‘My wife is way more attracted to me now': Magnus Carlsen after breaking 2900 rating threshold in freestyle chess
In a career littered with silverware, there was one dream that always eluded Magnus Carlsen: breaking the 2900 rating threshold in classical chess. This was something no chess player has ever done. Carlsen, who won the world chess championship title five times and has been world no 1 for almost 15 years, came close a few times, but the best he could achieve in classical chess was 2882, which he achieved in May 2014, just six months after winning the World Championship for the first time by defeating Viswanathan Anand in 2013.
Now, Carlsen had finally broken 2900 rating, albeit in the freestyle chess ratings, which were unveiled on Thursday. The ratings it must be noted are drawn up by Freestyle Chess rather than FIDE, the global governing body of chess.
After hearing about the rating, Carlsen joked: 'My wife (Ella Victoria) is way more attracted to me now that I've achieved 2900.'
Freestyle Chess used five tournaments — Weissenhaus 2024, Singapore 2024, Weissenhaus 2025, Paris 2025, Karlsruhe 2025 — to come up with the ratings. There are 578 players on the list, these have played at least one freestyle chess event in the last two years.
Praggnanandhaa is India's top player in the rating list on 4th spot, just behind Carlsen (2909), Hikaru Nakamura (2818) and Fabiano Caruana (2804). Praggnanandhaa has 2773 points which put him ahead of compatriots like Arjun Erigaisi (8th spot with 2758 points), Vidit Santosh Gujarathi (18th with 2713 points), Aravindh Chithambaram VR (22nd with 2707) and classical world champion Gukesh (26th spot with 2701).
World champion Gukesh has not had the best of performances in freestyle chess tournaments, which explains his struggles on the rankings board for June 2025.
Gukesh's predecessor on the world champion's throne, Carlsen, meanwhile has had no problems in the format he himself had championed. Carlsen, in fact, went through the Grenke Freestyle Open: nine wins from nine games.
At 2909, Carlsen's freestyle ELO rating is 72 points above his ELO in traditional chess with classical time control.
After that near miss in 2014, Carlsen came close to 2900 in classical chess once again in 2019. It was during this period that he set another record: 125 classical games in a row without defeat between July 2018 and October 2020. In 2023, he told Norwegian podcast Sjakksnakk: 'I have given up a bit on trying to reach 2900. It will just be very, very difficult.'
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‘My wife is way more attracted to me now': Magnus Carlsen after breaking 2900 rating threshold in freestyle chess
In a career littered with silverware, there was one dream that always eluded Magnus Carlsen: breaking the 2900 rating threshold in classical chess. This was something no chess player has ever done. Carlsen, who won the world chess championship title five times and has been world no 1 for almost 15 years, came close a few times, but the best he could achieve in classical chess was 2882, which he achieved in May 2014, just six months after winning the World Championship for the first time by defeating Viswanathan Anand in 2013. Now, Carlsen had finally broken 2900 rating, albeit in the freestyle chess ratings, which were unveiled on Thursday. The ratings it must be noted are drawn up by Freestyle Chess rather than FIDE, the global governing body of chess. After hearing about the rating, Carlsen joked: 'My wife (Ella Victoria) is way more attracted to me now that I've achieved 2900.' Freestyle Chess used five tournaments — Weissenhaus 2024, Singapore 2024, Weissenhaus 2025, Paris 2025, Karlsruhe 2025 — to come up with the ratings. There are 578 players on the list, these have played at least one freestyle chess event in the last two years. Praggnanandhaa is India's top player in the rating list on 4th spot, just behind Carlsen (2909), Hikaru Nakamura (2818) and Fabiano Caruana (2804). Praggnanandhaa has 2773 points which put him ahead of compatriots like Arjun Erigaisi (8th spot with 2758 points), Vidit Santosh Gujarathi (18th with 2713 points), Aravindh Chithambaram VR (22nd with 2707) and classical world champion Gukesh (26th spot with 2701). World champion Gukesh has not had the best of performances in freestyle chess tournaments, which explains his struggles on the rankings board for June 2025. Gukesh's predecessor on the world champion's throne, Carlsen, meanwhile has had no problems in the format he himself had championed. Carlsen, in fact, went through the Grenke Freestyle Open: nine wins from nine games. At 2909, Carlsen's freestyle ELO rating is 72 points above his ELO in traditional chess with classical time control. After that near miss in 2014, Carlsen came close to 2900 in classical chess once again in 2019. It was during this period that he set another record: 125 classical games in a row without defeat between July 2018 and October 2020. In 2023, he told Norwegian podcast Sjakksnakk: 'I have given up a bit on trying to reach 2900. It will just be very, very difficult.'
