What is Magnus Carlsen's Net Worth and Salary?
Magnus Carlsen is a Norwegian chess player who has a net worth of $25 million. As we detail in the next section below, the majority of Magnus' net worth comes from his company, Play Magnus, which merged with Chess.com in 2022. Magnus' stake in the venture has been worth $10-20 million in recent years. Magnus Carlsen also earns around $2 million per year from sponsorships and several million more from tournament prize money.
Magnus Carlsen is a Norwegian chess grandmaster and reigning five-time World Chess Champion, who also holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at the top level of classical chess. Additionally, he has a peak rating of 2882, which stands as the highest in history. Carlsen's playing style is characterized by positional mastery and incredible endgame skill.
Play Magnus Wealth
Magnus Carlsen co-founded the company Play Magnus AS with Anders Brandt and Espen Adgestein. The company's first product was an iOS app called Play Magnus, which lets users play against a chess engine designed using a database of Carlsen's past recorded games. Other apps, such as Magnus Trainer and Magnus Kingdom of Chess, were later released. In 2019, Carlsen founded the Offerspill Chess Club in Norway; he also serves as its chairman.
Today, a significant portion of Magnus Carlsen's net worth comes thanks to his equity stake in the publicly traded company Play Magnus. In March 2019, Play Magnus merged with chess24.com to form one of the largest online chess companies in the world. The publicly traded company and is currently valued at over $100 million. Magnus owns his stake in Play Magnus through a holding company called Magnuschess. According to corporate filings, Magnus owns 85% of Magnuschess. His father owns the remaining 15%. Magnuschess owns 9.4% of Play Magnus. At various times in recent history, depending on Play Magnus' market cap, Magnus' direct equity stake has been worth $10-20 million. In 2022, Chess.com finalized an offer of acquisition for Play Magnus Group, and as part of the deal, Carlsen signed as a brand ambassador for Chess.com.
Early Life and Chess Breakthroughs
Magnus Carlsen was born on November 30, 1990, in Tønsberg, Norway, to chemical engineer Sigrun and IT consultant Henrik. He spent parts of his childhood in Espoo, Finland, and Brussels, Belgium, before returning to Norway in the late 90s. At a young age, Carlsen showed a natural predilection for intellectual challenges; at only two years old, he was able to solve a 50-piece jigsaw puzzle, and at four, he was assembling Lego sets for those three times his age. Thanks to his father, Carlsen learned how to play chess at the age of five. When he was eight, he took part in his first tournament at the Norwegian Chess Championship.
Carlsen went to the Norwegian College of Elite Sport, where he was coached by the nation's top player, Grandmaster Simen Agdestein. From 2000 through 2002, Carlsen played in nearly 300 rated tournament games, in addition to several blitz tournaments and minor events. Toward the end of the latter year, he came in sixth place in the European Under-12 Championship and then tied for first place in the World Under-12 Championship.
Ascension in the World Chess Ranks, 2004-2012
At the age of 13, Carlsen made headlines after winning his group at the 2004 Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. As a result of his win, he earned his first GM norm. Carlsen earned his second GM norm shortly after at the Moscow Aeroflot Open and then his third and final one at the Dubai Open. Later in the year, he tied for first place with Berge Østenstad in the Norwegian Chess Championship; however, Østenstad became the champion due to superior tiebreaks. A similar situation occurred in 2005 with Simen Agdestein. Carlsen finally won his first Norwegian championship title the next year. In 2009, after winning the London Chess Classic, he was launched to No. 1 on the FIDE rating list.
In early 2010, Carlsen once again won the Corus chess tournament and the London Chess Classic. The following year, he won the Bazna Kings tournament, the Biel Grandmaster tournament, and the Tal Memorial. Although he was unable to defend his London Chess Classic title, he gained rating points that brought him to a new personal record of 2835. In 2012, Carlsen emerged victorious at the Grand Slam Chess Final and returned to first place at the London Chess Classic; as a result, his rating increased to 2861, surpassing the record of 2851 previously held by Garry Kasparov.
World Champion
Carlsen began his historic World Chess Championship run in 2013 when he defeated Viswanathan Anand to become the new World Champion. The next year, he won the FIDE World Rapid Championship and the World Blitz Championship before successfully defending his World Champion title by once again defeating Anand. In 2015, Carlsen won the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, the Grenke Chess Classic, and Shamkir Chess and defended his title at the FIDE World Rapid Championships, becoming the first-ever player to do so. However, he lost his World Blitz Champion title to Alexander Grischuk.
Carlsen again won the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in 2016 and also had his first Norway Chess victory. Another win came at the Bilbao Masters Final. Later, at the World Chess Championship in New York City, Carlsen defeated Sergey Karjakin on tiebreaks to retain his World Champion title. He successfully defended his title for the fourth time in 2018 when he defeated Fabiano Caruana in rapid tiebreak games. In 2019, Carlsen won the Tata Steel Chess Tournament for a record seventh time; he went on to win the Grenke Chess Classic, the Côte d'Ivoire Rapid & Blitz, the Lindores Abbey Chess Stars Tournament, and Norway Chess. More historic success came in 2021 when Carlsen defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi to win his fifth World Chess Championship and retain his title. Notably, the game was the longest in the tournament's history, with the first five matches all ending in draws. Moreover, it delivered the first decisive result in a World Chess Championship game in over five years. In 2023, Carlsen declined to defend his title against Nepomniachtchi. On August 24, 2023, Magnus Carlsen defeated Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa to win the Chess World Cup championship.
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Playing Style
In his youth, Carlsen was known for his aggressive playing style. As he grew, however, he began to temper this risky style and adopted a more universal approach. His masterful positional style has been compared to that of former world champions such as Vasily Smyslov and Anatoly Karpov. Additionally, much of Carlsen's success has been chalked up to his composure, excellent physical shape, and superior endgame proficiency.
Endorsements
Due to his fame as a chess star, Carlsen has had many business partnerships with popular brands. Among his notable endorsements, he modeled for the Dutch designer clothing company G-Star RAW in 2010 and 2014. Carlsen has also served as an ambassador for Nordic Semiconductor and gambling company Unibet.
Niemann Controversy
In late 2022, Carlsen participated as a wildcard in the Sinquefield Cup as part of the Grand Chess Tour 2022. He defeated Nepomniachtchi in the first game and drew his second game to Levon Aronian before facing Hans Niemann in the third, tied in first place. In a stunner, Carlsen was defeated by Niemann. Two weeks later, the pair faced off again at the Champions Chess Tour 2022 in the Julius Baer Generation Cup, and after one move, Carlsen resigned and later broke his silence, accusing Niemann of cheating. In October, Niemann filed a lawsuit against Carlsen and four other defendants, alleging libel and slander. In June 2023, it was reported that a Missouri federal court dismissed the $100 million suit.
