Magnus Carlsen

Norwegian chess player

Also known as: Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen

Written by Erik Gregersen

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Category: Arts & Culture

In full:: Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen

Born:: November 30, 1990, Tønsberg, Norway (age 33)

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Magnus Carlsen (born November 30, 1990, Tønsberg, Norway) Norwegian chess player who in 2013 at age 22 became the second youngest world chess champion. (Read Garry Kasparov’s Britannica essay on chess & Deep Blue.) Carlsen’s father first taught him how to play chess when he was five years old. He played in his first tournament at the age of eight. Carlsen finished second in the boys’ under-12 division at the 2002 Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) World Youth Chess Championship, held in Iráklion, Greece. In January 2004 he won his first tournament, at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Although he was ...(100 of 892 words)

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