Notable Games
Magnus Carlsen
16 celebrated games · 1865 in the full archive
◈The games that made the legend
Carlsen – Ernst · 2004 · 1–0
Corus C, Wijk aan Zee 2004: the thirteen-year-old Carlsen's Caro-Kann brilliancy, a knight and bishop sacrifice that launches a king hunt ending in a picture-perfect mate (29.Qd7#).
→
Carlsen – Dolmatov · 2004 · 1–0
Moscow Aeroflot Open 2004: the thirteen-year-old prodigy dismantles veteran grandmaster Sergey Dolmatov in just nineteen moves.
→
Kramnik – Carlsen · 2008 · 0–1
Corus (Wijk aan Zee) 2008, final round: the seventeen-year-old Carlsen outplays former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik from a Hedgehog, a breakthrough win with Black.
→
Carlsen – McShane · 2009 · 1–0
London Chess Classic 2009: a King's Indian squeeze decided by a marching passed d-pawn (61.d7), from the tournament Carlsen won ahead of Kramnik to reach world No. 1.
→
Carlsen – Topalov · 2010 · 1–0
Nanjing Pearl Spring 2010: a Ruy Lopez win over former FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov, from the event Carlsen won with a 2901 performance rating.
→
Carlsen – Wang · 2011 · 1–0
Tata Steel (Wijk aan Zee) 2011: a Caro-Kann Advance in which Carlsen breaks through with 24.Bxf7+ and a raking kingside mating attack.
→
Carlsen – Anand · 2012 · 1–0
Grand Slam Final, Bilbao 2012: Carlsen beats reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand a year before their title match, squeezing a Moscow Sicilian with an e5–e6 bind.
→
Carlsen – Gelfand · 2013 · 1–0
Candidates Tournament, London 2013, round 10: a Rossolimo win over Boris Gelfand at the event that earned Carlsen his title shot — it lifted his live rating to a then-record 2878.
→
Carlsen – Anand · 2013 · 1–0
World Championship 2013 (Chennai), Game 5: Carlsen's first win of the match, a long endgame that ended four opening draws and set him on course to dethrone Anand as the 16th World Champion.
→
Carlsen – Anand · 2014 · 1–0
World Championship 2014 (Sochi), Game 11: the Berlin Defence win that clinched Carlsen's first title defence, 6½–4½ over Anand.
→
Carlsen – Aronian · 2015 · 1–0
Tata Steel (Wijk aan Zee) 2015: a Ragozin QGD in which Carlsen positionally outplays Levon Aronian — one of six straight wins that carried his tournament victory.
→
Carlsen – Radjabov · 2015 · 1–0
Tata Steel (Wijk aan Zee) 2015: a kingside attack capped by the knight sacrifice 31.Nxg7, from Carlsen's dominant run to the title at Wijk.
→
Carlsen – Karjakin · 2016 · 1–0
World Championship 2016 (New York), Game 10: the must-win game with his title on the brink after losing Game 8 — Carlsen levels the match to force the rapid tiebreak, which he then wins to keep his crown.
→
Carlsen – Firouzja · 2021 · 1–0
Tata Steel (Wijk aan Zee) 2021, round 1: Carlsen outplays teenage star Alireza Firouzja, breaking through with a central e5–e6 thrust.
→
Carlsen – Nepomniachtchi · 2021 · 1–0
World Championship 2021 (Dubai), Game 6: at 136 moves the longest game in World Championship history, nearly eight hours — Carlsen's two rooks and knight grind down Nepomniachtchi's queen, the turning point of the match.
→
Carlsen – Mamedyarov · 2022 · 1–0
Tata Steel (Wijk aan Zee) 2022: a 27-move Catalan in which Carlsen's rooks storm the a-file (18.Ra8) and crash through on e6 to force resignation.
→