- Magnus Carlsen has +100 odds to win the chess portion of the Esports World Cup.
- Magnus Carlsen has won 11 chess tournaments in 2025.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – The chess playoff portion of the 2025 Esports World Cup is ready to get underway, and there is one man sitting way ahead of the rest of the field in Magnus Carlsen.
It shouldn’t really be a question as to why Carlsen is such as heavy favorite to win on legal sports betting. He’s the current number one ranked chess player in the world.
Esports World Cup: Chess Odds
- Magnus Carlsen +100
- Hikaru Nakamura +500
- Alireza Firouzja +600
- Ian Nepomniachtchi +800
- Fabiano Caruana +1000
- Arjun Erigaisi +1200
- Jan-Krzystof Duda +1400
- Maxime Vachier-Lagrave +1600
- Nodirbek Abdusattorov +1600
- Vladislav Artemiev +2000
- Vladimir Fedoseev +3300
- Wei Yi +5000
Is There A Match For Magnus Carlsen?
Magnus Carlsen has been very active in 2025, having participated in 27 tournaments. Of those 27 tournaments, he’s upheld his number one ranking with 11 first place finishes on the year.
He’s also really picked things up in the second half of his 27 played tournaments. In the last 12 outings for Carlsen, he‘s come out on top in seven of them. He’s also come out on top in his last six overall head to head matches.
Who some will consider Carlsen’s main test in the tournament is Hikaru Nakamura, who sits with the second shortest chess odds going in and is the number two ranked player in the world. He’s had a less impressive 25 than Carlsen with eight wins in 36 tournament appearances in 2025.
Carlsen and Nakamura have faced off several times in 2025 already, where Carlsen has absolutely dominated. In eight meetings against one another on the year thus far, Carlsen has walked away with seven wins.
