GMSimen Agdestein

Simen Agdestein was born in Asker, Norway, in 1967 and competed internationally in both chess and football. He won his first Norwegian chess championship at fifteen and became a grandmaster in 1985. At the 1986 World Junior Championship he finished second to Walter Arencibia, ahead of Viswanathan Anand and Evgeny Bareev. His football career included playing as a forward for Lyn and eight appearances for Norway’s national team. A knee injury ended his football career in the early 1990s. He continued playing chess, winning Cappelle-la-Grande in 1999 and the Isle of Man tournament in 2003. His nine Norwegian championship victories span 1982 to 2023. As a teacher at the Norwegian College of Elite Sport, he coached young players including Magnus Carlsen. He also wrote books about chess, including a biography of Carlsen. In 2013 he won the Sant Martí Open in Barcelona with eight and a half points from nine games.