Did you like Queen's Gambit on @netflix?

The show was based on a novel by the same name but the story is eerily similar to Magnus Carlsen, the current #1 chess player in the world and current world champion since 2013.

Oh and he's only 29 - a quick thread 🧵
1/ Magnus was born in Norway, the son of a chemical engineer and IT consultant.

At 2, he was solving jigsaw puzzles and building full lego sets at age 4.

He was introduced to chess at age 5 by his father and his main goal at the time? To beat his elder sister.
2/ He accomplished that by age 6.

Carlsen saw patterns on the board not just memorizing openings, mid-game, endgame moves.

At 9 years old, he competed at the 1999 Norwegian Chess Championship, winning his division.
3/ Ratings are HUGE in the chess world and between age 9 and 10, Carlsen's rating went from 900 to 1907 playing in many international tournaments and often missing school to do so.

Outside of chess, he loved reading Donald Duck comics and playing football.
4/ His big break came in 2000 when he tied for 1st in the World U-12 Championships.

In 2004, Carlsen met Garry Kasparov in a tournament, the world #1 at the time.

The game ended in a draw, which turned heads.

How did a 13 year old draw the World #1 player in the world?
5/ In 2013 (age 23), Carlsen won the Candidates Tournament for the right to play Vishwanathan Anand for the crown of World #1 Chess Player.

Over 10 games, Anand made a small mistake in Game 5 and Carlson capitalized.

He won that game and thereafter the championship.
6/ Since becoming world #1, Carlsen has done some incredible things with charities, evangelizing the game and inspiring young kids.

One time in 2016, he played a 70 game simultaneous event where he played 70 games at once.

He won 68 of them, drew 2, losing just 1 game.
7/ He remains the World #1 Chess player in the world right now at age 29 and is currently the highest rated chess player of all time.

Oh and he randomly got into fashion at one point was on The Vampire Diaries opposite Nina Dobrev. 🤯
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