Who I am going to talk about isn’t academically intelligent. He’s no scientist nor a surgeon.
He studied at a typical sports school but quit after finishing his secondary schooling.
With an IQ of over 190, he’s none other than the current Chess World Champion, Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen, also called Magnus Carlsen.
At the age of 2, he could solve 50-piece jigsaw puzzles; at 4, he enjoyed assembling Lego sets with instructions intended for children aged 10–14.
A 5-year-old Magnus was introduced to chess by his father. However, he preferred memorizing the areas, population numbers, flags, and capitals of every country in the world, which in the end, he did.
Fast forward 8 years, and he has become a Grandmaster, the highest possible title (Below World Chess Champion) in chess at the meager age of 13.
From July 2011 to date, he has remained the highest-rated chess player, second in duration to only Garry Kasparov.
In 2013, Carlsen formally became the World Champion by defeating Viswanathan Anand soundly. Since then, he has remained champion, defeating whoever dared to challenge him comfortably.
On April 21, 2014, he achieved the highest ever live rating in chess. At an astounding 2889.2, no one could or would ever come close to it in all of history.
Later that year, Carlsen officially became the first triple world chess champion, holding every title possible, simultaneously, a first in chess history!
While all these feats are undoubtedly admirable, his raw intellectual power isn’t fully revealed.
He played 10 Harvard Lawyers, at the same time blindfolded and absolutely crushed all of them.
If you thought that was impressive, be prepared.
Magnus played 70 professional chess players (ELO Rating between 1800 to 2000) at once. In the end, he won a staggering 68 games, losing only 2!
Not yet impressed?
I have one last ace up my sleeve.
From July 2018 till October 2020, Magnus had not lost any match. Out of the 125 games he played against different Grandmasters, former World Champions, and top 100 players in the world, he won a staggering 42 of them while drawing the rest.
And I might have forgotten to mention the fact that he was the number one ranked fantasy football player in the entire world.
That ladies and gentlemen, is why Magnus Carlsen is the smartest human ever.
