Magnus Carlsen

A strong argument can be made that Magnus Carsen is the greatest chess player in the history of the game. His two other rivals for the title of G.O.A.T. – Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov – both have chinks in their armor when making a claim for the title. Fischer dominated like no one before him or since, but his stay at the top was brief. Kasparov had brilliant results over an extended period but also a loss to Vladimir Kramnik in a world championship match. Carlsen has the body of work having been world champion from 2013 to 2023. Perhaps more importantly he has never been defeated in match play, having voluntarily relinquished his title.

Carlsen’s record makes a strong case for him as the G.O.A.T. A five-time classical World Champion (2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021), five-time World Rapid Champion (2014, 2015, 2019, 2022, 2023), and eight-time World Blitz Champion (2009, 2014, 2017-2019, 2022-2024) he also holds the record as the highest-rated chess player in the history of the game reaching 2882 in both 2014 and 2019.

Carlsen became World Champion in 2013 after defeating Vishwanathan Anand. He then successfully defended his title against Anand in 2014, Sergei Karjakin in 2016, Fabiano Caruana in 2018, and Ian Nepomniachtchi in 2021. He stepped down in 2023.