Chess Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen's Net Worth Proves He Is Always a Few Moves Ahead

Chess might be an acquired taste for some, but chess grandmaster and five-time World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen proves that it's a pretty lucrative career field. His net worth proves that even more. He began seriously competing at the age of 13. When he was 15, per ChessBase, he won the Norwegian Chess Championship.

But what is Magnus Carlsen's net worth now? The champion has been in the game for decades, and he has multiple championships and countless chess wins to prove it. Although he now-famously lost a game at the Norway Chess 2025 tournament to the much younger player Gukesh Dommaraju, Carlsen's success is unmatched by many.

According to Chess.com, Carlsen's net worth sits at a cool $25 million. And, given Carlsen's career and success early on, that shouldn't come as much of a surprise. He also co-founded the app Play Magnus AS, which includes a game where players can essentially play a computer version of Carlsen in chess, with some of his past games programmed in it.

Chess.com reported that Carlsen's Play Magnus merged with chess24.com in 2019. Because of the fact that the company is valued at more than $100 million, it's safe to say that a lot of Carlsen's wealth comes from there. However, he also still competes in tournaments as a chess champion. Per The Chess World, Carlsen earned more than $705,000 in 2023 from tournaments alone.

Although Chess isn't as mainstream a game that is watched around the world as, say, poker, thanks to shows like The Queen's Gambit, it has garnered a wider fan base than it might have years ago. Carlsen even appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast in February 2025 to open up about his career and the game. At the time, he shared that Chess "still feels like a hobby" to him and less like work.

Outside of chess and his other business ventures, Carlsen is plenty busy. In January 2025, Carlsen married his girlfriend, Ella Victoria Malone. She opened up about their relationship on the Sjakksnakk podcast in early 2025.

"He was really sweet when we first met," Malone shared at the time, of Carlsen at the start of their relationship. "He was very shy and nervous. It was very endearing. He is incredibly intelligent."

In May 2025, Carlsen announced on Instagram that he and Malone were expecting their first child together. In a simple post featuring Malone with a baby bump, Carlsen wrote in the caption, "My beautiful pregnant wife."