The Mozart of Chess
In every sport there are a handful of players that stand above the rest. However, in chess there is only one player who dominates the sport.
The first question that one may ask, ‘is chess even considered as a sport?’ However, according to the International Olympic Committee, in 1999 chess was recognised as an official sport.
Chess has held tournaments since the 1800s and has had many excellent players over the years such as Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer.
One player who has been at the pinnacle of elite chess for a long time is Magnus Carlsen.
Carlsen, born on 30 November 1990, is a Norwegian chess player. His father, Henrik Albert Carlsen, introduced him to the game at the age of five and at eight years of age, Carlsen played his first tournament.
In 2002, he competed in the Boys’ Under-12 Division at the Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) World Youth Chess Championships in Greece, where he finished in second place.
It was not until January 2004 when he won his first tournament. His performance at the tournament enabled him to dominate the competition and establish himself as a player with tremendous talent and potential. It was during this competition where he was called the “Mozart of Chess” by American player Lubomir Kavalek.
In March of the same year, a young Carlsen defeated former World Champion Anatoly Karpov and drew against chess legend Garry Kasparov.
At aged 13, Carlsen became one of the youngest chess grandmasters in history by being placed second in the Dubai Open Chess Championship in April.
Carlsen’s win at the 2009 Pearl Spring Chess tournament in China was recognised as one of the greatest performances, when out of a possible 10 points, the chess prodigy won eight.
The Norwegian’s career continued to improve when he won the World Blitz Championship in Moscow, Russia.
The moment that Carlsen had waited for finally arrived in 2010 as at 19-years-old, he made history as the youngest number one ranked chess player in the world.
2013 was another memorable year for the chess grandmaster as he would become the world chess champion by defeating Viswanathan Anand. The following year, he would repeat this remarkable feat, yet again getting the better of Anand.
Carlsen was the first player to ever hold the three main FIDE Championships (rapid, blitz and standard) simultaneously. This accomplishment is unprecedented, but Carlsen repeated this on two more occasions, in 2016 and most recently, 2022.
Chess has a rating system known as the Elo system; which was developed by Arpad Elo. This system determines the strength of a chess player. In March 2000, Kasparov set the highest rating ever of 2856 and for 19 years, no one was able to surpass this figure. However, in August 2019, Carlsen finally overcame Kasparov’s rating and set a new record which was a staggering 2882.
Over a two-year period, Carlsen managed to accumulate a remarkable unbeaten streak of 125 games in the classical time format. For this type of chess, players get 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, which is then followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game. There is also an additional 30 seconds per move which starts from the very first. Carlsen’s undefeated run is the longest to ever be recorded in the history of the sport.
If the best player in the world is measured by the elo ratings metric, which in turn is determined by wins and losses, then no one is better than Magus Carlsen. According to the FIDE ratings, Carlsen has been ranked first since July 2011.
With all the success he has achieved over the years, Carlsen is and remains unrivalled as he continues to rewrite the history books.