to 4 February, Carlsen played in the
2014 Zurich Chess Challenge , winning the preliminary
blitz event (+2−1=2) and the classical event
(+3−0=2). He performed less well in the rapid event
(+1−2=2), which counted towards the overall
standings, but retained enough of a lead to win the
tournament. The other players in the event were
Aronian, Nakamura, Caruana, Gelfand and Anand. [130]
Carlsen played a game for his club Stavanger in the
final team match for promotion to the Norwegian
Premier League on 22 March. His win over Vladimir
Georgiev helped his team to a 3½–2½ win over
Nordstrand. [131]
Carlsen won the Shamkir Chess tournament at Şəmkir,
Azerbaijan , played from 20–30 April. He played in the
A group along with Caruana, Nakamura, Karjakin,
Mamedyarov and Radjabov. Carlsen started the
tournament with 2/2, beating Mamedyarov and
Nakamura. He then drew Karjakin, only to lose two
games in a row for the first time in four years, losing
to Caruana with black and then with white to
Radjabov. In the second half of the tournament,
Carlsen scored 4/5, beating Mamedyarov and
Nakamura again, and securing the tournament victory
by beating Caruana in the final round, finishing with
+5−2=3. [132]
On 8 May Carlsen played an exhibition game at Oslo
City against the people of Norway, assisted by a
grandmaster panel consisting of Simen Agdestein, Leif
Erlend Johannessen , and Jon Ludvig Hammer. Each of
the panel members proposed a move and the public
could then vote over the proposed moves. Each panel
member was allowed three chances to let chess
engine Houdini propose a move during the game.
Norway's moves were executed by Oddvar Brå who
was disguised in a red spandex suit for the occasion.
The game was drawn when Carlsen forced a perpetual
check. [133]
Carlsen placed second (to Sergey Karjakin) in the
2014 edition of Norway Chess, a ten-player round
robin, from 2 June to 13 June. Other players in the
event were Aronian, Caruana, Topalov, Svidler,
Kramnik, Grischuk, Giri and Agdestein. [134]
Carlsen won FIDE World Rapid Championships held in
Dubai from 16 June to 19 June. [135] He went on to
claim the World Blitz Championships two days later,
[136] becoming the first player to simultaneously hold
the title in all three FIDE rated time controls.
Carlsen played nine games for Norway in the 41st
Chess Olympiad , scoring five wins, two draws, and two
losses (against Arkadij Naiditsch and Ivan Šarić ). [137]
Carlsen placed second to Fabiano Caruana in the
Sinquefield Cup , a six-player double round robin in
Saint Louis, Missouri from 27 August to 7 September.
Billed as the strongest chess tournament ever held, the
remaining players in the event were Aronian,
Nakamura, Topalov, and Vachier-Lagrave. [138]
Carlsen faced Anand in a match for the title of World
Chess Champion in November 2014, as Anand
qualified by winning the 2014 Candidates Tournament .
The rematch was held from November 7 to 23 in
Sochi, Russia. After 11 of 12 games, Carlsen led 6.5–
4.5, thereby defending his World Champion title. [139]
1. Anand vs Carlsen draw
2. Carlsen vs Anand {1-0}
3. Anand vs Carlsen {1-0}
4. Carlsen vs Anand draw
5. Anand vs Carlsen draw
6. Carlsen vs Anand {1-0}
7. Anand vs Carlsen draw
8. Anand vs Carlsen draw
9. Carlsen vs Anand draw
10. Anand vs Carlsen draw
11. Carlsen vs Anand {1-0}
In January, Carlsen won the 2015 Tata Steel Chess
Tournament , which was played mainly in Wijk aan Zee
9–25 January. Carlsen had a poor start to the
tournament with two draws and a loss in the third
round to Radosław Wojtaszek, which left him in tenth
place among the fourteen players. However, a string of
six wins in a row thrust Carlsen into clear first place.
Drawing the final four games was sufficient to win the
tournament with 9 points out of 13, half a point ahead
of Anish Giri , Maxime Vachier-Lagrave , Wesley So and
Ding Liren . [140][141]
In February, Carlsen won the 3rd Grenke Chess Classic
after a five-game tiebreak with Arkadij Naiditsch . The
tournament was played in Baden-Baden 2–9 February.
[142] Carlsen finished equal with Naidistch on 4.5/7,
beating Michael Adams, Vishy Anand , and David
Baramidze, and losing to Naiditsch in their classical
encounter. This tournament victory meant that Carlsen
began 2015 by winning two out of two tournaments.
Honours
Carlsen won the Chess Oscars for 2009, 2010, 2011
and 2012. The Chess Oscar, conducted by the Russian
chess magazine 64 , is awarded to the year's best
player according to a worldwide poll of leading chess
critics, writers, and journalists. [143][144] The
Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang (VG) has awarded
him "Name of the Year" ( Årets navn ) twice, in
2009 [145] and 2013. [146] VG also named him
"Sportsman of the year" in 2009 [147] and in the same
year he won the Folkets Idrettspris , a people's choice
award from the newspaper Dagbladet . [148] In 2011,
he was given the Peer Gynt Prize , a Norwegian honour
prize awarded annually to "a person or institution that
has achieved distinction in society"; [149] the following
year, he repeated as winner of Folkets Idrettspris . [150]
In 2013, Time magazine named Carlsen one of the 100
most influential people in the world. [151]
Playing style
Carlsen had an aggressive style of play as a youth,
[152][153] and, according to Agdestein, his play was
characterised by "a fearless readiness to offer
material for activity". [154] Carlsen found as he
matured that this risky playing style was not as well
suited against the world elite. When he started playing
in top tournaments he was struggling against top
players, and had trouble getting much out of the
opening. To progress, Carlsen's style became more
universal, capable of handling all sorts of positions
well. Carlsen opens with both 1.d4 and 1.e4 , as well
as 1.c4 , and, on occasion, 1.Nf3 , thus making it
harder for opponents to prepare against him. [155]
[156] Evgeny Sveshnikov has criticised Carlsen's
opening play, claiming in a 2013 interview that
without a more "scientific" approach to preparation,
his "future doesn't look so promising". [157]
Garry Kasparov, who coached Carlsen from 2009 to
2010, said that Carlsen has a positional style similar
to that of past world champions such as Anatoly
Karpov, José Raúl Capablanca, and Vasily Smyslov ,
rather than the tactical style of Alexander Alekhine ,
Mikhail Tal, and Kasparov himself. [159] According to
Carlsen, however, he does not have any preferences in
playing style. [87] Kasparov said in 2013 that "Carlsen
is a combination of Karpov [and] Fischer. He gets his
positions [and] then never lets go of that bulldog bite.
Exhausting for opponents." [160] Carlsen has also
stated that he follows in the traditions of Karpov and
Fischer, but also mentions Reuben Fine as a player
who "was doing in chess similar to what I am
doing." [161] Anand has said of Carlsen: "The majority
of ideas occur to him absolutely naturally. He's also
very flexible, he knows all the structures and he can
play almost any position. ... Magnus can literally do
almost everything." [162] Kasparov expressed similar
sentiments: "[Carlsen] has the ability to correctly
evaluate any position, which only Karpov could boast
of before him." [163] In a 2012 interview, Vladimir
Kramnik attributed much of Carlsen's success against
other top players to his "excellent physical shape" and
his ability to avoid "psychological lapses", which
enables him to maintain a high standard of play over
long games and at the end of tournaments, when the
energy levels of others have dropped. [164] Tyler
Cowen gave an interesting point of view on Carlsen's
playing style "Carlsen is demonstrating one of his
most feared qualities, namely his “nettlesomeness,” to
use a term coined for this purpose by Ken Regan.
Using computer analysis, you can measure which
players do the most to cause their opponents to make
mistakes. Carlsen has the highest nettlesomeness
score by this metric, because his creative moves
pressure the other player and open up a lot of room
for mistakes. In contrast, a player such as Kramnik
plays a high percentage of very accurate moves, and
of course he is very strong, but those moves are in
some way calmer and they are less likely to induce
mistakes in response." [165]
Carlsen's endgame prowess has been described as
among the greatest in history. [166][167][168][169]
Jon Speelman , analysing several of Carlsen's
endgames from the 2012 London Classic (in
particular, his wins against McShane, Aronian, and
Adams), described what he calls the "Carlsen effect":
Rating
In the January 2006 FIDE list, at the age of 15 years,
32 days, he attained a 2625 Elo rating , which made
Carlsen the youngest person to surpass 2600 Elo (the
record has since been broken by Wei Yi at the age of
14 years, four months, and 30 days). [171] In the July
2007 FIDE list, at the age of 16 years, 213 days,
Carlsen attained a 2710 Elo rating, which made him
the youngest person to surpass 2700 Elo. [172] On 5
September 2008, after winning round 4 in the Bilbao
Grand Slam chess championship, Carlsen, just 17
years, 280 days old, briefly became No. 1 on the
unofficial live ratings list. [173][174] Carlsen's
September–October 2009 victory in the Nanjing Pearl
tournament raised his FIDE rating to 2801, making
him at age 18 years, 336 days, the youngest player
ever to break 2800. [72] The youngest before him was
Vladimir Kramnik at age 25. [175] Before Carlsen, only
Kasparov, Topalov, Kramnik, and Anand had achieved
a 2800+ rating. [176] After the Tal Memorial
(November 2009) he became No. 1 on the unofficial
live chess rating list with his new peak rating of
2805.7, 0.6 point over the No. 2 ranked player, Veselin
Topalov. [177]
The FIDE rankings from January 2010, which took into
account the 16 games played at the Tal Memorial and
the London Chess Classic, were enough to raise
Carlsen's rating to 2810. [178] This meant that Carlsen
started 2010 by being, at the age of 19 years, 32 days,
the youngest ever world No. 1, and also the first
player from a Western nation to reach the top of the
FIDE rating list since Bobby Fischer in 1971. [179][180]
The press coverage of this feat included an interview
and article in Time magazine. [82][181]
The March 2010 FIDE rating list showed Carlsen with
a new peak rating of 2813, a figure that only Kasparov
had bettered at that time. [85] On the January 2013
FIDE rating list, Carlsen reached 2861, thus surpassing
Garry Kasparov's 2851 record from July 1999. [119]
[120] On list from May 2014, Carlsen achieved an all
time high record of 2882. [182]
Head-to-head record versus selected
grandmasters
(Rapid, blitz and blindfold games not included; listed
as +wins −losses =draws as of 6 February 2015.)
[183]
Players who have been World Champion in boldface
Michael
Adams
+8−1=4
Viswanath
an Anand
+10−7=35
Levon
Aronian
+11−4=30
Étienne
Bacrot
+3−0=7
Fabiano
Caruana
+6−4=7
Leinier
Domínguez
+5−0=5
Boris
Gelfand
+5−1=9
Anish
Giri
+0−1=6
Alexander
Grischuk
+2−0=8
Wang
Hao
+3−2=1
Pentala
Harikrishn
a +1−1=2
Vassily
Ivanchuk
+8−3=15
Dmitry
Jakovenko
+4−0=2
Baadur
Jobava
+2−2=2
Gata
Kamsky
+3−2=6
Sergey
Karjakin
+3−1=14
Vladimir
Kramnik
+4−4=13
Peter
Leko
+2−3=10
Shakhriyar
Mamedyar
ov +3−1=6
Luke
McShane
+3−1=3
Alexander
Morozevic
h +3−0=8
Arkadij
Naiditsch
+3−2=7
Hikaru
Nakamura
+11−0=16
David
Navara
+1−1=3
Ian
Nepomniac
htchi
+0−3=1
Judit
Polgár
+2−0=1
Ruslan
Ponomario
v +2−1=3
Teimour
Radjabov
+9−2=18
Krishnan
Sasikiran
+0−0=3
Alexei
Shirov
+6−2=8
Nigel
Short
+2−0=3
Peter
Svidler
+1−2=10
Evgeny
Tomashevs
ky +0−0=1
Veselin
Topalov
+8−3=8
Maxime
Vachier-
Lagrave
+2−1=5
Loek
van Wely
+6−2=5
Radosław
Wojtaszek
+1-1=0
Sortable record list
Name Win
s
Loss
es
Dra
ws
Overall scoring
percentage (%)
Michael
Adams 7 1 4 75
Evgeny
Alekseev 0 2 7 38.89
Viswanathan
Anand 10 7 35 52.88
Levon Aronian 10 4 28 57.14
Étienne Bacrot 3 0 7 65
Ferenc Berkes 0 1 0 0
Lázaro Bruzón 1 1 1 50
Fabiano
Caruana 5 4 7 53.13
Leinier
Domínguez 5 0 5 75
Vugar
Gashimov 1 0 3 62.5
Boris Gelfand 5 1 9 63.33
Anish Giri 0 1 5 41.67
Alexander
Grischuk 2 0 8 60
Wang Hao 3 2 1 58.33
Pentala
Harikrishna 1 1 2 50
Vassily
Ivanchuk 8 3 14 60
Dmitry
Jakovenko 4 0 2 83.33
Baadur Jobava 1 2 2 40
Gata Kamsky 3 2 6 54.55
Sergey
Karjakin 3 1 14 55.56
Vladimir
Kramnik 4 4 13 50
Peter Leko 2 3 10 46.67
Vladimir
Malakhov 0 0 4 50
Shakhriyar
Mamedyarov 3 1 6 60
Luke McShane 3 1 3 64.29
Alexander
Morozevich 3 0 8 63.64
Sergei
Movsesian 0 1 2 33.33
Arkadij
Naiditsch 3 1 7 59.09
Hikaru
Nakamura 11 0 16 70.37
David Navara 1 1 3 50
Ian
Nepomniachtc
hi
0 3 1 12.5
Judit Polgár 2 0 1 83.33
Ruslan
Ponomariov 2 1 3 58.33
Teimour
Radjabov 9 2 18 62.07
Krishnan
Sasikiran 0 0 3 50
Alexei Shirov 6 2 8 62.5
Nigel Short 2 0 3 70
Sanan Sjugirov 0 1 0 0
Peter Svidler 1 2 10 46.15
Evgeny
Tomashevsky 0 0 1 50
Veselin
Topalov 8 3 8 63.16
Maxime
Vachier-
Lagrave
2 1 4 57.14
Loek van Wely 5 2 5 62.5
Andrei
Volokitin 0 4 2 16.67
Notable games
All links in this section lead to an external site.
Carlsen–Garry Kasparov, Reykjavík Rapid (2004),
Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs
Variation (D52), ½–½ At the age of just 13 years,
Carlsen had serious winning chances in a rapid game
against Garry Kasparov, [23] ranked No. 1 in the world
at that time, [184] and considered by many to be the
greatest chess player of all time. [185]
Carlsen–Veselin Topalov, M-Tel Masters (2009),
Semi-Slav Defense: General (D43), 1–0 This was
Carlsen's first win against a 2800+ player. [186]
Carlsen–Boris Gelfand, Tal Memorial (2011), Slav
Defense: Quiet Variation. Schallopp Defense (D12), 1–
0 The No. 1 Israeli player and future World
Championship challenger creates a seemingly decisive
rook invasion into White's back rank , but Carlsen
vanquishes his threats. Carlsen called it "one of the
most interesting games I have played in recent times".
[187]
Carlsen–Hikaru Nakamura, London Chess Classic
(2011), Italian Game: Classical Variation. Giuoco
Pianissimo (C53), 1–0 Facing the No. 1 American
player, Carlsen demolishes Black's pawn structure .
Carlsen–Viswanathan Anand, Bilbao Masters
(2012), Sicilian Defense: Canal Attack. Main Line
(B52), 1–0 Playing against the then World
Champion in a game he considers one of the best in
his career,[188] Carlsen sacrifices a pawn to leave
Black with a cramped position, leading to his
resignation at move 30.
Carlsen's complete PGN chess game collection can be
downloaded from [1]
Beyond chess
Carlsen modelled for G-Star Raw 's Autumn/Winter
2010 advertising campaign with actress Liv Tyler. The
campaign was shot by Dutch film director and
photographer Anton Corbijn . [189] The campaign was
coordinated with the RAW World Chess Challenge in
New York, an event where Carlsen played an online
team of global chess players who voted on moves
suggested by three GMs: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave,
Hikaru Nakamura, and Judit Polgár. Carlsen, playing
White, won in 43 moves. [190] Film director J. J.
Abrams offered Carlsen a role in the movie Star Trek
Into Darkness as "a chess player from the future", but
he had to decline, unable to get a US work permit in
time for shooting. [191] In 2012, Carlsen was featured
in a 60 Minutes segment,[192] and appeared as a
guest on The Colbert Report. [193] He was also
interviewed by Rainn Wilson for SoulPancake . [194]
Carlsen was selected as one of the "sexiest men of
2013" by Cosmopolitan . [195] In August 2013, Carlsen
became an ambassador for Nordic Semiconductor.
[196]
As of 2012, Carlsen is the only active chess
professional with a full-time manager . Espen
Agdestein, brother of Carlsen's former trainer Simen,
and a FIDE Master[197] and twice member of the
Norwegian team at the Chess Olympiads, began
working as an agent for Carlsen in late 2008. His work
consisted initially of finding sponsors and negotiating
media contacts, but since 2011, he has taken over
management tasks formerly performed by Carlsen's
father Henrik. [198] Carlsen reportedly earned roughly
US$1.2 million in 2012, the bulk of which was from
sponsorships. [199]
In October 2013, Carlsen started his majority-owned
company, Play Magnus AS. Based in Oslo, Norway,
Play Magnus' first product is an iOS app that allows a
user to play a Magnus Carlsen-tuned chess engine at
19 different ages (from ages 5 to 23). The chess
engine was created using a database of thousands of
Carlsen's recorded games from the age of 10.
Carlsen's goal is to use Play Magnus as a platform to
encourage more people to play chess. [200]
In December 2013, Carlsen publicly denied having a
form of autism spectrum disorder in an interview with
Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang, amid persistent
speculation. He went on to clarify his earlier response
in 2008 during a Q&A session with Nettavisen , during
which he replied, "yes, isn't it obvious?" [201] He went
on to say that he considers himself to have "normal
social skills and to be functioning normally." [202]
In February 2014, Carlsen appeared in G-Star Raw's
Spring/Summer 2014 campaign along with actress
and model Lily Cole .[203]
Books and films
Valaker, O; Carlsen, M. (2004). Lær sjakk med
Magnus [Learn Chess with Magnus] . Gyldendal Norsk
Forlag . ISBN 978-82-05-33963-7 .
The Prince of Chess, a film about Magnus Carlsen
(2005). Directed by Øyvind Asbjørnsen . [204]
Opedal, Hallgeir (2011). Smarte trekk. Magnus
Carlsen: Verdens beste sjakkspiller [Smart Moves.
Magnus Carlsen: The World's Best Chess Player] .
Kagge. ISBN 978-82-489-1050-3
Mikhalchishin, Adrian; Stetsko, Oleg. (2012).
Fighting Chess with Magnus Carlsen (Progress in
Chess) . Edition Olms. ISBN 978-3-283-01020-1 .
Crouch, Colin (2013). Magnus Force: How Carlsen
Beat Kasparov's Record. Everyman Chess. ISBN
978-1-78194-133-1 .
Kotronias, Vassilios & Logothetis, Sotiris (2013).
Carlsen's assault on the throne . Quality Chess. ISBN
978-1-906552-22-0 .
