Magnus Carlsen

Magnus Carlsen
Carlsen at the 2016 Chess Olympiad
Full name	Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen
Country	Norway
Born	(1990-11-30) 30 November 1990 (age 26) Tønsberg, Vestfold, Norway
Title	Grandmaster (2004)
World Champion	2013–present
FIDE rating	2838 (February 2017)
Peak rating	2882 (May 2014)
Ranking	No. 1 (July 2016)
Peak ranking	No. 1 (January 2010)

Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (Norwegian: [sʋɛn ˈmɑŋnʉs øːn ˈkɑːɭsn̩]; born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster, and the current World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, Carlsen earned his grandmaster title in 2004, at the age of 13 years and 148 days. This made him the second-youngest grandmaster in history at the time. Carlsen's play continued to improve and by 2007 he was holding his own against the world's best grandmasters in tournaments.

Carlsen became World Champion in 2013 by defeating Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2013. He followed up that success with an excellent 2014, defending his title against Anand, winning the 2014 World Rapid Championship and World Blitz Championship (thus holding all three world championship titles simultaneously), and reaching a peak rating of 2882 in FIDE's May 2014 rating list, which is the highest in history. In 2016, he defended his title again, this time against Sergey Karjakin.

Carlsen was known for his attacking style as a teenager, but he has since developed into a more universal player. He does not rely on opening preparation as much as other top players, and plays a variety of openings in order to make it more difficult for opponents to prepare against him. Carlsen's positional mastery and endgame prowess have drawn comparisons to those of former world champions Bobby Fischer, José Raúl Capablanca, Vasily Smyslov, and Anatoly Karpov.