Carlsen

Carlsen

Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster and former chess prodigy who is the No. 1 ranked player in the world. His peak rating is 2872, the highest in history. Carlsen was the 2009 World Blitz chess champion.

On 26 April 2004, Carlsen became a Grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 148 days, making him at that time the second youngest Grandmaster in history, though he has since become the third youngest. On the November 2009 FIDE rating list, Carlsen had an Elo rating of 2801, becoming the fifth player to achieve a rating over 2800. Aged 18 years, 336 days at the time, he was by far the youngest to do so. 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, breaking the record held by Vladimir Kramnik. On the January 2013 FIDE rating list, Carlsen reached an Elo rating of 2861, thus surpassing Garry Kasparov's rating record of 2851 (set in July 1999). Based on several of his FIDE rankings, Carlsen qualified for the Candidates Tournament that will determine the challenger to World Champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2013. He previously qualified for the 2011 Candidates Tournament, but withdrew.

Known for his attacking style as a teenager, Carlsen 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, which makes it harder for his opponents to prepare for him. His positional mastery and endgame prowess have drawn comparisons to those of former world champions Anatoly Karpov, José Capablanca and Vasily Smyslov. Beyond chess, Carlsen has modelled for G-Star Raw's Autumn/Winter 2010 advertising campaign.