 "Magnus Carlsen finally hits 2900 rating: 'My wife is way more attracted to me now'")
Magnus Carlsen has finally achieved his dream of crossing the 2900 rating mark in chess. Despite winning the world championship five times and being ranked world no. 1 for almost 15 years, Carlsen never managed to reach a 2900 rating in classical chess. His highest-ever classical rating was 2882, which he reached in 2014.
However, the long wait is over for Carlsen as he has managed to breach the 2900 rating. Although it is not in classical chess, that dream of his will still have to wait. Carlsen has achieved this in freestyle chess. The updated freestyle chess ratings were released on Thursday and showed Carlsen at the top with a rating of 2909.
Carlsen reacts after reaching 2900 rating
Carlsen’s freestyle rating is 72 points higher than his current rating in classical chess. Carlsen reacted to the news by cracking a joke. “My wife is way more attracted to me now that I’ve achieved 2900,” Carlsen said after he learnt about the rating.
Carlsen secured 9 out of 9 wins at the Grenke Freestyle Open earlier this year. After the win, Carlsen said, “It’s incredible. I have never done that in classical chess, or in any format - and it’s not gonna happen again! It feels amazing."
Freestyle chess is different from the regular format. These rankings were not released by FIDE, the global chess body, but by the organisers of freestyle chess themselves. The ratings are based on performances in five recent tournaments - Weissenhaus 2024, Singapore 2024, Weissenhaus 2025, Paris 2025, Karlsruhe 2025.
Indians in freestyle chess rankings
Meanwhile, there is also good news for Indian chess fans. R Praggnanandhaa is ranked 4th in freestyle chess with a rating of 2773, making him the highest-ranked Indian. He is just behind Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura (2818), and Fabiano Caruana (2804). Arjun Erigaisi is also in the top 10 as he is ranked 8th with 2758 rating.
Other Indian players in the top rankings include, Vidit Gujrathi at 18th (2713), Aravindh Chithambaram at 22nd (2707), and D Gukesh at 26th (2701). Even though Gukesh is the current classical world champion, he has not performed well in freestyle chess tournaments. That’s why his ranking here is lower.
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