Magnus Carlsen

Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (Norwegian: [sʋɛn mɑŋnʉs øːn kɑːɭsn̩]; born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster and former chess prodigy who is the No. 1 ranked player in the world. His peak rating is 2872, the highest in history. Carlsen was the 2009 World Blitz chess champion.

On 26 April 2004, Carlsen became a Grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 148 days, making him at that time the second youngest Grandmaster in history, although he has since become the third youngest. On the November 2009 FIDE rating list, Carlsen had an Elo rating of 2801, becoming the fifth player to achieve a rating over 2800. Aged 18 years, 336 days at the time, he was by far the youngest to do so. On 1 January 2010, at the age of 19 years, 32 days, he became the youngest chess player in history to be ranked world No. 1, breaking the record held by Vladimir Kramnik. On the January 2013 FIDE rating list, Carlsen reached an Elo rating of 2861, thus surpassing Garry Kasparov's rating record of 2851 (set in July 1999). Based on several of his FIDE rankings, Carlsen qualified for the Candidates Tournament that took place in March–April 2013, which he won, thus earning the right to challenge World Champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2013.