Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen (Norway) has been at the very top of his game for well over a decade.
He’s held the No.1 position in the FIDE (International Chess Federation) rankings since 1 July 2011.
And he also holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak in professional chess.
As of October 2020, he had played 125 consecutive chess matches without losing a single one.
The streak was comprised of 42 wins and 83 draws, and unfortunately ended in 2021 when he lost his first match in years.
But no other player has gone longer without being beaten, meaning he’s still the best in the world.
At age 32, he’s a five-time World Chess Champion, four-time World Rapid Chess Champion and six-time World Blitz Chess Champion.
In 2022, Magnus announced that he would not be defending his World Championship title – something he had held since 2013.
He told Slate at the time that he preferred competing for its own sake, rather than fighting it out for the No.1 spot in the world, and that he’d consider returning to the race “if the next challenger represents the next generation”.
He’s a chess prodigy, having earned the prestigious title of grandmaster when he was just 13 years old, and he’s the highest rated player of all time.
He started playing chess at age five after his father, an amateur player, decided to teach him.
And although he initially didn’t show much interest, he soon caught the bug when he realized he could get one over on his elder sister by beating her in a match.
He later turned his passion for the game into a high-flying career.
And he’s also become a big social media star with a whopping 1.2 million Instagram followers.
He uses his platform to share all the fun things he gets up to in the chess world, and to also share his knowledge of the game.
He recently teamed up with soccer player Christian Pulisic, a midfielder for AC Milan and captain of the USA national team, to make some fun content on the pitch.
In one video, Magnus offered a “life hack” by showing people how to win a chess match in just a couple of moves.
Magnus is no stranger to the red carpet either, showing that life as a chess grandmaster is probably very different to what people might expect.
The champ also streams matches and offers tips to people on his YouTube channel, which has 1.02 million subscribers.
Whatever his next move is, we’re sure it’ll be Officially Amazing!
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