Carlsen lives in Lommedalen, Baerum, near Norway’s capital, Oslo. He played his first tournament at the age of eight and was coached at the Norwegian Sports Gymnasium led by the country’s top player, International Grandmaster(GM) Simen Agdestein. Agdestein put his civil worker and master player Torbjorn Ringdahl-Hansen, currently a FIDE master with IM and GM norms, as his coach and they had one training session every week, together with one of Magnus’ close friends. The young International Master was given a year off from elementary school to participate in international chess tournaments during the fall season of 2003. In that year, he finished third in the European Under-14 Boys Championship.

In the October 2006 FIDE ratings, Carlsen advanced to world number 22 with a rating of 2698. In the January 2007 ratings he dropped to 2690 and rank 24. In the April 2007 ratings he regained number 22, now with a rating of 2693. And in the July 2007 ratings, after a series of strong results, Carlsen advanced to become world number 17 with a rating of 2710, his highest rating so far.

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