Jan Karsten

Jan Karsten
Personal information
Born2008 (age 17–18)
Cape Town, South Africa[1]
Chess career
CountrySouth Africa
TitleInternational Master (2023)
Peak rating2385 (June 2025)

Jan Karsten (born 2008) is a South African chess player who was awarded the FIDE title of International Master in 2023.[2]

Chess career

At age 14, and one of the youngest contestants,[3] Karsten won the 2022 African Junior Chess Championship, finishing unbeaten on 6.5/9.[4][5] This earned him the title of International Master.

As a result of this win, he qualified for the 2022 World Junior Chess Championship where he finished on 4.5/11.[6]

Karsten won the 2024 Cape Town Chess Masters, where he was the top seed.[7][8]

In December 2025, Karsten beat world champion Magnus Carlsen in a simultaneous Chess960 exhibition, and in March 2026, Karsten won the South African Chess Championship.[1]

Personal life

Karsten attends Jan van Riebeeck High School.[9] As of 2026, Karsten is in his final year of high school, and also plays tennis, swimming, cricket and hockey.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c McCain, Nicole. "Meet the matric boy who was just named SA's chess champ... and who's beaten Magnus Carlsen". News24. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
  2. ^ "Karsten, Jan". FIDE. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  3. ^ "New SA chess champ likes conquering his dad while blindfolded". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  4. ^ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - African Junior Chess Championship 2022 - Open". chess-results.com. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  5. ^ Masala, Kenya Chess (20 November 2022). "Jan Karsten & WIM Lina Nassr win 2022 African Junior Championship". Kenya Chess Masala. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  6. ^ "59th World Juniors 2022 Games". www.365chess.com. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  7. ^ February (JesseFebruary), Jesse (6 January 2024). "Cape Town Masters Day 3: The underdogs take over". Chess.com. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  8. ^ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - Cape Town Masters Challenge 2024". chess-results.com. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  9. ^ Vivier, Tyler Leigh (18 July 2022). "Jan Karsten Earns Champion Title at African Youth Chess Championship". Good Things Guy. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.