Chess King Magnus Carlsen Marries His Queen Ella Victoria
The reign of GM Magnus Carlsen as the king of chess now includes a queen. The Norwegian star has tied the knot with Ella Victoria Malone in a ceremony packed with guests on a sunny winter day in Oslo.
The couple exchanged their vows in Holmenkollen Chapel in the snowy hills of Oslo in front of close family and friends on Saturday before heading to a lavish reception at Oslo's iconic 5-star Grand Hotel.
Among the many guests were Carlsen's best men, FM Johannes Kvisla and Chess.com's Askild Bryn, a Guinness World Record holder.
Other guests included sports commentator and chess reporter Sverre Krogh Sundbo, Carlsen's longtime coach GM Peter Heine Nielsen and his wife GM Viktoria Cmilyte-Nielsen, and GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, formerly Norway's number-two player. "It was a beautiful ceremony," Sundbo told NRK.
According to Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, a film crew from Netflix was also present. The streaming giant is shooting a chess-related TV show rumored to air in 2025.
26-year-old Ella Victoria, now known as Ella Victoria Carlsen, was born to a Norwegian mother and an American father. According to media reports, she grew up partly in Oslo, studied in the U.S., and has also spent years living in Singapore, where she is a permanent resident.
The two first appeared publicly together at the Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T Challenge in Germany in February 2024. Since then she has steadily transitioned from a more private life to becoming a fixture at Carlsen's events, most recently during the World Rapid & Blitz Championship in New York.
When she was interviewed on Norwegian TV during Norway Chess in Stavanger last year, she responded in English: "I would say that I am a person that keeps mostly to myself socially, although I am good at socializing."
Asked how she feels about the media attention surrounding Carlsen, she said: "With all the cameras here, I do get a bit overwhelmed. Sometimes it's difficult to come with him to these tournaments, but I do it anyway because I want to be a good girlfriend and support him, and it's something I'm getting used to."
Sometimes it's difficult to come with him to these tournaments, but I do it anyway because I want to be a good girlfriend and support him, and it's something I'm getting used to.
—Ella Victoria Malone on her now husband Magnus Carlsen
Ella Victoria is now expected to have a more central role in her husband's career. According to VG, she played a crucial role in securing Magnus a deal with fashion brand G-Star Raw.
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For Carlsen, this caps off a whirlwind week that began in New York, highlighted by his eighth World Blitz Championship title—a victory that was controversially shared with GM Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Their wedding was surely a fairy tale, but the Carlsens aren't heading for their honeymoon just yet. Magnus is set to make his debut for St. Pauli in the German Bundesliga on January 10, when he'll face Dusseldorf led by none other than GM Gukesh Dommaraju.
Congratulations to Magnus and Ella Victoria!
Tarjei J. Svensen is a Norwegian chess journalist who worked for some of the country's biggest media outlets and appeared on several national TV broadcasts. Between 2015 and 2019, he ran his chess website mattogpatt.no, covering chess news in Norwegian and partly in English.
In 2020, he was hired by Chess24 to cover chess news, eventually moving to Chess.com as a full-time chess journalist in 2023. He is also known for his extensive coverage of chess news on his X/Twitter account.
