Melbourne, Jan 5 : A Norweigan teenager dubbed the "Mozart of Chess" has become the youngest person ever to be ranked world number one in the game.

Magnus Carlsen, 19, was listed as No. 1 in the World Chess Federation''s (FIDE) January statistics with 2810 points, five points ahead of Bulgaria''s Veselin Topalov.

Indian world champion Viswanathan Anand was third with 2790 points, News. com. au reports.

The Norwegian Chess Federation said Carlsen was the youngest player to hold the title since the ratings were introduced in 1971.

General Secretary Dag Danielsen said the previous youngest was Garry Kasparov, who first reached No. 1 at the age of 20. The Russian grandmaster has been coaching Carlsen, and chess experts believe the teenager''s spectacular rise over the past year is due to Kasparov''s teachings.

Carlsen, who can plot 20 moves ahead and remembers matches he played six years ago move-for-move, still insists he''s an average teenager.

Carlsen started playing chess as an eight-year-old mainly to beat his older sister, which he says took him a few weeks.

Within a year he regularly beat his father, who plays club-level chess in Norway, and at age 13 he had a shock win in a speed chess competition against world champion Anatoly Karpov and a draw against Kasparov. (ANI)