The FIDE Grand Prix is a biennial series of chess tournaments , organized by FIDE and its commercial partner Agon . Each series consists of three to six chess tournaments, which used to form part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship or Women's World Chess Championship .
71-511: The Grand Prix was first played in 2008. The initial Grand Prix saw Magnus Carlsen withdraw (along with Michael Adams ) due to changed incentives toward the World Chess Championship , (see FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010 for details). The first two Grand Prix consisted of six tournaments, but the 2014–2015 edition had only four. Often there were problems finding sponsors and many announced host cities were changed eventually (to date, 8 of
142-745: A 2777 PR. He tied for second place with Veselin Topalov at the M-Tel Masters (category 21) tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. He lost to eventual winner Alexei Shirov in their final game, dropping him from first. Carlsen won the category 21 Nanjing Pearl Spring tournament, 2½ points ahead of second-place finisher Topalov, the world's highest-rated player at the time. He scored an undefeated 8/10, winning every game as white (against Topalov, Wang Yue , Leko, Teimour Radjabov , and Dmitry Jakovenko ), and also winning as black against Jakovenko. By rating performance, this
213-619: A PR of 2778. Carlsen played for the first time in the Melody Amber blind and rapid chess tournament in Monte Carlo in March. In the 11 rounds, he achieved eight draws and three losses in the blindfold games, as well as three wins, seven draws and one loss in the rapid games. This resulted in a shared ninth place in the blindfold, shared second place in the rapid (behind Anand), and a shared eighth place overall. In May and June, he participated in
284-446: A chess set when studying on his own. Carlsen won the 72nd Corus chess tournament played 16–31 January with 8½ points. His ninth-round loss to Kramnik ended a streak of 36 rated games undefeated. Carlsen appeared to struggle in the last round against Fabiano Caruana , but saved a draw, leaving him half a point ahead of Kramnik and Shirov . In March it was announced that Carlsen had split from Kasparov and would no longer use him as
355-567: A day, his favourite pastimes included playing football and reading Donald Duck comics. He also practised skiing until age ten. From autumn 2000 to the end of 2002, Carlsen played almost 300 rated tournament games, as well as in several blitz tournaments, and participated in other minor events. In October 2002, he placed sixth in the European Under-12 Championship in Peñiscola . The following month, he tied for first place in
426-873: A lack of motivation. Known for his attacking style as a teenager, Carlsen has since developed into a universal player. He uses a variety of openings to make it harder for opponents to prepare against him and reduce the utility of pre-game computer analysis . Carlsen was born in Tønsberg , Norway, on 30 November 1990 to Sigrun Øen (1963–2024), a chemical engineer , and Henrik Albert Carlsen, an IT consultant . The family spent one year in Espoo , Finland, and then in Brussels , Belgium, before returning to Norway in 1998, where they lived in Lommedalen , Bærum. They later moved to Haslum . Carlsen showed an aptitude for intellectual challenges at
497-611: A one-year siviltjeneste (an alternative civilian service programme) at the college. Over the course of that year, Carlsen's rating rose from 904 in June 2000 to 1907. His breakthrough occurred in the Norwegian junior teams championship in September 2000, where he scored 3½/5 against the country's top junior players and gained a tournament performance rating (TPR) of around 2000. Apart from chess, which he studied about three to four hours
568-596: A rapid match against Peter Leko held in Miskolc , Hungary, scoring 5–3. In June, Carlsen won the annual Aerosvit chess tournament , finishing undefeated with 8/11 in a category 19 field and achieving a PR of 2877, his best PR at that point in his career. Playing in the category 18 Biel Grandmaster Tournament, Carlsen finished third with 6/10, with a PR of 2740. In the Mainz World Rapid Chess Championship, Carlsen finished in second place after losing
639-596: A rapid tournament 28–30 August at the Arctic Securities Chess Stars tournament in Kristiansund, Norway. The field featured World Champion Viswanathan Anand, female world No. 1 Judit Polgár, and Jon Ludvig Hammer . In the preliminary round robin, Carlsen scored 3½/6 to qualify for the final, second behind Anand. In the final, Carlsen defeated Anand 1½–½ to win the championship. Following this event, Carlsen suffered setbacks in his next two tournaments. In
710-497: A score of 10/13, winning the title for a third time and matching Garry Kasparov 's record score for the event, set in 1999. Levon Aronian finished first with a score of 8/13, winning the title for a fourth time. Magnus Carlsen finished first with a score of 9/13, winning the title for a fourth time. Magnus Carlsen finished first with a score of 9/13, winning the title for a record-equalling fifth time. Wesley So defeated defending champion Magnus Carlsen by one point, with
781-443: A score of 9/13. Magnus Carlsen won for a record sixth time, defeating Anish Giri on tiebreak after both finished with a score of 9/13. Magnus Carlsen was the winner of this tournament, with a score of 9/13. Fabiano Caruana was the winner of this tournament, with a score of 10/13. Jorden van Foreest was the winner of this tournament, with a score of 8½/13. He defeated Anish Giri in an Armageddon playoff. Magnus Carlsen
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#1732855931982852-498: A tradition to operate a year on year invitation policy that resembled the system used in football 'league tables'; the winner of a lesser category event would receive an invitation to the next higher event the following year. The 1946 tournament was one of the first European international chess tournaments after World War II. Food shortages were still a problem in Europe, so the post-tournament banquet featured pea soup , inexpensive fare of
923-569: A trainer, although this was put into different context by Carlsen himself in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel , in which he stated that they would remain in contact and he would continue to attend training sessions with Kasparov. In 2011, Carlsen said: "Thanks to [Kasparov] I began to understand a whole class of positions better. ... Kasparov gave me a great deal of practical help." In 2012, when asked what he learnt from working with Kasparov, Carlsen answered: "Complex positions. That
994-402: A young age. At two years, he could solve 500-piece jigsaw puzzles ; at four, he enjoyed assembling Lego sets with instructions intended for children aged 10–14. His father, a keen amateur chess player, taught him to play at age five, although he initially showed little interest in it. He has three sisters, and in 2010 stated that one thing that first motivated him to take up chess seriously
1065-563: Is an accepted version of this page Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster . Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Champion , the reigning five-time World Rapid Chess Champion , the reigning seven-time World Blitz Chess Champion , and the reigning Chess World Cup Champion . He has held the No. 1 position in the FIDE world chess rankings since 1 July 2011 and trails only Garry Kasparov in time spent as
1136-669: The 2002 World Under-12 Championship in Heraklion , placing second to Ian Nepomniachtchi on tiebreak. He then obtained three IM norms in relatively quick succession: the first at the January 2003 Gausdal Troll Masters (score 7/10, 2453 PR); the second at the June 2003 Salongernas IM-tournament in Stockholm (6/9, 2470 PR); and the third at the July 2003 Politiken Cup in Copenhagen (8/11, 2503 PR). He
1207-480: The 39th Chess Olympiad from 19 September to 4 October, he scored 4½/8, losing three games, to Baadur Jobava , Michael Adams, and Sanan Sjugirov ; these were his first losses with the black pieces in more than a year. His team, Norway, finished 51st out of 149 teams. Carlsen's next tournament was the Grand Slam Masters Final on 9–15 October, which he had qualified for automatically by winning three of
1278-553: The FIDE World Chess Championship , becoming the youngest player ever to participate in one, but was knocked out in the first round by Levon Aronian . In July, Carlsen and Berge Østenstad , then the reigning Norwegian champion, tied for first in the Norwegian Chess Championship, each scoring 7/9. A two-game match between them was arranged to decide the title. Both games were drawn, which left Østenstad
1349-510: The Grandmaster A group since 1968 have been: From 2000, the popular name for the tournament was more or less equally shared between "Wijk aan Zee" and "Corus". From 2011, the popular name for the tournament was changed from 'Corus' to 'Tata Steel'. Until recently, players ending on the same score shared the title. The first tie-break was held in 2018, with Magnus Carlsen defeating Anish Giri 1½–½. The two players sharing first place after
1420-437: The " Wimbledon of Chess". Since 1938, there has been a long list of famous winners, including Max Euwe , Bent Larsen , Tigran Petrosian , Paul Keres , Lajos Portisch , Boris Spassky , Mikhail Botvinnik , Mikhail Tal , Viktor Korchnoi , Jan Timman , Anatoly Karpov , Vasyl Ivanchuk , Vladimir Kramnik , Garry Kasparov , Viswanathan Anand , Veselin Topalov , Levon Aronian , Sergey Karjakin , and Magnus Carlsen . Of
1491-439: The 16 locations have been changed). The 2014–15 edition was announced late, with only 4 events instead of 6, reduced the prizes per event to about 1/3 of the previous amounts, and had no money for overall placings (as in the earlier editions). In 2014–15, four top 10 players (Carlsen, Anand, Topalov and Aronian) didn't participate, with the small prize funds and organizational uncertainty being the usual reasons given. The winner of
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#17328559319821562-760: The Arnold Eikrem Memorial in Gausdal with a score of 8/9 and a PR of 2792. At the end of 2005, Carlsen participated at the Chess World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk , Russia. In the knockout tournament, he upset 44th-ranked Zurab Azmaiparashvili in round one, and proceeded to defeat Farrukh Amonatov and Ivan Cheparinov to reach the round of 16. There he lost to Evgeny Bareev , but won against Joël Lautier and Vladimir Malakhov before losing again to Gata Kamsky . Carlsen finished in tenth place and became
1633-591: The Biel Grandmaster Tournament with a 6/10 record and a PR of 2753. His score was matched by Alexander Onischuk and they played a match to break the tie. After drawing two rapid and two blitz games, Carlsen won the armageddon game. Immediately after the Biel tournament, Carlsen entered the open Arctic Chess Challenge in Tromsø, but his fourth-place result with +5=4 was a slight underperformance in terms of rating. In
1704-510: The C group qualified him to play in the B group in 2005, and it led Lubomir Kavalek , writing for the Washington Post , to give him the title "the Mozart of chess" (although, as pointed out by Edward Winter , the nickname had been given to many illustrious predecessors). Agdestein said that Carlsen had an excellent memory and played an unusually wide range of openings. Carlsen's prowess caught
1775-508: The Candidates Tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007 , facing Levon Aronian in a six-game match at standard time controls, which Carlsen drew (+2−2=2) by coming from behind twice. The four-game rapid playoff was drawn as well (+1−1=2), with Carlsen winning the last game to stay in the match. Eventually, Aronian eliminated Carlsen from the tournament after winning both tiebreak blitz games. In July and August, Carlsen won
1846-744: The Glitnir Blitz Tournament in Iceland. He achieved a 2–0 win over Viswanathan Anand in the semi-finals and achieved the same score in the finals. He scored 6/8 in the 37th Chess Olympiad and achieved a PR of 2820. In the Midnight Sun Chess Tournament in Tromsø , Carlsen finished second to Sergei Shipov . In the Biel Grandmaster Tournament , he placed second, beating the tournament winner Alexander Morozevich twice. In
1917-837: The Grand Prix (and sometimes lower finishers) gets entry to the Candidates Tournament . The winner of the women's cycle is directly qualified to a championship match. The women's edition has been dominated by Chinese GM Hou Yifan , though she withdrew from the 2015–16 series. The format was changed for the FIDE Grand Prix 2017 with 24 players taking part in the cycle. Four events took place with 18 players in competing in each nine-round Swiss tournament. The events were originally announced to take place on Oct. 12 to 23, 2016; Feb. 10 to 21, 2017; May 11 to 22, 2017; and July 5 to 16, 2017. On May 26, 2016, Agon CEO Ilya Merenzon hoped to announce
1988-643: The NH Chess Tournament held in Amsterdam in August, Carlsen participated in an "Experience" vs. "Rising Stars" Scheveningen team match. The "Rising Stars" won the match 28–22, with Carlsen achieving the best individual score for the Rising Stars team (6½/10) and a 2700 PR, thus winning the right to participate in the 2007 Melody Amber tournament. With a score of 7½/15, Carlsen placed 8th out of 16 participants at
2059-587: The Series and 16 player in each event. 20 players qualified by rating and 2 are wild cards invited by organizers. The cities were Moscow , Riga , Hamburg and Jerusalem . The Series is organized by World Chess (formerly Agon) and was broadcast on worldchess.com and via media partners. The 2022 Grand Prix took place in Berlin, Belgrade, then Berlin again. The players who qualify for the Candidates Tournament are marked with green background. Magnus Carlsen This
2130-690: The Tal Memorial, Carlsen won the World Blitz Championship, played from 16 to 18 November in Moscow, Russia. His score of 28 wins, 6 draws and 8 losses left him three points ahead of Anand, who finished in second place. Carlsen entered the London Chess Classic as the top seed in a field including Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura , Michael Adams, Nigel Short , Ni Hua , Luke McShane and David Howell . He defeated Kramnik in round one and went on to win
2201-579: The World Blitz Championship in Rishon LeZion , Israel. In the rapid chess tournament Rencontres nationales et internationales d'échecs in Cap d'Agde , France, he reached the semi-final, losing there to Sergey Karjakin. In November, Carlsen achieved a shared 8th place of 10 participants in the Mikhail Tal Memorial in Moscow with two losses and seven draws. He finished ninth in a group of 18 participants in
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2272-489: The age of 13, in the C group at the 2004 Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee . He obtained a score of 10½/13, losing just one game (against the highest-rated player of the C group, Duško Pavasovič ). As a result, he earned his first GM norm , and achieved a PR of 2702. Particularly notable was his win over Sipke Ernst in the penultimate round, when he sacrificed material to give mate in just 29 moves. His victory in
2343-690: The associated blitz tournament, which was won by Anand. Playing in the top group of the Corus chess tournament for the first time, Carlsen placed last with nine draws and four losses, scoring 4½/13. In the Linares chess tournament , Carlsen played against top-rated players Veselin Topalov , Viswanathan Anand , Peter Svidler , Alexander Morozevich , Levon Aronian , Peter Leko , and Vasyl Ivanchuk . Despite being rated significantly lower than any of them, he finished in second place on tiebreaks with 7½/14, having scored four wins, seven draws and three losses, and achieving
2414-579: The attention of Microsoft , which became his sponsor. Carlsen obtained his second GM norm at the Moscow Aeroflot Open in February. On 17 March, in a blitz chess tournament in Reykjavík , Iceland, he defeated former World Champion Anatoly Karpov . It was a preliminary event leading up to a rapid knockout tournament beginning the next day. In that event, Carlsen was paired with Garry Kasparov , then
2485-581: The challenger to World Champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2012. In November 2010, however, Carlsen announced he was withdrawing from the Candidates Tournament. Carlsen described the 2008–12 cycle as "[not] sufficiently modern and fair", and wrote that "Reigning champion privileges, the long (five-year) span of the cycle, changes made during the cycle resulting in a new format (Candidates) that no World Champion has had to go through since Kasparov, puzzling ranking criteria as well as
2556-610: The champion because he had superior tiebreaks in the tournament. In the Smartfish Chess Masters event at the Drammen International Chess Festival 2004–05, Carlsen defeated Alexei Shirov , then ranked No. 10 in the world, as well as the co-winner of the tournament. In the semi-finals of the Ciudad de León rapid chess tournament in June, Carlsen played a four-game match against Viswanathan Anand, who
2627-490: The common people. In subsequent years pea soup has been served as the first course of the concluding banquet, a tradition continued when the tournament was moved from Beverwijk to Wijk aan Zee ( Damsky & Sugden 2005 , p. 164). Winners of the top group: The tournament was moved to the Dutch seaside town Wijk aan Zee in 1968. In this period, the tournament was popularly called both "Hoogovens" and "Wijk aan Zee". Winners of
2698-403: The event of a 1–1 tie had been revoked. The match was closely fought—Agdestein won the first game, Carlsen the second—so it went into a series of two-game rapid matches until there was a winner. Carlsen won the first rapid game, Agdestein the second. Then followed three draws until Agdestein won the championship title with a victory in the sixth rapid game. In October, Carlsen took first place at
2769-454: The final to defending champion Anand 3–1. In the qualification round Carlsen scored 1½–½ against Judit Polgár , 1–1 against Anand and 1–1 against Alexander Morozevich. In the category 22 Bilbao Masters , Carlsen tied for second with a 2768 PR. Playing in Group A of the 71st Corus chess tournament , Carlsen tied for fifth with a 2739 PR. In the Linares chess tournament , he finished third with
2840-523: The first round, Carlsen conceded a draw to his classmate Brede Hagen (rated 2034) after having a lost position at one point. A game which attracted some attention was his sixth-round win over his father, Henrik Carlsen. Carlsen reached the semi-final round of the World Chess Cup in December, after defeating Michael Adams in the round of 16 and Ivan Cheparinov in the quarterfinals. In the semi-final, he
2911-434: The first round, Carlsen lost with black to Kramnik; this was Carlsen's second consecutive loss to Kramnik, and placed his hold on the world No. 1 ranking in serious jeopardy. In his second round, Carlsen lost with the white pieces to Anand; this was his first loss as White since January 2010. Carlsen recovered somewhat in the latter part of the tournament, achieving a win over Shirov, and finishing with 2½/6. The tournament
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2982-402: The following year and won both the 2014 World Rapid Championship and World Blitz Championship, becoming the first player to hold all three titles simultaneously, a feat which he repeated in 2019 and 2022. He defended his classical world title against Sergey Karjakin in 2016 , Fabiano Caruana in 2018 , and Ian Nepomniachtchi in 2021 . Carlsen declined to defend his title in 2023 , citing
3053-565: The highest-rated player in the world . His peak rating of 2882 is the highest in history . He also holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at an elite level in classical chess at 125 games. A chess prodigy , Carlsen finished first in the C group of the Corus chess tournament shortly after he turned 13 and earned the title of grandmaster a few months later. At 15, he won the Norwegian Chess Championship , and later became
3124-411: The name changes, the series is numbered sequentially from its Hoogovens beginnings; for example, the 2011 event was referred to as the 73rd Tata Steel Chess Tournament. Top grandmasters compete in the tournament, but regular club players are welcome to play as well. The Masters group pits fourteen of the world's best against each other in a round-robin tournament , and has sometimes been described as
3195-583: The previous year's four Grand Slam chess events (2009 Nanjing Pearl Spring, 2010 Corus, 2010 Bazna Kings). Along with Carlsen, the finals consisted of World Champion Anand and the highest two scorers from the preliminary stage held in Shanghai in September: Kramnik and Shirov. The average Elo of the participants at the time was 2789, making the Grand Slam Final the strongest chess tournament in history. In
3266-411: The record of most consecutive games played at the tournament without a loss (70 – from 1998 to 2004). The early tournaments were very small, starting with groups of four in 1938, and entry restricted to Dutch players. The first five tournaments continued this way, with the contest held annually early in January. In 1943 and 1944 the tournament field was doubled in size to eight players. No tournament
3337-436: The regular games play two Blitz games and then possibly also an Armageddon game to decide a sole winner. Magnus Carlsen finished first with a score of 8½/13, winning his second title. Hikaru Nakamura finished first with a score of 9/13, winning his first title and his first super-tournament. Levon Aronian finished first with a score of 9/13, winning the title for a third time. Magnus Carlsen finished first with
3408-522: The second time in the Melody Amber blind and rapid chess tournament, held in Nice for the first time. In the 11 rounds he achieved four wins, four draws and two losses in the blindfold, and three wins, two losses, and six draws in the rapid. This resulted in a shared fifth place in the blindfold, shared third place in the rapid and a shared second place in the overall tournament. Carlsen was one of 21 players in
3479-446: The shallow ceaseless match-after-match concept are all less than satisfactory in my opinion." In early 2009 Carlsen engaged former World Champion Garry Kasparov as a personal trainer. In September their partnership was revealed to the public by Norwegian newspapers. Responding to a question in an interview with Time magazine in December 2009 as to whether he used computers when studying chess, Carlsen explained that he does not use
3550-454: The six-tournament FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010 , a qualifier for the World Chess Championship 2012 . In the first tournament, in Baku , Azerbaijan, he finished in a three-way tie for first place, with another 2800 PR. He later withdrew from the Grand Prix cycle despite his initial success, criticising FIDE for "changing the rules dramatically in the middle of a World Championship cycle". Carlsen won
3621-424: The ten World Chess Champions since the first tournament in 1938, only four – Alexander Alekhine , Vasily Smyslov , Bobby Fischer , and Ding Liren – have not won it. In 2001, nine of the top ten players in the world participated. Magnus Carlsen holds the record for most wins at the tournament, with eight titles to his name. Anand is the only other player to have won the event five or more times. Anand also holds
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#17328559319823692-635: The title. Carlsen had also helped Anand prepare for the World Chess Championships in 2007 and 2008 . Carlsen played in the Bazna Kings Tournament in Romania on 14–25 June. The tournament was a double round robin involving Wang Yue, Boris Gelfand , Ruslan Ponomariov, Teimour Radjabov, and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. He finished with 7½/10 and a 2918 PR, winning the tournament by two points ahead of Radjabov and Gelfand. Carlsen then played in
3763-443: The top-rated player in the world. Carlsen achieved a draw in their first game but lost the second, and was thus knocked out of the tournament. In the sixth Dubai Open Chess Championship, held 18–28 April, Carlsen obtained his third GM norm, which made him the world's youngest GM at the time, and the second-youngest GM in history at the time (after Sergey Karjakin , who earned the title at 12 years and 7 months). Carlsen played in
3834-462: The tournament field was returned to ten players, but the strength of the competitions increased. The field was greatly enlarged to 18 in 1963, and although it reduced to 16 in 1964, the event had become the strongest international chess tournament in the world ( Golombek 1977 , p. 143). As the tournament grew in stature, the ancillary women's tournament became a regular feature, as did a 'Masters' event and 'Masters Reserves' events. There also began
3905-467: The tournament with 13/21 (three points were awarded for a win, and one for a draw; using classical scoring he finished with 5/7) and a PR of 2844, one point ahead of Kramnik. This victory propelled him to No. 1 of the FIDE rating list, surpassing Veselin Topalov. Based on his average ranking from the July 2009 and January 2010 FIDE lists, Carlsen qualified for the Candidates Tournament that would determine
3976-435: The venues within the next two weeks. After the FIDE meetings at the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku in early September 2016, Peter Doggers of Chess.com reported that the Grand Prix has been postponed until 2017. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grischuk qualified to the 2018 Candidates Tournament . In 2019, the format has been changed by FIDE once again, making Grand Prix a knock-out series with 21 players taking part in
4047-431: The youngest ever player to qualify for the Candidates Tournament in 2005. At 17, he finished joint first in the top group of Corus . He surpassed a rating of 2800 at 18, the youngest at the time to do so. In 2010, at 19, he reached No. 1 in the FIDE world rankings, the youngest person ever to do so. Carlsen became World Chess Champion in 2013 by defeating Viswanathan Anand . He retained his title against Anand
4118-604: The youngest player to be an official World Championship Candidate . Carlsen qualified for a place in the Corus B group due to his first-place finish in Corus group C in 2004. His shared first place with Alexander Motylev with 9/13 (+6−1=6) qualified him to play in the Corus group A in 2007. At the 2006 international 'Bosna' tournament in Sarajevo , Carlsen shared first place with Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (who won on tiebreak evaluation) and Vladimir Malakhov; this could be regarded as Carlsen's first "A" elite tournament win, although it
4189-713: Was a direct connection. Corus 2008 chess tournament The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee , the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Steel to form the Corus Group in 1999, after which the tournament was called the Corus Chess Tournament . Corus Group became Tata Steel Europe in 2007. Despite
4260-415: Was able to recall the locations, populations, flags and capitals of all the countries in the world by age five. Later, he memorised the locations, populations, coats-of-arms and administrative centres of "virtually all" 356 Norwegian municipalities . He participated in his first tournament—the youngest division of the 1999 Norwegian Chess Championship —at 8 years and 7 months, and scored 6/11. Carlsen
4331-479: Was coached at the Norwegian College of Elite Sport by the country's top player, Grandmaster (GM) Simen Agdestein, who in turn cites Norwegian football manager Egil "Drillo" Olsen as a key inspiration for his coaching strategy. In 2000, Agdestein introduced Carlsen to Torbjørn Ringdal Hansen , a former Norwegian junior champion and later International Master (IM) and Grandmaster (GM), as Ringdal served
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#17328559319824402-513: Was eliminated by the eventual winner, Gata Kamsky, scoring ½–1½. In the top group A of the 69th Corus chess tournament , Carlsen scored 8/13, achieving a PR of 2830. Carlsen won five games, lost two and drew six, sharing first place with Levon Aronian . At the Linares chess tournament, Carlsen had another 2800+ PR, scoring 8/14. He finished in sole second place, ½ point behind the winner World Champion Viswanathan Anand. In March, Carlsen played for
4473-409: Was held in 1945 due to World War II. The first international tournament was held in 1946. The main tournament field was expanded to ten, with invitations to Alberic O'Kelly de Galway (Belgium) and Gösta Stoltz (Sweden) along with a Dutch contingent of eight. The tournament field remained at ten until 1953 when it was increased to twelve, and an international women's tournament was also held. In 1954
4544-527: Was not a clear first. Carlsen was close to winning the 2006 Norwegian Chess Championship outright, but a last-round loss to Berge Østenstad dropped him into another tie for first place with Agdestein. It also prevented Carlsen from beating Agdestein's record as the youngest Norwegian champion ever. Nonetheless, in the playoff held from 19 to 21 September, Carlsen won 3–1. After two draws at standard time controls, Carlsen won both rapid games in round two, securing his first Norwegian championship win. Carlsen won
4615-582: Was officially awarded the IM title on 20 August 2003. After finishing primary school, Carlsen took a year off to participate in international chess tournaments in Europe during the autumn of 2003, then returned to complete secondary education at a sports school. During the year away from school, he placed joint-third in the European Under-14 Championship and ninth in the 2003 World Under-14 Championship . Carlsen made headlines after his victory, at
4686-597: Was one of the greatest results in history, with a PR of 3002. Chess statistician Jeff Sonas has declared it one of the 20 best tournament performances of all time, and the best chess performance of all time by a teenager. In the Tal Memorial , played from 5 to 14 November, Carlsen started with seven straight draws, but finished with wins over former FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov and Peter Leko. This result put Carlsen in shared second place behind former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and equal with Ivanchuk. After
4757-428: Was ranked No. 2 in the world at the time and had won the 2003 World Rapid Chess Championship . Anand won 3–1. In the Norwegian Chess Championship, Carlsen again finished in shared first place, this time with his mentor Simen Agdestein. A playoff between them was played between 7 and 10 November. This time, Carlsen had the better tiebreaks, but the rule giving the title to the player with better tiebreak scores in
4828-486: Was the desire to beat his elder sister at the game. The first chess book Carlsen read was a booklet named Find the Plan by Bent Larsen , and his first book on openings was Eduard Gufeld 's The Complete Dragon . Carlsen developed his early chess skills playing by himself for hours on end—moving the pieces around, searching for combinations , and replaying games and positions his father showed him. Simen Agdestein emphasises Carlsen's exceptional memory, stating that he
4899-399: Was the most important thing." Carlsen shared first place alongside Ivanchuk in the Amber blindfold and rapid tournament. Scoring 6½/11 in the blindfold and 8/11 in the rapid, Carlsen accumulated 14½ from a possible 22 points. In May it was revealed that Carlsen had helped Anand prepare for the World Chess Championship 2010 against challenger Veselin Topalov, which Anand won 6½–5½ to retain
4970-476: Was the winner of this tournament, with a score of 9½/13. Anish Giri won the 85th edition Tata Steel Chess 2023 finishing the tournament with 8½ out of 13 points. He defeated the world's top two ranked players (Magnus Carlsen and Ding Liren ) in the process. Wei Yi was the winner of this tournament, with a score of 8½/13. He was tied with Nodirbek Abdusattorov , Gukesh D , and Anish Giri , but won against Abdusattorov and then Gukesh (who had defeated Giri) in
5041-403: Was won by Kramnik with 4/6. Carlsen finished this tournament with a rating of 2802, two points behind Anand at 2804 who temporarily ended Carlsen's reign at world No. 1. These setbacks called into question from some whether Carlsen's activities outside chess, such as modelling for G-Star Raw , were distracting him from performing well at the chessboard. Carlsen said he did not believe there
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