As the chess world held its breath and watched on Friday, November 22, top-ranked Magnus Carlsen made his winning move in the championship match against defending world champion Viswanathan Anand to become the new reigning king of chess. Carlsen started playing chess at the age of five, setting himself the goal of beating his sister, then his father. The rest quickly became history, and at age 13 he became an International Grandmaster, the youngest at the time.
After the grueling weeks leading up to the tournament, Carlsen took the weekend off, playing basketball and soccer with members of the Norwegian media, and scoring points in both. Joined by his father and other members of Team Carlsen at the award ceremony in Chennai on Monday, Carlsen was presented with a gold medal, a trophy, laurel wreath, and a check for NOK 9 million (USD 1.4 million).
Stay tuned for future World Chess Championships—the next one may just be hosted by Norway. In the meantime, check out Viking’s profile of Carlsen in the September 2013 feature “Making Their Marks: Young Norwegians to Watch.”
Ann Pedersen is editor of Viking magazine. She lives with her family in St. Paul, Minn.
Monday, December 2, 2013
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