Chess Prodigy

At two, he could solve 50-piece jigsaw puzzles; at four, he assembled Lego intended for teenagers; at 13, he became the Grandmaster of chess.

His game is more art than sport— a mix of genius and raw talent— his intricate yet devastating maneuvers leave opponents frowning and chess world with awe.  

TIME magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013.

Childhood

Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen was born on November 30, 1990 in Norway.

His father taught him to play chess at the age of five, although he initially showed little interest in the game. After achieving his goal of defeating his sister and then father, his enthusiasm for chess grew.

He 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. 

Career

Carlsen participated in his first tournament at the age of 8.

From 2000-2002, he played 300 games including several blitz tournaments and other minor events.  He was officially awarded the International Master title in 2003.

 After finishing primary school, Carlsen took a year off to participate in international chess tournaments held in Europe.

He earned his first Grand Master norm by winning the Corus Chess Tournament in January 2004 and was eventually awarded the grandmaster title by that April, making him the second youngest in history at 13 years, 148 days.

In the 2006 Norwegian Chess Championship, Carlsen was close to winning outright, but a last round loss tied him for first place.

In 2009, during the Nanjing Pearl Spring tournament, he became the fifth chess player in the history to achieve an Elo-rating over 2800 – by far the youngest to do so. That year he also became The World Blitz Chess Champion.

He dropped out of world championship in 2010 because he objected to the way in which the qualifying matches were conducted.

Next year, his first tournament victory of the year came in the Bazna Kings tournament.

In 2012, in the ‘60 Minutes interview’ show, Carlsen was filmed playing 10 different games against 10 different players simultaneously. He was blindfolded as well. He won every single match, successfully keeping track of 320 pieces just in his mind. 

He became world chess champion in 2013 defeating Viswanathan Anand 6½–3½ by winning games five, six and nine and drawing the remainder.

Carslen continues to hold three World titles simultaneously: matchplay, rapid and blitz.

Modelling

Carlsen modelled for G-Star Raw’s Autumn/Winter 2010 advertising campaign with actress Liv Tyler. In 2014, Carlsen appeared in G-Star Raw’s Spring/Summer 2014 campaign along with actress and model Lily Cole.

Awards

Carlsen won the Chess Oscars for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. The Norwegian tabloid ‘Verdens Gang’ has awarded him “Name of the Year” twice, in 2009 and 2013

Personal Life

Carlsen’s favourite pastime includes football, skiing, and reading Donald Duck comics. Carlsen also practiced ski jumping until the age of ten.

He has extreme memory:  he was able to recall the areas, population numbers, flags and capitals of all the countries in the world by the age of five.