Magnus Carlsen wins all three chess championships for third time in career

Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen now holds three of his sport's top championship titles after a stunning display of his chess abilities in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The 32-year-old Carlsen won both the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship and the World Blitz Championship in late December, adding them to his current classic word champion title to make him World Chess Champion. 

This is the third time Carlsen has been named World Chess Champion—a feat that can’t be accomplished without holding all three of chess’ top titles—and it is no small feat. 

While Carlsen is the undisputed master of classic chess, both rapid and blitz chess are time-pressure games that leave the grandmaster more open to defeat. 

Rapid chess only allows each participant fifteen minutes of playtime per game plus an additional ten seconds per move whereas blitz chess only allows three minutes per player per game with an additional two seconds per move. 

“This is a really tough event, Carlsen said in a press release after the Almaty tournament, “it started great yesterday but I wasn’t feeling I had a lot of energy…”

“I was trying to survive until day two and see if I had some chance… I felt a little bit better than yesterday and I tried to win as many games as I could,” Carlsen added. 

Winning the World Rapid and World Blitz titles wasn’t a given for the grandmaster this year. A mistake in the eleventh round of the World Rapid against grandmaster Vladislav Artemiev almost derailed Carlsen according to Jack Rogers of Chess.com.

Artemiev ultimately beat Carlsen on day two of the World Rapid’s but finished in second place and tied with grandmasters Alireza Firouzjaand Hikaru Nakamura. 

Carlsen’s 10/13 win marked the fourth time the grand master has won the World Rapid Championship and he took that momentum into the World Blitz Championship where he finished clear ahead of Hikaru Nakamura and Haik Martirosyan who both tied for second. 

No other player has won both the World Rapid Championship and World Blitz Championship in the same year according to CNN’s Issy Ronald.

Carlsen’s wins come on the back of his recent announcement that he does not plan to defend his world chess champion title against Ian Nepomniachtchi in 2023, a decision that may have been influenced by his public spat Hans Niemann.

Carlsen and Niemann had a very public falling out after the world-champion chess master announced that he suspected Nepomniachtchi of cheating during the Sinquefield Cup.

Niemann defended himself against the allegations and launched a $100-million dollar libel suit against him.

Chess.com—as well as its director and Hikaru Nakamura—were also named in Niemann’s lawsuit and it is currently making its way through the courts in Missouri according to El Paīs’ Leontxo García. 

“[The lawsuit] claims that Carlsen accused Niemann of cheating without providing any evidence after the American teenager defeated the Norwegian in the third round of the Sinquefield Cup on September 4, 2022,” Garcia noted.