Magnus Carlsen Win Rate, Win-Loss Record and Games Played

How many chess games has Magnus Carlsen played?

There is no single official number. FIDE rates his games, but it does not publish a career win-draw-loss list. So every database gives a different total. Here are five counts, each with its source and the date we read it.

Chess.com numbers from its public player-stats API, Lichess numbers from its public user API. The numbers keep growing while he plays.

Why do the totals differ? Each source counts different games:

• Classical or not. chessgames.com leaves out 3,410 blitz, rapid, exhibition and odds games. Our database keeps them, but marks each game by the type of event.
• Which events. Old junior events, team leagues and simultaneous exhibitions are in some databases and not in others.
• Online accounts. His Chess.com and Lichess games are mostly bullet and blitz games, many of them for fun. They are not in the over-the-board totals at all.

So the honest answer to "how many games of chess has Magnus Carlsen played?" is: about 2,000 serious over-the-board games, more than 7,000 if you add rapid, blitz and online events, and more than 20,000 if you add his two main online accounts.

What is Magnus Carlsen's win rate?

Two numbers are often mixed up. The win rate is the share of games he won. The score counts a draw as half a point, so it is always higher. Top players draw a lot in classical chess, so their win rate there looks low.

In classical chess Magnus wins about 4 games in 10 (38% in our database, 41% at chessgames.com) and scores about 63%. That may sound small, but it is against grandmasters only, and draws are normal at the top. In faster games he wins much more often, because his opponents make more mistakes when the clock is short.

Our database of Magnus Carlsen games, 2001-2025 (7,484 games), read 4 Nov 2026. The time control is read from the event name. Win rate = games won / games played. Score = wins + half the draws.

Magnus Carlsen win loss record with White and with Black

Like every top player, he wins far more with White. In classical chess he wins almost half of his White games and fewer than three in ten with Black. With Black he draws more than half his games.

Classical games only, our database 2001-2025, read 4 Nov 2026.

In all time controls together: 3,789 games with White (60% won) and 3,695 with Black (48% won). See which openings give him those wins in what openings Magnus Carlsen plays.

Magnus Carlsen win loss record by year

His early years are full of classical games, because a young player builds his rating in open tournaments. He became a grandmaster in 2004 and world number one in 2010. Since 2020 most of his games are rapid, blitz and online events. In 2024 and 2025 he played fewer classical games than ever. The story of how he got to the top is in how Magnus Carlsen became world champion.

Our database, read 4 Nov 2026. From 2020 the number of games jumps because of the online events (Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour, Speed Chess, Banter Blitz). Year-by-year pages with every game: Magnus Carlsen games by year.

How many games has Magnus Carlsen lost?

In our database he lost 184 of his 1,483 classical games (12%), and 1,124 of all 7,484 games (15%). chessgames.com counts 289 losses in 1,981 games. Online he loses more, because bullet and blitz are much less exact: 1,656 losses in 9,588 rated games on Chess.com and 2,409 in 10,455 games on Lichess.

Most of his classical losses came early, when he was a teenager. In our database he lost 18 classical games in 2001, but only 2 in 2012, 2 in 2018, 2 in 2021 and 1 in 2022.

125 games without a loss. On 31 July 2018 he lost to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in Biel. He did not lose another classical game until 10 October 2020, when Jan-Krzysztof Duda beat him at Norway Chess. That run was 125 classical games: 42 wins and 83 draws (Chess.com report of the game). Carlsen himself counts 122, because he leaves out three Norwegian league games against weaker players. You can replay the game that ended it below.

Magnus Carlsen record vs his top rivals

Against most of the elite he has a clear plus score. His closest classical rivalries are with Anand and Caruana, where most games are draws. Against Firouzja and Nakamura he has played hundreds of fast games online. Every rivalry has its own page with all the games.

Our database, all time controls, read 4 Nov 2026. Click a name to replay every game of that rivalry.

Next to the numbers, the board shows how he wins. For a comparison with the great champion of the 1970s see Magnus Carlsen vs Bobby Fischer, and for every number one in history see world number 1 chess players.

A famous Magnus Carlsen win: age 13, Wijk aan Zee 2004

This is the game that made people outside Norway learn his name. Carlsen was 13 and played in the C group at Wijk aan Zee. Against Sipke Ernst he sacrificed a knight, a bishop and a rook in a few moves.

The loss that ended the 125-game streak: Duda vs Carlsen 2020

Carlsen did not lose this game by playing safe. He sacrificed a pawn and then the exchange to play for a win with Black. Duda defended well, kept his extra material and won with an attack on the black king.

His most talked-about loss: Carlsen vs Niemann 2022

This game became world news. Niemann beat Carlsen with Black in round 3 of the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, and the next day Carlsen withdrew from the tournament. On the board, it was a long ending where one wrong rook move cost Carlsen the game. Their full record, mostly in fast games, is on the Magnus vs Niemann page.

Magnus Carlsen Win Rate FAQ