Magnus Carlsen may not ring a familiar tone, but I think he deserves some recognition. Magnus Carlsen is the current best chess player in the world. He won the award for best chess player in 2013 and has defended the title 4 times, so far. He even managed to have the highest rating ever in chess history. (Ratings are a system used to determine one’s worth.) You might think that this is the end, but Carlsen even managed to break a world record of an undefeated amount of 125 games. Magnus Carlsen might just be the best player in history.

Magnus Carlsen was born on 30 November 1990 in Tønsberg, Vestfold, Norway. His parents were engineers. When Magnus Carlsen was a toddler, he solved 50 piece puzzles and even put together Lego sets that were designed for older children. When Carlsen’s father introduced his son to chess, Carlsen became fascinated and studied chess extensively. At the age of 8, Carlsen joined his first tournament and finished second in the “under the age of 12” category, playing over 200 games. This tournament was called the Fédération Internationale des Échecs that was hosted in Greece for younger children. Also this tournament was the World Youth Chess Championship. Magnus Carlsen was a young wonder and was beyond the capabilities of other children his size and age.

Magnus Carlsen had early success in chess. At the age of 13, he became a grandmaster.  A grandmaster is a rank given to people who are top tier at chess and is the highest rank you can achieve. This rank is extremely difficult to obtain and requires someone to be hand-picked by a chess organization. Also in 2013, when Carlsen was 23, Carlsen managed to compete and win against the world champion, making him the new world champion. After he won against the world champion, he also gained an ELO of 2882, the current world record. (ELO is a term named after Alfred Elo, which means rating). Magnus Carlsen also was awarded the Chess Oscars for 5 consecutive years by the Russian Chess Magazine. Magnus Carlsen also won many other awards such as the Peer Gynt award.

Overall, I think that Magnus Carlsen is an outstanding chess player and has inspired many to also play chess. Magnus Carlsen has influenced many young people to also find their talent and to never give up. Carlsen has made history, and so can anyone, too.