 "Magnus Carlsen becomes father for first time; FIDE makes funny congratulatory tweet: 'Carlsen has great...'")
World No 1 chess player Magnus Carlsen and his wife, Ella Victoria, have announced the birth of their first child. Ella revealed the good news with a picture of five-time world champion Carlsen sleeping alongside the baby on Instagram. Ella covered the face of the baby with a blue heart, probably hinting at the gender.
Magnus and Ella got married in January 2025 and news of her pregnancy was revealed in May. The bay was born on 27 September.
FIDE congratulates Magnus with funny caption
The International Chess Federation (FIDE), which has been at loggerheads with Magnus recently, posted a sweet congratulatory message in which they hailed the Norwegian’s genes, which many saw as a joke about the jeans controversy involving the two parties.
“Congratulations! Magnus Carlsen has great genes,” it wrote on X.
😻 Congratulations! Magnus Carlsen has great genes! pic.twitter.com/Kj8lpGURFR
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 30, 2025
With the birth of his first child, Magnus is expected to spend a lot of time away from the chessboard. Since relinquishing the world title in 2022, Carlsen has shown no interest in competing in the World Chess Championship cycle. Nonetheless, he has still had a highly successful 2025, winning seven tournaments.
His last major win was the Esports World Cup 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Carlsen’s next chess tournament will be the Clutch Chess, which will take place in St. Louis from 7-11 October.
Nakamura congratulates good friend Magnus
Also congratulating Carlsen on social media was his close friend and world No 2 Hikaru Nakamura. The American Grandmaster has also recently revealed that he is expecting his first child with his wife, Atousa Pourkashiyan, also a Woman Grandmaster.
Huge Congrats to @MagnusCarlsen and Ella on the birth of your first baby!
— Hikaru Nakamura (@GMHikaru) September 30, 2025
Nakamura is still in contention for the 2026 FIDE Candidates. But he will not be taking part in the Chess World Cup, which will take place in Goa in October-November.
Nakamura is hoping to qualify for the Candidates Tournament through the top rating spot.
So far, Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri and Matthias Blübaum have already qualified for the eight-player Candidates tournament.
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