2004 Carlsen made headlines after his victory, at 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 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 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 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 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 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 the champion because he had superior tiebreaks in the tournament.
2005 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 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 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 the Arnold Eikrem Memorial in Gausdal with a score of 8/9 and a of 2792. At the end of 2005, Carlsen participated in 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 the youngest player to be an official World Championship
Candidate.
2006 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) and Vladimir Malakhov; this could be regarded as Carlsen's first "A" elite tournament win, although it 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 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 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 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 the associated blitz tournament, which was won by Anand.
2007 at Linares 2007 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 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 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 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 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 was eliminated by the eventual winner, Gata Kamsky, scoring ½–1½.
2008 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 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 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 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 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.
2009 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 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 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. As a result, Carlsen became the youngest ever player at the time to pass 2800 in rating. 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 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 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 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 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 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 a chess set when studying on his own.
2010 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 struggled 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 a trainer, although Carlsen later stated that they would remain in contact and he would continue to attend training sessions with Kasparov. 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. Carlsen helped Anand prepare for the
World Chess Championship 2010 against Veselin Topalov, which Anand won 6½–5½ to retain the title. Carlsen had also helped Anand prepare for the World Chess Championships in
2007 and
2008. Carlsen won the Bazna Kings Tournament in Romania in June, two points ahead of Radjabov and
Boris Gelfand. In August, Carlsen played in the Arctic Securities Chess Stars tournament in Kristiansund, Norway., defeating Anand 1½–½ in the two-game final to win the championship. Carlsen suffered setbacks in his next two tournaments. In the
39th Chess Olympiad 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 played in the
Grand Slam Masters Final in October, which he had qualified for automatically by winning three of the previous year's four Grand Slam chess events. The average Elo of the participants at the time was 2789, making the Grand Slam Final the strongest chess tournament in history. In 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 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; Kramnik won the event with 4/6. In October, Carlsen competed at the
Pearl Spring chess tournament in
Nanjing, China. This was the only tournament in 2010 to feature Anand, Carlsen and Topalov, at the time the top three players in the world, and was the first tournament in history to feature three players rated at least 2800. Carlsen secured first place by defeating Topalov with black. This was his second victory in the tournament over the former world No. 1; his final score of 7/10 (with a PR of 2903) was a full point ahead of runner-up Anand. On 5 November, Carlsen withdrew from the
2011 Candidates Tournament, having qualified as the highest rated challenger, citing dissatisfaction with the World Championship cycle format. In the World Blitz Championship, held in Moscow in November, Carlsen finished third with a score of 23½/38, behind Radjabov and winner Levon Aronian. After the tournament, Carlsen played a private 40-game blitz match against Hikaru Nakamura, winning with a score of 24½–15½. Carlsen won the London Chess Classic in December, ahead of Anand and McShane.
2011 Carlsen competed in the GM-A group of the
73rd Tata Steel Chess Tournament (formerly called the Corus chess tournament) on 14–30 January in Wijk aan Zee in an attempt to defend his title; the field included World Champion Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian, former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik,
Alexander Grischuk, Hikaru Nakamura, Ruslan Ponomariov, among others. Despite losing games with white against
Anish Giri and reigning Russian champion
Ian Nepomniachtchi, Carlsen finished with 8/13, including victories over Kramnik and tournament winner Nakamura. Although Carlsen's performance raised his rating from 2814 to 2815, Anand's 8½/13 score elevated his rating to 2817, making him the world for the March 2011 FIDE rating list. The first tournament victory of the year came in the Bazna Kings tournament, a double round robin played in
Mediaș, Romania on 11–21 June. Carlsen finished with 6½/10, equal with Sergey Karjakin but with a better tiebreak score. Carlsen won his White games against Nakamura, Nisipeanu, and Ivanchuk and drew the rest of the games. Carlsen won the
44th Biel Grandmaster tournament, held from 16 to 29 July. He took clear first place with a score of 19/30 (+5−1=4; three points for a win) in a field comprising Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alexander Morozevich, Alexey Shirov and Yannick Pelletier, two points ahead of Morozevich. This was Carlsen's second title. The Grand Slam Chess Final was held as a double round robin with six players, in São Paulo (25 September – 1 October) and Bilbao (5–11 October). Although Carlsen had a slow start, including a loss against bottom-ranked
Francisco Vallejo Pons, he finished +3−1=6, equal with Ivanchuk (whose +4−3=3 finish was equal due to three points for a win). Carlsen then won the blitz tiebreak against Ivanchuk. The other players were Anand, Aronian, Nakamura, and Vallejo Pons. Another tournament victory was achieved in the Tal Memorial in Moscow 16–25 November as a round robin with ten players. Carlsen won two games, against Gelfand and Nakamura, and drew the rest. Although he finished equal on points with Aronian, he placed ahead since the tiebreak was determined by the number of black games; Carlsen had five black games, while Aronian only had four. In the London Chess Classic, played 3–12 December, Carlsen's streak of tournament victories ended when he finished third, behind Kramnik and Nakamura. Carlsen won three games and drew five. Although he did not win the tournament, Carlsen gained rating points, rising to a new personal record of 2835.
2012 in 2012 At the
74th Tata Steel Chess Tournament held on 14–29 January in Wijk aan Zee, Carlsen finished in a shared second place with 8/13, behind Aronian, and equal with Radjabov and Caruana. Carlsen defeated Gashimov, Aronian, Gelfand, and Topalov, but lost against Karjakin. At the blitz chess tournament at Tal Memorial, held in Moscow on 7 June, Carlsen shared first place with Morozevich. In the main event (a category 22 ten-player round robin), he won two games and drew seven. He finished in first place, ahead of Radjabov and Caruana. Carlsen then went on to finish second in the Biel Grandmaster Tournament, with 18 points, just one point behind
Wang Hao using the 3–1–0 scoring system. As in the Tal Memorial earlier in 2012, Carlsen managed to finish the tournament without any losses (+4−0=6). He also defeated the winner Wang in both of their individual games. In the exhibition blitz tournament at Biel before the GM tournament, Carlsen was eliminated (+1−2=0) in the first round by Étienne Bacrot. Bacrot deprived Carlsen of a win in the classical tournament by holding him to a draw in the final round. Carlsen would have won the classical tournament on the traditional 1–½–0 scoring system, with 7/10. The Grand Slam Chess Final was again held as a double round robin with six players, in São Paulo and Bilbao. Carlsen started with a loss against Caruana, but after three wins in the second (Bilbao) round, finished +4−1=5, equal first with Caruana, and ahead of Aronian, Karjakin and Anand. Carlsen won the tournament by winning both tiebreak games against Caruana. From 24 to 25 November, Carlsen took part in the chess festival "Segunda Gran Fiesta Internacional de Ajedrez" in
Mexico City. As part of it, Carlsen took on an online audience (dubbed as "The World") with the white pieces and won. He then took part in the knockout exhibition event "Cuadrangular UNAM". Carlsen first beat
Lázaro Bruzón 1½–½, thus qualifying for a final against Judit Polgár (who had in turn beat
Manuel León Hoyos 1½–½). Carlsen lost the first game, but won the second one, and in the tiebreak defeated Polgár 2–0. Carlsen won the London Chess Classic in December with five wins (over McShane, Aronian,
Gawain Jones, Adams and Judit Polgár) and three draws (against Kramnik, Nakamura and Anand). By rating performance, this was one of the best results in history, with a PR of 2994.
2013 , 2013 Carlsen played in the
75th Tata Steel Chess Tournament from 11 to 27 January in Wijk aan Zee. In the 13-round tournament, he scored 10 points (+7−0=6), winning clear first 1½ points ahead of second-place finisher Aronian. On 1 February, Danish GM
Peter Heine Nielsen joined the team of assistants who helped Carlsen prepare for the
Candidates Tournament in March. Before this, Nielsen was on Viswanathan Anand's team. Carlsen played in the
2013 Candidates Tournament, which took place in London, from 15 March to 1 April. He finished with +5−2=7, and won the tournament on tiebreak over Vladimir Kramnik. As a result, he earned the right to challenge Anand for the World Championship. In May, Carlsen played in the
first edition of
Norway Chess tournament. He finished second, scoring 5½/9 (+3−1=5), half a point behind Sergey Karjakin. Carlsen played in the Tal Memorial from 12 to 23 June. He finished second, with 5½/9, half a point behind Boris Gelfand. Carlsen ended the tournament with +3−1=5, losing to Caruana but beating Anand, Kramnik and Nakamura. Later that month, Carlsen played a four-game friendly rapid match against
Borki Predojević, which he won 2½–1½. In the
Sinquefield Cup, held in September, Carlsen finished first, scoring 4½/6 (+3−0=3), a point ahead of Nakamura.
World Chess Championship 2013 Carlsen faced Anand in the World Chess Championship 2013, at Hyatt Regency in
Chennai, India, from 9 to 22 November. Carlsen won the match 6½–3½ by winning games five, six and nine and drawing the remainder, becoming the new World Chess Champion. Though he was the challenger, and less experienced than Anand, he handled the pressure with ease. He had his first win in game 5 by taking advantage of a small mistake by Anand, and emerged victorious in games 6 and 9, making him the 16th undisputed World Chess Champion. :
2014 From 29 January to 4 February, Carlsen played in the
Zurich Chess Challenge, winning the blitz event (+2−1=2) and the classical event (+3−0=2). He fared worse in the rapid event (+1−2=2), which counted towards the overall standings, but retained enough of a lead to win the tournament. The other players in the event were Aronian, Nakamura, Caruana, Gelfand and Anand. On 22 March, Carlsen played a game for his club Stavanger in the final team match for promotion to the Norwegian Premier League. His win over
Vladimir Georgiev helped his team to a 3½–2½ win over Nordstrand. Carlsen won the
Vugar Gashimov Memorial in
Şəmkir, Azerbaijan, played from 20 to 30 April. He played in the A group along with Caruana, Nakamura, Karjakin,
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Radjabov. Carlsen started the tournament with 2/2, beating Mamedyarov and Nakamura. He then drew against Karjakin, only to lose two consecutive games for the first time in four years, losing to Caruana with black and then with white to Radjabov. In the second half of the tournament, Carlsen scored 4/5, beating Mamedyarov and Nakamura again, and securing the tournament victory by beating Caruana in the final round, finishing with +5−2=3. On 8 May, Carlsen played an exhibition game at
Oslo City against the people of Norway, assisted by a grandmaster panel consisting of Simen Agdestein, Jon Ludvig Hammer, and
Leif Erlend Johannessen. Each of the panel members proposed a move and the public could then vote over the proposed moves. Each panel member was allowed three chances to let
chess engine Houdini propose a move during the game. Norway's moves were executed by
Oddvar Brå who was disguised in a red spandex suit for the occasion. The game was drawn when Carlsen forced a
perpetual check. From 2–13 June, Carlsen played in the
second edition of Norway Chess, a ten-man round robin. He placed second with 5½/9, ½ a point behind the winner Karjakin. Other players in the event were Aronian, Caruana, Topalov, Svidler, Kramnik, Grischuk, Giri and Agdestein. Carlsen won the FIDE World Rapid Championship, which was held in Dubai from 16 to 19 June. He went on to claim the World Blitz Championship two days later, becoming the first male player and second player overall after
Susan Polgar to simultaneously hold the title in all three FIDE rated time controls. Carlsen played nine games for Norway in the
41st Chess Olympiad, scoring five wins, two draws, and two losses (against
Arkadij Naiditsch and
Ivan Šarić). Carlsen placed second to Fabiano Caruana in the
Sinquefield Cup, a six-player double round robin held from 27 August to 7 September. Billed as the strongest chess tournament ever held, the remaining 4 players in the event were
Levon Aronian,
Hikaru Nakamura,
Veselin Topalov, and
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Carlsen lost to Caruana in round 3 and defeated Aronian and Nakamura in rounds 5 and 7, respectively. He finished the tournament with 5½/10 (+2−1=7), three points behind Caruana. and Carlsen on stage at the closing ceremony of
2014 World Chess Championship in Sochi, Russia (
Vladimir Putin at podium)
World Chess Championship 2014 Carlsen faced Anand in a match for the title of World Chess Champion in 2014. Anand qualified by winning the 2014
Candidates Tournament. The rematch was held from 7 to 23 November in
Sochi, Russia. After 11 of 12 games, Carlsen led 6½–4½, thereby defending his World Champion title.
2015 In January, Carlsen won the
77th Tata Steel Chess Tournament, which was played mainly in Wijk aan Zee on 9–25 January. Carlsen had a poor start to the tournament with two draws and a loss in the third round to
Radosław Wojtaszek, which left him in tenth place among the fourteen players. However, six consecutive wins thrust Carlsen into clear first place. Drawing the final four games was sufficient to win the tournament with 9 points out of 13, half a point ahead of Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave,
Wesley So and
Ding Liren. In February, Carlsen won the 3rd
Grenke Chess Classic after a five-game tiebreak with Arkadij Naiditsch. Carlsen had finished joint first with Naiditsch on 4½/7, beating Michael Adams, Anand, and
David Baramidze, and losing to Naiditsch in their classical encounter. This tournament victory meant that Carlsen began 2015 by winning two out of two tournaments. Carlsen continued his streak in April, winning
Shamkir Chess with a score of 7/9 (+5−0=4), defeating Mamedyarov, Caruana, Vachier-Lagrave, Kramnik, and
Rauf Mamedov. With a performance rating of 2983, this was Carlsen's third best tournament result ever, behind only Nanjing 2009 (3002 TPR) and London 2012 (2994 TPR). Carlsen had a poor result in the
third edition of Norway Chess, held 15–26 June. In the first round he obtained a winning position against Topalov after pressing in a long endgame, only to lose on time when he mistakenly thought that he would receive 15 minutes of extra time at move 60. He was then outplayed by Caruana in the second round, missed a win against Anish Giri in round 3, and lost to Anand in round 4. He won against Grischuk in round 5, drew against Nakamura and Vachier-Lagrave in rounds 6 and 7, and defeated Aronian in round 8, but he lost the last round against Jon Ludvig Hammer, leaving him in seventh place and with a performance rating of 2693. Carlsen said of this result: "It's just extremely frustrating not to be able to show anything close to what I am capable of in my home country." From 22 August to 3 September, Carlsen played in the
2015 Sinquefield Cup. He finished in second place with 5/9 (+3−2=4), one point behind winner Levon Aronian. He defeated the 2014 Sinquefield winner Fabiano Caruana, as well as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and wild-card Wesley So, but lost to Veselin Topalov and Alexander Grischuk. In October, Carlsen successfully defended his title in the FIDE World Rapid Championships held in Berlin, as the first World Rapid Champion to do so in history, going +8−0=7. He reached the highest live rapid rating in history after the tournament, and was at that point ranked No. 1 in all three disciplines simultaneously. However, Carlsen lost his No. 1 blitz ranking after he had a weak second day in the World Blitz Championship, and was unable to retain his World Blitz Champion title, losing it to
Alexander Grischuk. In November, Carlsen participated in the European Team Chess Championship with the Norwegian team. He started off poorly, scoring ½ points out of 3 games, losing to Levon Aronian, drawing against
Sune Berg Hansen, and losing again to
Yannick Pelletier due to a
blunder. However, he finished the tournament strongly, scoring victories against
Peter Leko and
Radoslaw Wojtaszek, the latter of whom he had lost to earlier in the year, but his performance was not enough to earn his team a medal, and he lost 16 rating points during the event. From 4–13 December, Carlsen participated in the final leg of the
Grand Chess Tour, the
London Chess Classic. He scored 5½/9 (+2−0=7) in the event, defeating Nakamura (thus inflicting Nakamura's 12th classical loss to Carlsen) and Grischuk, and finished joint first with
Anish Giri and
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. In the 3-way tiebreak, Carlsen was the top seed, meaning he faced the winner of the first tie-break match between Giri and Vachier-Lagrave. Carlsen eventually won the tournament by defeating Vachier-Lagrave, which meant he also won the overall Grand Chess Tour. Carlsen then played in the second edition of the
Qatar Masters Open, which was held from 20 to 29 December. He finished joint first with 7/9 (+5−0=4), and defeated
Yu Yangyi in a tie-break match to win the tournament.
2016 From 15 to 31 January, Carlsen participated in the
78th Tata Steel Chess Tournament, held in Wijk Aan Zee. Carlsen won the tournament by scoring 9 points out of 13 (+5−0=8), earning him his 5th Wijk Aan Zee title. From 18 to 30 April, Carlsen played in the
fourth edition of the Norway Chess Tournament. He finished in first place with 6/9 (+4−1=4), half a point ahead of
Levon Aronian, and a full point in front of
Vladimir Kramnik,
Veselin Topalov and
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. This was Carlsen's first Norway Chess victory. From 17 to 20 June, Carlsen played in the Leuven leg of the Grand Chess Tour. He finished first in the rapid portion of the tournament with 12/18 (+5−2=2; two points for a win) and also first in the blitz portion with 11/18 (+7−3=8) to place first overall with a score of 23/36, two and a half points ahead of the runner-up,
Wesley So. In July, Carlsen won the 9th edition of the Bilbao Masters Final, scoring 17 points out of 10 games (+4−1=5; a win was 3 points, a draw was 1 point). His only loss was to
Hikaru Nakamura, who had never beaten Carlsen in classical chess before. Also during this tournament, Carlsen recorded his first victory over
Anish Giri in a classical game. Carlsen played ten games for Norway in the
42nd Chess Olympiad, scoring five wins and five draws, as the Norwegians placed 5th among the 180 teams in the open event. Carlsen also featured in Chess.com's Grandmaster Blitz Battle Championship. Magnus defeated
Tigran L. Petrosian 21 to 4 in the first round, and beat
Alexander Grischuk 16 to 8 in the semi-final. On 27 October, he faced Nakamura in the final. Playing both blitz and bullet chess for a total of three hours, Carlsen defeated Nakamura 14½ to 10½ and became the first winner of the Chess.com Grandmaster Blitz Battle Championship. From 26 to 30 December, Carlsen played in the World Rapid and Blitz Championships held in
Doha, Qatar. He scored 11/15 in the rapid tournament, finishing third on tiebreak behind Ivanchuk and Grischuk. In the blitz tournament, he scored 16½/21, finishing second on tiebreak behind Karjakin, and 2 points clear of the rest of the field.
World Chess Championship 2016 Carlsen faced
Sergey Karjakin in the 2016
World Chess Championship in New York City. The 12-game standard match, held between 11 and 28 November, concluded with a 6–6 tie. The match began with seven consecutive draws. Karjakin drew first blood by winning game 8, but Carlsen equalised the match in game 10. Games 11 and 12 were both drawn. The tiebreaking games were held on 30 November, Carlsen's 26th birthday. After drawing games 1 and 2, Carlsen won games 3 and 4 to record a 3–1 victory and retain his World Champion title. In the fourth rapid tiebreak game, Carlsen secured the match by sacrificing his queen with 50.Qh6+, forcing mate in two. Grandmaster
Lubomir Kavalek described the move as "the most brilliant final move of any world chess championship in history."
2017 , 29 January 2017 In January, Carlsen participated in the
79th Tata Steel Chess Tournament. He started well, scoring 2 wins and 4 draws in his first 6 games, but missed mate-in-3 versus Giri in round 7, which Giri described as "the most embarrassing moment" of Carlsen's career. Carlsen then lost in round 8 to
Richárd Rapport, and ultimately placed second with 8/13 (+4−1=8), one point behind winner Wesley So. From 13 to 22 April, Carlsen competed in the
4th Grenke Chess Classic, finishing in joint second place, though third on tiebreaks, with Fabiano Caruana, with a score of 4/7 (+1−0=6). The clear winner with 5½ points (+4−0=3) was Levon Aronian. As a result, Carlsen's FIDE rating dropped to 2832, his lowest since November 2011 (2826). Carlsen participated in the
fifth edition of Norway Chess from 6 to 16 June. He performed poorly and had a of 2755, his lowest since 2015 (2670, at the European Team Chess Championship). Ultimately, he placed ninth in the
round-robin tournament with 4/9 (+1−2=6), losing to Aronian and Kramnik and winning against Karjakin. Aronian won the tournament with 6/9 (+3−0=6). Carlsen played in the Paris leg of the
2017 Grand Chess Tour, which was held from 21 to 25 June. He finished first in the rapid portion of the tournament with 14/18 (+5−0=4; two points for a win) and fifth in the blitz portion with 10/18 (+8−6=4) to place joint first overall with Vachier-Lagrave. Carlsen then defeated Vachier-Lagrave in the playoff to win the tournament. From 28 June to 2 July, he played in the Leuven leg of the Grand Chess Tour. He won this tournament convincingly, scoring 11/18 (+3−1=5; two points for a win) in the rapid portion and 14½/18 (+12−1=5) in the blitz portion for an overall score of 25½/36, three points ahead of the runner-up, Wesley So. Carlsen's performance rating in the blitz portion of the tournament was 3018, which Garry Kasparov described as "phenomenal". Additionally,
Leonard Barden, writing for
The Guardian, said the performance was only matched by Fischer's 19/22 score at the
1970 World Blitz Championship. From 2 to 11 August, Carlsen competed in the
Sinquefield Cup, the first classical event of the Grand Chess Tour. He finished joint second with Anand, scoring 5½/9 (+3−1=5). He recorded three victories (against Karjakin, So and Aronian) and his one loss was to Vachier-Lagrave, who won the tournament with 6/9 (+3−0=6). This result left Carlsen in first place in the Grand Chess Tour standings with 34 points, three points ahead of second place Vachier-Lagrave. In September, he took part in the
Chess World Cup 2017. His participation in the event as World Champion was unusual as the World Cup is part of the cycle to
challenge the World Champion in 2018. He defeated
Oluwafemi Balogun +2−0=0 in the first round to advance to the second round, where he defeated
Aleksey Dreev +2−0=0. He was then defeated in the third round by
Bu Xiangzhi +0−1=1 and eliminated from the tournament. On 1 October, Carlsen won the Isle of Man Open, a tournament held from 23 September to 1 October. He scored 7½/9 (+6−0=3), half a point ahead of Nakamura and Anand, for a performance rating of 2903. This was Carlsen's first classical tournament victory in 435 days. From 9 to 14 November, Carlsen faced Ding Liren in the 2017 Champions Showdown, a match consisting of 10 rapid and 20 blitz games, hosted by the Saint Louis Chess Club. Carlsen won, scoring 22–8 (+16−2=12). From 1 to 11 December, Carlsen competed in the
2017 London Chess Classic, the final event of the 2017 Grand Chess Tour. He finished fifth, scoring 5/9 (+2−1=6). Caruana shared first place with Nepomniachtchi on 6/9 (+3−0=6) and won the tournament after defeating Nepomniachtchi 2½–1½ in the blitz tiebreak. Carlsen's placing awarded him 7 additional points in the Grand Chess Tour standings, which was enough to crown him the 2017 Grand Chess Tour champion. From 26 to 30 December, Carlsen played in the 2017 World Rapid and World Blitz Chess Championships, held in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He finished fifth in the rapid event, scoring 10/15 (+8−3=4). Anand shared first place with
Vladimir Fedoseev on 10½/15, and won the tournament after defeating Fedoseev on tiebreak. Carlsen won the blitz event, scoring 16/21 (+13−2=6), one and a half points ahead of his nearest competitors, Karjakin and Anand. This was Carlsen's third World Blitz Chess Championship victory. Carlsen set records for the highest FIDE ratings in
rapid (2919) and
blitz (2986).
2018 , 31 March 2018 From October 2017 to January 2018, Carlsen played in the second edition of Chess.com's Speed Chess Championship. He defeated
Gadir Guseinov, So and Grischuk in the first three rounds 20½–5½, 27½–9½ and 15½–10½, respectively. On 3 January he defeated Nakamura 18–9 in the final, thus winning the tournament for a consecutive time. From 13 to 28 January, Carlsen competed in the
80th Tata Steel Chess Tournament. He placed joint first with Giri, scoring 9/13 (+5−0=8). In February, Carlsen won the unofficial
Fischer Random Chess Championship, defeating Nakamura by a score of 14–10. Carlsen placed second with a score of 5½/9 (+2−0=7) in the
5th Grenke Chess Classic, held from 31 March to 9 April. Caruana won the event with 6½/9 (+4−0=5). Carlsen won the
fifth edition of Shamkir Chess, held from 18 to 28 April, finishing clear first with a score of 6/9 (+3−0=6). From 28 May to 7 June, he competed in the
sixth edition of Norway Chess, placing second with 4½/8 (+2−1=5), half a point behind winner Caruana. He defeated Caruana and Aronian in rounds 1 and 3, respectively, but lost to So in round 6. Carlsen participated in the
51st Biel Grandmaster tournament, held from 23 July to 1 August. He finished second on 6/10 (+3−1=6), one-and-a-half points behind the winner Mamedyarov. In August, he competed in the
6th Sinquefield Cup. He tied for first with Caruana and Aronian on 5½/9 (+2−0=7), and jointly won the tournament after the trio decided to share the title. Carlsen represented Vålerenga sjakklubb at the 34th European Chess Club Cup in October. He scored 3½/6 (+1−0=5), as his team finished fifth. From 26 to 30 December, Carlsen played in the 2018
World Rapid and
World Blitz Chess Championships, held in
Saint Petersburg, Russia. He lost three of his first eight games—including both of the first two—to significantly lower-rated opponents in the rapid event. Despite a strong recovery, he was unable to attain a medal, placing fifth with 10½/15 (+9−3=3). He defended his blitz title, going unbeaten to finish clear first on a score of 17/21 (+13−0=8).
World Chess Championship 2018 Carlsen faced
Fabiano Caruana in the 2018 World Chess Championship in London. The 12-game match, organised by
FIDE, was played between 9 and 28 November. All 12 classical time control games were drawn. Carlsen retained his title by defeating Caruana 3–0 in rapid tiebreak games. Carlsen cited the first rapid game as "critical", and said he felt "very calm" after winning it.
2019 From 12 to 27 January, Carlsen competed in the
81st Tata Steel Chess Tournament. With a score of 9/13 (+5−0=8), half a point ahead of Giri, he won the tournament for a record-extending seventh time. Later in April, Carlsen won the
6th Grenke Chess Classic. He took clear first place with 7½/9 (+6−0=3) and increased his rating to 2875. In early May, Carlsen won the Côte d'Ivoire Rapid & Blitz, the first leg of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, with a score of 26½/36. In late May, Carlsen won his sixth consecutive tournament, winning the Lindores Abbey Chess Stars Tournament. The four-man rapid tournament was a
double round-robin. In addition to Carlsen, Anand, Ding, and Karjakin participated. Carlsen's score was 3½/6 (+1−0=5). In June, he won the
seventh edition of Norway Chess. Scoring 13½/18, he finished three points ahead of his nearest competitors. From 26 June to 7 July, Carlsen participated in the second leg of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, held in
Zagreb. He took clear first with 8/11 (+5−0=6), and improved his rating to 2882, equalling his peak set in 2014. This was Carlsen's eighth consecutive tournament victory. From 10 to 14 August, Carlsen participated in the fourth leg of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, the
St. Louis Rapid & Blitz. He had a poor showing, scoring 8/18 (+3−4=2, points doubled) in rapid and 9/18 (+6−6=6) in blitz for a combined total of 17/36, putting him in sixth place. He said at the end of the first day of blitz: "Everything's going wrong. My confidence is long gone ... At this point I just don't care anymore and I'm just waiting for the classical to start." The fifth leg, the
7th Sinquefield Cup, was a classical tournament. Carlsen won his last two games to tie for first on 6½/11 (+2−0=9) with Ding, but lost the tiebreak 1–3, drawing both rapid games then losing two consecutive blitz games. At the
FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2019 held in October on the Isle of Man, Carlsen placed sixth with 7½/11 (+4−0=7). He thus extended his
unbeaten streak in classical chess to 101 games, surpassing Ding's record of 100 games. The 101 games consisted of 33 wins and 68 draws. From 27 October to 2 November, Carlsen played in the first official
FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship. He was automatically seeded to the semi-final round, as the unofficial Fischer Random Chess champion. He defeated Fabiano Caruana in the semi-finals 12½–7½, but lost to Wesley So in the final round 13½–2½. In late November, Carlsen won the Tata Steel Rapid & Blitz, the final leg of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, with a score of 27/36. At the
2019 London Chess Classic in December, the finals of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, Carlsen was defeated in the semi-finals by Vachier-Lagrave on tie-breaks, 15½–14½. He then went on to beat
Levon Aronian to claim third place. From 26 to 28 December, Carlsen participated in the 2019 World Rapid Chess Championship which he won with a score of 11½/15 (+8-0=7) including no losses to reclaim the title that he lost in 2016. Over the next two days, from 29 to 30 December he took part in the 2019 World Blitz Chess Championship. He won after defeating Hikaru Nakamura in a tiebreak match, drawing the first game with black and winning the second game with the white pieces. His overall score in the tournament was 16½/21 (+13−1=7). This was the second time he held the classical, blitz, and rapid triple crown.
2020 From 10 to 26 January, Carlsen competed in the
82nd Tata Steel Chess Tournament. He finished in second place with a score of 8/13 (+3−0=10), two points behind the winner Caruana. During the tournament, Carlsen surpassed
Sergei Tiviakov's unbeaten streak in classical chess of 110 games. During the
COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted the cancellation of many physical tournaments, Carlsen organized the
Magnus Carlsen Invitational along with
Chess24. Billed as "the first professional online chess tournament," the eight-player rapid tournament was held from 18 April to 3 May, with a $250,000 prize fund. The first phase consisted of a single round-robin, after which the top four players would advance to the playoffs. Carlsen won the event by defeating
Hikaru Nakamura 2½–1½ in the final. Carlsen competed in the 8th
Norway Chess from 5 to 16 October, which was the first elite over-the-board tournament held since social restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic were enforced. Carlsen had gone 125 games without defeat, a period spanning 2 years, 2 months and 10 days. He ultimately won the tournament with a round to spare, finishing on 19½ points, one point ahead of runner-up
Alireza Firouzja.
2021 In January, Carlsen participated in the
83rd Tata Steel Chess Tournament. He finished in sixth place with a score of 7½/13, losing one game to young Russian grandmaster
Andrey Esipenko. This was Carlsen's first loss to a teenager (at standard time controls) since 2011, and his first loss to a sub-2700 rated player since 2015. Throughout the year, Carlsen also participated in many online chess tournaments as part of the
Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. At the
FIDE World Cup 2021 held in
Sochi, Carlsen won the third place match against Fedoseev after being defeated in the semi-finals by Duda, who eventually won the event. Carlsen then won the 9th
Norway Chess, again finishing on 19½ points ahead of runner-up
Alireza Firouzja. After his sole loss in the fifth round of the classical portion to Karjakin, Carlsen won four straight games in classical chess against Firouzja, Tari, Karjakin, and Rapport before ending the tournament with a classical draw and armageddon win against his future World Championship challenger
Ian Nepomniachtchi. From 26 to 28 December, Carlsen participated in the
World Rapid Chess Championship 2021. He took 3rd place (by tiebreakers) with a score of 9½/13 (+7-1=5). Over the next two days, from 29 to 30 December he took part in the
World Blitz Chess Championship 2021. He finished 12th with a score of 13½/21 (+12−6=3).
World Chess Championship 2021 at the
World Chess Championship 2021 At the 2021 World Chess Championship, Carlsen defeated challenger
Ian Nepomniachtchi in
Game 6 after drawing the first five games. It was the first decisive result in a classical time limit World Chess Championship game in more than 5 years and at 136 moves was also the longest game in World Chess Championship history. Subsequently, Carlsen also defeated Nepomniachtchi in Games 8, 9, and 11, thus retaining his championship title. After the match, Carlsen announced that "Unless
Firouzja wins the Candidates Tournament, it is unlikely that I will play the next
world championship match."
2022 In January, Carlsen won his eighth
Tata Steel Chess Tournament. He finished with a score of 9½/13, with no losses and six wins, including wins against
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and
Fabiano Caruana. In early June, Carlsen placed first in the
Norway Chess Tournament, ahead of
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and
Viswanathan Anand who finished second and third, respectively. He finished with a score of 16½/30, On 20 July, the deadline FIDE had given him, Carlsen announced that he would not defend his World Championship title against Nepomniachtchi in the
2023 World Chess Championship match. Carlsen said he enjoyed playing chess tournaments more than championships, and would still continue playing professional chess. Throughout the year, Carlsen competed in the
Champions Chess Tour 2022. He won the Airthings Masters, Charity Cup, and FTX Crypto Cup. Carlsen joined the Norway team for the
44th Chess Olympiad. Carlsen won the
World Rapid Chess Championship 2022 with a score of 10/13 (+8-1=4). He also won the
World Blitz Chess Championship 2022 with a score of 16/21 (+13-2=6). This marks the third time in Carlsen's career that he has simultaneously held the Classical, Rapid, and Blitz World Titles, with 2014 and 2019 being the other two occurrences.
Sinquefield Cup withdrawal In August and September, Carlsen participated as a wildcard in the
2022 Sinquefield Cup as part of the
Grand Chess Tour 2022. He won his first game against Nepomniachtchi, the
Candidates Tournament 2022 winner. He subsequently drew his second game to
Levon Aronian, leaving him in tied first place with American wildcard
Hans Niemann. In the third game, Carlsen was defeated by Niemann, ending his 53-game unbeaten streak in classical chess that
chess24 described as a "stunning victory". Carlsen soon after announced his withdrawal in a tweet with a video of Portuguese football manager
José Mourinho saying, "I prefer really not to speak. If I speak, I am in big trouble." Carlsen's previous results still affect his FIDE rating; however, they will be removed from the tournament standing. Two weeks later, Carlsen faced Niemann in the Julius Baer Generation Cup, a section of the
Champions Chess Tour 2022, an online chess tour. Carlsen, playing as black, resigned after one move, continuing the scandal. On 26 September, Carlsen finally broke his silence and accused Niemann of cheating. Subsequently, on 20 October Niemann filed a lawsuit against Carlsen and four other defendants, alleging five counts of action, including libel and slander. The case was dismissed in June 2023, with the judge ruling that the claim of defamation was outside her federal jurisdiction. In December 2023, the FIDE Ethics & Disciplinary Commission fined Carlsen
€10,000 for his withdrawal from the tournament.
2023 |alt= In January, Carlsen participated in the
Tata Steel Chess Tournament. He lost consecutive games, which had not happened since 2015, first to
Anish Giri and then to the young Uzbek prodigy
Nodirbek Abdusattorov. He recovered and finished 3rd, with the same score as Abdusattorov, but behind Giri, who won the tournament. In February, Carlsen participated in the Airthings Masters 2023 which he won by defeating the American Grandmaster
Hikaru Nakamura in the finals. Having earlier declined to defend his World Championship title, Carlsen ceased to be World Champion at the completion of the title match between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi (the
World Chess Championship 2023), won by Ding. In an interview after the match, Carlsen said he was "suffering from a lack of motivation to play classical chess, because of the dominance of opening preparation". Subsequently, he did not enter the cycle for the
World Chess Championship 2024. Carlsen competed in the
Norway Chess tournament, and performed poorly with a score of 11½/27, drawing 8 classical games, losing 1, and winning 0. He managed to win 7/8 Armageddon blitz games (after a drawn classical game). Carlsen competed in two
Grand Chess Tour events as wild cards, winning both, the Poland Rapid & Blitz and Croatia Rapid & Blitz. In the
2023 Chess World Cup, Carlsen reached the finals by defeating 65th seed
Aryan Tari in the third round, 32nd seed
Vincent Keymer in the fourth round,
Vasyl Ivanchuk in the fifth round,
Gukesh Dommaraju in the quarterfinals, and
Nijat Abasov in the semi-finals. Carlsen was sickened by
food poisoning during the tournament. He defeated Alireza Firouzja in the final of the 2023 Julius Baer Generation Cup to clinch his third tournament victory on the
2023 Champions Chess Tour. Carlsen won his third
Speed Chess Championship, beating five-time defending champion Hikaru Nakamura in the final to deny him a sixth consecutive title. Carlsen beat Wesley So in the
2023 Champions Chess Tour finals to win the Champions Chess Tour for a third consecutive year. Carlsen won the
World Rapid Chess Championship 2023 with a score of 10/13 (+7-0=6). He won his 5th
World Rapid Chess Championship title. He also won the
World Blitz Chess Championship 2023 with a score of 16/21 (+12-1=8). He won his 7th
World Blitz Chess Championship title. As a result, Carlsen became the first man to successfully defend both the rapid and blitz titles simultaneously in the world championships. In February, Carlsen organized and played in the
Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge, which was an over-the-board
Fischer random chess tournament which included some of the top players in the world. He placed fifth in the round-robin
rapid portion of the tournament, which determined the pairings for the main event, which was played under classical time controls. He won the main event, beating
Fabiano Caruana in the final for a $60,000 prize. It was the first ever classical Fischer random chess super-tournament. In September, Carlsen won his fourth
Speed Chess Championship title, defeating GM
Alireza Firouzja in the finals held in Paris, France. Carlsen displayed a dominant performance, finishing with a score of 23.5-7.5, winning 21 games, drawing 5, and losing only 5 in the four-hour match. Carlsen and GM
Hikaru Nakamura remain the only players to have won the tournament since its inception in 2016. Also in September, Carlsen played in the 45th Chess Olympiad for Team
Norway, and they placed 14th out of 188 countries. Carlsen finished with a score of 6/8, conceding draws to
Mustafa Yilmaz, and
Parham Maghsoodloo, while only losing to
Vladimir Fedoseev. A notable win was against Vietnam GM
Liem Le. To finish September, Carlsen also took home the 2024 Julius Baer Generation Cup, by going undefeated and beating
Alireza Firouzja 2.5-1.5 in the Grand Final. On 21 December, Carlsen defeated
Ian Nepomniachtchi in the finals of
Champions Chess Tour 2024, winning the tournament for a fifth consecutive time. On 27 December, following round six of the
World Rapid Chess Championship, Carlsen was warned and fined USD$200 for wearing
jeans. He refused to change his jeans after being given the opportunity to change attire, causing him to not be paired for round nine. He proceeded to withdraw himself from both the Rapid and the
World Blitz Chess Championship tournaments, remarking in an interview, "They can enforce their rules, that's fine by me [...] my response is that fine, then I'm out, like, fuck you." On 29 December, after a loosening of the
dress code, Carlsen reversed his decision and announced he would take part in the Blitz tournament.
International Chess Federation President
Arkady Dvorkovich acknowledged that the incident brought attention to the importance of the organization's ability to adapt to the "evolving nature of chess as a global and accessible sport" regarding the application of its rules. He also professed his "regret" for a resolution not being able to be found before Carlsen's withdrawal. Carlsen went on to jointly win the Blitz championship when he and Ian Nepomniachtchi agreed to share the title having been deadlocked after seven games in the final. Carlsen's decision received applause from the live audience, but met negative reactions online from professional chess players and fans. Dissenters included American chess grandmaster
Hans Niemann, who tweeted, "The chess world is officially a joke. [...] I can't believe that the official body of chess is being controlled by a singular player [
for the second time this week]."
2025 In January 2025, Carlsen won the inaugural edition of the Freestyle Friday weekly tournament organized by
Chess.com. In February 2025, Carlsen was announced as the second chess player to be signed by Dutch
esports organization
Team Liquid, after
Fabiano Caruana the prior day. As part of the deal, Carlsen agreed to represent Liquid during the
Champions Chess Tour 2025. In the same month, Carlsen won the Champions Chess Tour Chessable Masters 2025. In the semifinal match of the Winners bracket against
Arjun Erigaisi, Carlsen tied Erigaisi 2.5–2.5 after the players recorded three draws and one win each. To decide the winner, an Armageddon match was held. Carlsen played with the black pieces and was declared the winner after the game ended in a draw. Carlsen won 2.5–1.5 against
Hikaru Nakamura in the Grand Finals. In April 2025, Carlsen won the
Paris Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, defeating Hikaru Nakamura in the final by a score of 1.5–0.5. That same month, Carlsen won the
Grenke Freestyle Chess Open, recording a perfect score of 9/9, achieving the
highest performance rating in a classical tournament at 3385. On 1 June, Carlsen was defeated by world champion
Gukesh Dommaraju in a dramatic turnaround in the sixth round of
Norway Chess 2025. Following the result, Carlsen punched the table and looked distraught in defeat. He later apologized to his opponent. He won the tournament by scoring 16 points., Carlsen won the inaugural
chess event at the 2025 Esports World Cup, becoming the first-ever Chess Esports World Cup Champion. He defeated
Alireza Firouzja in the final. On 29 October 2025, Carlsen won Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown, with a score of 25½/36 and a performance rating of 2874. In December 2025, Carlsen finished second in the season-ending Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Final in Cape Town, South Africa, losing the final match to Levon Aronian. However, thanks to his dominant performance throughout the year, he secured the overall series victory and was crowned the
Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour Champion. On 28 December 2025, Carlsen won the
World Rapid Chess Championship 2025 with a score of 10½/13, his sixth World Rapid title. On 30 December 2025, Carlsen won the
World Blitz Chess Championship 2025, his ninth World Blitz title and his 20th world championship title across three time controls. With this result, Carlsen has achieved the rapid and blitz world champion double crown five times. Carlsen won the
FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026, beating
Fabiano Caruana in the final. It was his 21st world championship title. == Tournament and match results ==