Magnus Carlsen
About Magnus Carlsen
| Current Residence | Oslo, Norway |
| Born | November, 1990 |
| Birth Place | Tønsberg, Norway |
| Total Winnings | $5,681 |
Magnus Carlsen Trivia
- A huge Real Madrid fan, and after becoming the world champion of chess, he was invited to take the honorary kick-off for a Real Madrid - Real Valladolid fixture in 2013.
- Once ranked first out of around seven million players in a Fantasy Premier League, eventually finishing 10th.
- Played chess against Bill Gates, winning in just 9 moves.
- At just 2 years old, he solved a 50-piece jigsaw puzzle.
- He beat 10 Harvard lawyers at chess simultaneously, while blindfolded.
| PLAYER SCORE | 5,9/10 |
|---|---|
| Aggressiveness | 8 |
| Looseness | 7 |
| Limit | 3 |
| No-limit | 6 |
| Side Games | 2 |
| Steam Control | 10 |
| Against Strong Players | 5 |
| Against Weak Players | 6 |
| Tournaments | 7 |
| Short-Handed | 5 |
Sven Magnus Carlsen is a 31-year-old Norwegian chess player who has been labeled as the best chess player of all time. He showed exceptional talent and skill from a young age, solving puzzles and utilizing pattern recognition at a young age. He has since entered the poker world in the last two years, most recently playing at the 2022 World Series of Poker.
Early Years
At a young age, Magnus showed exceptional ability in solving puzzles, and mental challenges and showed the ability to solve them using exceptional pattern recognition. He began playing chess at the age of 5, improving by studying books, looking for new combinations, and playing for countless hours. His exceptional memory played an important part in his rise - he could recall populations, capitals, flags, and locations of all countries across the globe by the time he was 5.
Carlsen then received coaching at the Norwegian College of Elite Sport by the country’s best, Grandmaster Simen Agdestein. This began Magnus Carlsen’s epic rise in the world of chess, which would not only forge him a healthy career but see him ascend to the pinnacle of the game.
Formidable Chess Career
Once he began receiving coaching, Carlsen’s chess rating rose from 904 to 1907. He participated in the Norwegian junior chess championships, where he began to display his talent on the competitive stage. From then on, he began to participate in world championships and performed well.
He saw a reasonable rise in success, but it would all change in 2009 when he began his tutelage under former world champion Garry Kasparov as a personal trainer. He credited Kasparov will help him in some of the game's toughest spots. “Complex positions. That was the most important thing” he said in a 2012 interview. He began winning Grand Slam chess events routinely, gaining entry to a Grand Slam Masters Final in 2012, ranked as the hardest chess tournament in history due to the combined Elo of all the players participating.
Carlsen won the 2013 World Chess Championships, making him the 16th undisputed World Chess Champion ever. In 2014, he defended his world championship and would again retain his title status in 2016 and 2018. In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, he organized the first online pro chess tournament which has a prize pool of $250,000, going on to win the event.
Later that year, he saw his unbeaten streak in chess end. He went 125 games undefeated, a period spanning over two years. In 2021, he would go on again to win the world championship title, deciding the next year that he would not defend his title as he preferred tournaments as opposed to championships. In a similar strange fashion, he withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup in September 2022 after losing to American wildcard and Twitch streamer Hans Niemann. This is something never seen before in top-level chess.
This wasn’t to be the end of their saga - after the Norwegian resigned from the tournament after losing to the no.40 ranked American, he tweeted an ambiguous and famous interview by football manager Jose Mourinho, who said: “I prefer not to speak. If I speak, I am in big trouble.”
Since then Magnus has not made any public comment but the chess world has entered the mainstream news media with allegations of cheating against Niemann, after it was found out that the American was banned by an online gaming site for using a computer to analyze his moves. Whilst it is hard to prove anyone is cheating in over-the-board chess, the theory of Niemann using “wireless anal beads” that lead him to making the correct decision has been touted, and even supported by Elon Musk.
Can Magnus Use His Chess Skills in Poker?
Magnus’ only recorded live cash came in the Norwegian Championships Main Event in 2022, when he finished 25th out of 1,050 entrants to scoop $5,681 for the $890 buy-in event. A huge bluff he ran during that tournament was even covered in a hand review by Daniel Negreanu. He also participated in the 2022 World Series of Poker, entering the Main Event on Day 1C but did not manage to survive the day.
He built his starting stack from 50k up to almost 70k within a few levels, but a large river bluff cut heaps from his stack, and was left with just 16k at the 200/400 level. Eventually, he ran his A9 offsuit into the QQ of an opponent, ending his Main Event dream.
His Las Vegas poker exploits did not end there, however, as he took part in a $20k buy-in World Poker Tour cash game which featured the likes of Phil Ivey, poker vlogger Brad Owen, and famous streamers Ludwig and Alexandra Botez. He is a sponsored ambassador for Unibet, who host many poker tournaments around Europe, and has been since 2020, but he has yet to appear at any of their live poker stops so far.
