Where does Magnus Carlsen move his pieces?
Where the moves land: Magnus Carlsen across 7,818 games, and strong online players (both rated 1800+ on Lichess). The right-hand board shows the difference: Carlsen goes more to the queenside and less to the classic central squares.
Source: PGN Mentor (Carlsen’s games, 2001–2026) and the Lichess open database, January 2025.
What stands out
- Carlsen’s busiest square is d4, with 3.63% of his moves; for everyone else it is d5 (3.93%).
- He leans to the queenside: a4 is his biggest gain on them (+0.44 percentage points), and 9 of his ten biggest gains are on the a, b and c files.
- His four biggest shortfalls are all central: e5 (−0.53 points), e4 (−0.49), f3 (−0.48) and f6 (−0.41).
- His quietest square is the h1 corner, 0.38% of his moves; theirs is a1, at 0.34%.
The numbers
| Rank | Square | Carlsen | Everyone | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | a4 | 1.48% | 1.04% | +0.44 pts |
| 2 | a5 | 1.45% | 1.09% | +0.36 pts |
| 3 | c5 | 2.68% | 2.35% | +0.33 pts |
| 4 | b4 | 1.82% | 1.51% | +0.32 pts |
| 5 | b5 | 1.95% | 1.64% | +0.31 pts |
| 6 | c4 | 2.66% | 2.36% | +0.29 pts |
| 7 | b3 | 1.57% | 1.35% | +0.23 pts |
| 8 | c2 | 1.17% | 0.95% | +0.22 pts |
| 9 | a6 | 1.28% | 1.07% | +0.20 pts |
| 10 | d1 | 1.28% | 1.12% | +0.16 pts |
| … | ||||
| 55 | c3 | 2.64% | 2.88% | −0.23 pts |
| 56 | g1 | 1.32% | 1.56% | −0.24 pts |
| 57 | c6 | 2.60% | 2.85% | −0.25 pts |
| 58 | g4 | 1.69% | 1.95% | −0.26 pts |
| 59 | d4 | 3.63% | 3.93% | −0.30 pts |
| 60 | d5 | 3.57% | 3.93% | −0.37 pts |
| 61 | f6 | 3.09% | 3.50% | −0.41 pts |
| 62 | f3 | 2.96% | 3.45% | −0.48 pts |
| 63 | e4 | 3.14% | 3.62% | −0.49 pts |
| 64 | e5 | 3.15% | 3.68% | −0.53 pts |
The top 10 and bottom 10 of 64. Ranked by the difference: share of Carlsen’s moves minus share of everyone’s.
Download the chart as an image
Data: Carlsen, PGN Mentor archive (7,818 games 2001-2026, 724,344 moves); everyone else, the Lichess open database for January 2025, games where both players are rated 1800+ (CC0). Castling counts as the king’s move to g1, c1, g8 or c8 in both. Played as puzzles in Daily Shade.