Although the foundations to learn chess are still the same, standards of the game went way up when Computers were introduced to it.
To become a modern-day great, it is very important to become friends with chess computers or engines as they call them.
Today, all the top players are the ones best prepared with engines. But Magnus Carlsen is different!
IQ wise, Magnus scores a whopping 190 and when it comes to expertise over the game of chess, it is said that he is “the genius who’ll only get better”, and will remain in the circle of top players for years to come even if he stops preparing for the classical games in all the future events.
Magnus Carlsen’s Playing Style
It’s a very interesting thing to listen to all the chess greats defining how Magnus plays chess.
Gary Kasparov thinks and believes that Magnus Carlsen’s playing style is a lethal combination of Fischer and Karpov.
Talking about other greats of Chess. Vladimir Kramnik labelled Magnus Carlsen’s playing style as “The Federer of Chess”.
He says he realized very early that 17 years old Magnus Carlsen was something very special and currently he believes Magnus can be the “Federer of Chess”.
According to him, even if he stops preparing for future chess events, he is still capable to remain in top positions. Check out Vladimir’s thoughts in the video below:
Some more Examples of how strong is Carlsen at Chess:
Magnus is a chess player of immense self belief! No doubt that’s a quality of most super-grandmasters but one thing that differentiates Carlsen from other top players is his strong sense of finding the right moves in unknown territories.
His intuitions are 2nd to none, and when it comes down to small nuances and details, he is almost always slightly faster than others.
Hikaru Nakamura says when it comes down to the boiling point in the end game, Magnus just doesn’t blunder. Check it out in a short video below:
Calrsen remembers more than 10,000 chess games, which is also normal for a super-grandmasters.
With this sort of memory and an immensely strong sense of finding the right moves in unknown spaces, Carlsen is a player a level above every other player in chess, which is totally reflecting in his classical chess rating.
He is the #1 ranked classical chess player since July 1st, 2011.
Check out the interview below, where Carlsen said “I can remember 10000” games.
And it’s not only his own games. Magnus’s memory is so phenomenal that he correctly guessed the right moves in 8 out of 9 games of Vishy Anand’s career that began even before Carlsen was born.
Why is Magnus Carlsen so much better?
When Magnus was asked, what is it that makes him so special in chess, his answer was Intuitions, self-belief and chess skills backed with quick decision making.
So intuition, self-belief, chess skills, and quick decision making are probably the most important reasons why Magnus Carlsen is so much better than other chess players.
Magnus Carlsen Rating in all Chess Formats
Magnus is an all around great player in all formats of chess. The table below is showing his rating and current world rank in Classical, Rapid and Blitz chess according to his FIDE profile.
FIDE is The World Chess Federation!
| Classical Chess | Rapid Chess | Blitz Chess |
|---|---|---|
| Rating: 2830 | Rating: 2823 | Rating: 2886 |
| World Rank: 1 | World Rank: 1 | World Rank: 1 |
As you can see, Magnus Carlsen is currently world #1 in classical, rapid and blitz chess. And there is no other player in the top 10 in all three formats. This alone speaks volumes about his chess genius.
Magnus Carlsen Nickname
Magnus has many nicknames but the one that he truly is famous with is “The Mozart of Chess”. He got that name when CBS news did a program on his genius. See a video of it below:
Magnus Carlsen Net Worth:
According to the celebritynetworth site, Magnus Carlsen has a net worth of $25 Million.
He is by far the most valuable chess player in the world in terms of net worth and sponsored by big brands and forums like chess24, where he regularly plays banter blitz with premier members.
Magnus Carlsen’s Interest in other Sports
Magnus is a big time Real Madrid fan and the Spainish Royal club even invited him to a match kick-off once.
Also it seems like whatever Magnus does, he does it with perfection.
In the famous Fantasy Premier League game of English football, Magnus Carlsen’s FPL ranking a few years ago was under 10k among 8.2 million players.
He once finished 11th globally between 7.5 million players.
The Norwegian is so fond of football that he even picked a team of chess players based on their chess playing style and made a football team out of it.
Things you probably don’t know About Magnus Carlsen
- Magnus Carlsen’s favourite football player is Muhammad Salah.
- Magnus’s favourite place is South Africa.
- In his priority list of learning new things, Magnus Carlsen wants to learn a Guiter or Piano.
- Carlsen’s favourite food is Pasta
What Magnus Thinks About Former World Champions?
This is how Magnus Carlsen ranked the former world champions based on a single quality:
- Genius: Jose Raul Capablanca
- Entertaining: Mikhail Tal
- Influence: Garry Kasparov
- Sanity: Vishwanathan Anand
Magnus Carlsen and The World Championship
Magnus Carlsen defended his 5th world chess championship title in Dubai in November and December 2021, and defended it in some very great fashion, beating Ian Nepomniatchi of Russia 4 times in 11 of the 14 games played while drawing 7 and losing not a single game.
This was perhaps his easiest defense of a world championship title especially after the previous close matches with Fabiano Caruana and Sergey Karjakin.
Magnus Carlsen seconds for World Championship
It was a secret till the tournament ended, but not anymore. Only a few hours after defending the world championship series, Magnus Carlsen revealed his team of seconds in a video interview with chess24.
His team of seconds comprised of Peter Heine, Fressinet, Jan Gustaffson, Jorden Van Foreest, and a surprise of them all, Mr. Danill Dubov from Russia.
Check out the team reveal of Magnus Carlsen’s seconds from the preparation camp in Spain before the world championship match in a video below:
Also Read:
Our detailed articles on Hikaru Nakamura and Anish Giri.