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Thursday 5 April 2018

Magnus Carlssen, Record Setting and Breaking World Chess Champion


    At the tender age of 13 Magnus Carlssen became a chess grandmaster, the highest title a player can hold. The Norwegian later became one of the youngest ever World Chess champions at 23 by defeating the legendary Viswanathan Anand in 2013, he’s still the reigning champion.

               He was introduced to the game aged 5 and played in his first tournament at 8, later competing successfully against the world’s strongest grandmasters by 2007. He surpassed an Elo rating of 2800 in 2009 and reached No. 1 in the FIDE (The Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation) rankings in 2010, thereby becoming the youngest person ever to achieve such feats.


      After retaining the world title in 2014 he also won both the World Rapid Championship and World Blitz Championship, thereby becoming the first player to simultaneously hold all three titles. This allowed him to reach the highest peak rating in history with 2882.

                  I must admit to understanding and playing chess from around age 9, but without total commitment to the game as a profession due to priority for school and tradition, it could have been very difficult for me to accomplish such. Carlssen’s story is a genuine inspiration that from a young age with motivation, practice, unwavering belief, commitment and focus, everything is possible.