‘Undoubtedly the GOAT’: Magnus Carlsen defends chess title at 2026 Esports World Cup

By Emile Nuh, Matias Grez, CNN

(CNN) — Magnus Carlsen has done it again.

After winning the inaugural chess competition at the Esports World Cup (EWC) last year, the Norwegian Grandmaster successfully defended his crown after beating Denis Lazavik in straight sets in the Grand Final in Paris on Saturday.

Incredibly, the world No. 1 went through the entire tournament without dropping a single game, finishing with 11 wins and nine draws as he took home the $250,000 first place prize and earned Team Liquid a crucial 1,000 Club Championship points – the American esports organization now sits 13th in the standings with 1,200 total points.

The 35-year-old chess legend unsurprisingly entered the competition as the heavy favorite, as he’s spent a staggering 15 consecutive years as the world’s number one-ranked chess player – the longest such streak in modern International Chess Federation (FIDE) history.

Despite this, Carlsen was nonchalant and said he wasn’t too concerned about the tournament when speaking to CNN Sports in Paris.

“I don’t think too much about expecting to win,” Carlsen said. “You just want to do the right things and take it step by step… which is a very boring answer, but that’s a little bit how it is.”

However, the Norwegian grandmaster did acknowledge he knows “it’s a likely scenario” for him to come out on top when he does enter competition. After all, he is also a five-time world classical chess champion and only relinquished his title after voluntarily deciding not to defend it in 2023, citing he was “not motivated to play.”

But when the 35-year-old does have that fire in his belly, he’s almost unstoppable, and as Woman Grandmaster and chess influencer Nemo Zhou – who was also a commentator and analyst at the EWC in Paris – told CNN Sports without hesitation: “Magnus Carlsen is undoubtedly the GOAT.

“Specifically mine, I would say yes – absolutely. There is nobody stronger in the history of the game.”

Even with chess’ foray into esports, Carlsen’s dominance has not wavered as he is yet to lose a match at the EWC in his two title-winning campaigns, despite the format being vastly different to the classical form he first played when he reached the pinnacle of the game.

The next moves for chess

For some, it still may feel unnatural to see chess on a schedule alongside games like League of Legends, Tekken 8, Call of Duty Warzone and Fortnite at the EWC. After all, it’s an ancient game steeped in tradition with a history dating back centuries.

But despite classical chess still being the most prominent form played on the global stage, shorter, online forms are now beginning to explode in popularity and it’s impossible to ignore.

According to Chess.com – largely considered the home of online chess with over 250 million members – the 2025 EWC was the most-watched chess event of the year with just under 260,000 concurrent peak viewers, ahead of prestigious tournaments like Norway Chess and Tata Steel Chess.

While the $1.5 million prize pool at last year’s EWC – which was the same figure for this edition – was the second-largest only behind the $2 million prize pool for the 2025 FIDE World Cup.

However, the $2 million FIDE World Cup prize pool was split between 206 players, while just 16 players split the $1.5 million prize fund at last year’s EWC.

“What’s happened here with the EWC the last couple of years is a really good step in the right direction,” Carlsen told CNN Sports, who also acknowledged that despite chess having “a lot of potential,” it does have “some limitations in terms of the ‘wow factor’ of the game.”

To circumvent this, the EWC utilizes a “10+0” format, giving players just 10 minutes to make their moves without any chance of additional time, making games short, sharp, and more closely aligned with the other fast-paced esports games on show.

It’s a new format for a new generation, but one which Carlsen still sets the standard for, making it no surprise the 35-year-old chess legend expressed he’s “really happy with the way things have gone the last few years.”

He continued: “Chess is always going to be a game that a lot of people have some kind of relationship to. Even if they don’t play a lot, (don’t) know the rules, or just know some rules, everybody kind of knows something about chess.

“We’re always going to have that advantage.”

Next year, Carlsen will be going for his third-straight EWC title, and although he will likely have an even bigger target on his back, it would certainly not be wise to bet against him.

The-CNN-Wire
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