With an astonishing IQ of 190, chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen has clinched the World Chess Champion title five times. The reigning champ is a six-time World Blitz Chess Champion and a four-time World Rapid Chess Champion. His mastery of chess is the main source of his wealth. As of 2023, Magnus Carlsen has a net worth of $30 million.
Early Life
Hailing from Tønsberg, Norway, Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen was born on November 30, 1990. His mother Sigrun is a chemical engineer and his father Henrik is an IT consultant. In addition, he has three sisters and took up chess to beat his elder sister.
Growing up, young Carlsen had a natural affinity for puzzles. His father taught him chess at five years old, and made his tournament debut at the Norwegian Chess Championship at eight years old.
He attended the Norwegian College of Elite Sport and was tutored by Grandmaster Simen Agdestein. the top chess player in Norway at the time. Carlsen competed in almost 300 rated tournament matches between 2000 and 2002.
International Recognition
The Norwegian prodigy made waves at 13 years old for winning his group at the Netherlands’ 2004 Corus Chess Tournament. With this win, he earned his first grandmaster norm (GM).
Magnus later participated in events in Russia and the UAE. He won his first Norwegian championship in 2006. Three years later, he won the London Chess Classic and was rated number one on FIDE’s rating list.
In 2011, he triumphed in tourneys, including Bazna Kings, Tal Memorial, and Biel Grandmaster. The next year, he prevailed in the Grand Slam Chess Final to boost his rating to 2861.
Becoming World Champion
Magnus Carlsen won the World Chess Championship for the first time in 2013, defeating Viswanathan Anand. He scored the World Blitz Championship and the FIDE World Rapid Championship a year later.
In 2015, he dominated other tournaments, such as Shamkir Chess, the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, and the Grenke Chess Classic. He defended most of these titles in the following years. At the peak of his powers, Nihal Sarin managed to beat the world champ twice!
As for his World Chess Championship title, he continued to defend it for five consecutive tournaments. Most notably, in 2021, he beat Ian Nepomniachtchi in the longest game in the tournament’s entire history.
Net Worth and Earnings
Magnus earns lucrative prize money from playing chess online and at in-person events. In 2020, the Norwegian made $510,586.52, earned $303,946.64 in 2021 and took home $270,516.30 in 2022.
A player of his caliber attracts sponsorship deals from high profile companies. Magnus has partnered with brands such as G-Star RAW and Unibet. Unibet is the company that helped the chess genius show off his card skills in the Norwegian Poker Championship.
Carlsen also has other business ventures; he owns the tech company Play Magnus, which started off developing apps for chess players but now has a dozen subsidiaries.
They own many chess-related subsidiaries such as Chess24.com, iChess and Aimchess. The Play Magnus Group traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Chess.com for nearly $83 million in August 2022! Thanks to the sale, his net worth is estimated to be around $30 million.
Personal Life
In 2017, Magnus Carlsen announced he was dating Synne Christin Larsen, but they broke up a year later. Currently, the chess legend is dating Elisabet Lorentzen Djonne and they’ve been together for three years now.
