Is Magnus Carlsen better than Kasparov? Magnus has a higher Elo rating, which is a measure of a player's skill. His peak Elo rating is 2882, and that's the highest rating ever achieved by any player. Kasparov's highest Elo rating is 2851.
Kasparov came close to losing matches against Karpov and did lose a match against Kramnik. Magnus has a similar playing style as those two, but is simply a stronger player overall. He also has the advantage of having trained with computers all his life.
