Mr Influential

Norwegian Carlsen Becomes One of the World’s 100 Most Influential People 
Norwegian chess player Magnus Carlsen (22) is named as one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time Magazine.

TIME presents its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, from artists and leaders to pioneers, titans and icons. Famous Norwegian chess master Magnus Carlsen manged to be named in this year’s list, that has been announced today afternoon.

In the introduction of Carlsen, Time cited the statement of the former chess world champion and political activist Garry Kasparov.

– His intuitive style conserves the mystique of chess at a time when every CPU-enhanced fan thinks the game is easy. Carlsen is as charismatic and independent as he is talented. If he can rekindle the world’s fascination with the royal game, we will soon be living in the Carlsen Era, said Kasaparov to Time.

The weekly magazine is very reputable and has a readership of 25 million people every week. Famous names like President Barack Obama, Beyoncé, Duchess Kate Middleton and even football player Mario Balotelli is on the 2013 list of the magazine. Both North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Park Geun-hye are also on the list.

About Magnus Carlsen

Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess grandmaster and former chess prodigy who is the No. 1 ranked player in the world. His peak rating is 2872, the highest in history. Carlsen was the 2009 World Blitz chess champion.

On 26 April 2004, Carlsen became a Grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 148 days, making him at that time the second youngest Grandmaster in history, although he has since become the third youngest. On the November 2009 FIDE rating list, Carlsen had an Elo rating of 2801, becoming the fifth player to achieve a rating over 2800. Aged 18 years, 336 days at the time, he was by far the youngest to do so. On 1 January 2010, at the age of 19 years, 32 days, he became the youngest chess player in history to be ranked world No. 1, breaking the record held by Vladimir Kramnik. On the January 2013 FIDE rating list, Carlsen reached an Elo rating of 2861, thus surpassing Garry Kasparov’s rating record of 2851 (set in July 1999). Based on several of his FIDE rankings, Carlsen qualified for the Candidates Tournament that took place in March–April 2013, which he won, thus earning the right to challenge World Champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2013.

Known for his attacking style as a teenager, Carlsen later developed into a more universal player. He does not focus on opening preparation as much as other top players, and plays a variety of openings, making it harder for opponents to prepare against him. His positional mastery and endgame prowess have drawn comparisons to those of former world champions Anatoly Karpov, José Capablanca and Vasily Smyslov. Beyond chess, Carlsen has modelled for G-Star Raw’s Autumn/Winter 2010 advertising campaign.

Source: http://www.tnp.no