4 ms·

In classical chess, yes; in Blitz and Rapid he's still one of the best, but there's lots of good competition.

• stavros 2y ago
  Ahh I missed that this wasn't classical, thank you.
• fastasucan 2y ago
  He is both the current rapid (5 times) and blitz (7 times) world champion. He is more than one of the best.
  • elif 2y ago
    And his freestyle performance was clearly shoulders ahead his peers
  • n2d4 2y ago
    Sure, but he's not invincible like in Classic; those 7 wins aren't consecutive (he lost in 2021 and won 22 & 23), meanwhile he's won every classical championship since 2013 (until he stopped playing in 2023).
• ANewFormation 2y ago
  His edge in rapid/blitz is generally seen as much larger than in classical. One of the biggest examples of this was in his title defense against Caruana. Every game of that match had been drawn, and in the final game Magnus had a very promising position where he could squeeze with basically no risk. Instead he offered a draw which was immediately accepted. That sent the game to rapid tie breaks where he casually butchered Caruana 3-0.
  • deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  • n2d4 2y ago
    That's because Caruana was a bad Blitz player though; on the elo rankings, Carlsen's lead is (and usually tends to be) smaller in Blitz.
    • ANewFormation 2y ago
      The tie breaks were rapid, not blitz. And rapid is where Magnus' gap over #2 is the largest. And no great player is bad at any time control - they're just 'less good'. Except Magnus - since he's #1 at everything he's just more or less dominant.
  • nameless_me 2y ago
    Oh boy, offering a draw so he could annihilate Caruana in the next phase is a totally gangsta move. <whew>