Magnus Carlsen World Chess Champion:Magnus Carlsen extended his dominance by winning the World Chess Championship for the third consecutive time.
Norwegian Magnus Carlsen showed his absolute class and supremacy by winning the World Chess Championship for the record third successive time, beating the Russian Challenger Sergei Karyakin in a tiebreaker.
Magnus Carlsen World Chess Champion : Grandmaster Thoughts
“It’s one of the highest-quality matches on both sides,” said Lev Alburt, a Grandmaster who has followed Championship matches ever since 1954. “Even the fact of many draws, almost all have been achieved in very sharp play. Both players are trying to squeeze something almost from nothing. Where other players would play safe, both keep playing for a win, creating problems for their opponent at a risk to themselves.”
“It’s one of the most exciting championship matches in history,” he said. “If you’re a beginner, you can learn a lot, and if you’re a Grandmaster, you can learn a lot.”
Bruce Pandolfini, a writer and teacher, said that history was being made, in part because of the players’ youth and Mr. Carlsen’s celebrity status, and also because the match was accessible to anyone with a smart phone.
Magnus Carlsen World Chess Champion : The Match
The Norwegian champion beat him in the final phase of four quick-fire extra games.
The battle for the world chess crown ended up in the dramatic tiebreaker on Wednesday after a win a piece and nine draws.
So the young stars- both aged just 26 – headed into the extra time.
Unlike the earlier rounds, which lasted an average of six hours, the rapid-play rules meant the players had just 25 minutes each, so each game was over in an hour.
The accelerated games left plenty of opportunity for anxious mistakes, and while predictions were difficult, Carlsen – world number one since 2010 was the favorite to clinch the Title..
Magnus Carlsen World Chess Champion: The Players
Carlsen won the World Chess Championship organized by the International Chess Federation, FIDE in 2013 and 2014, beating Indian Legend Viswanathan Anand.
Karyakin, a child prodigy himself who became the youngest ever Chess Grand-master at the age of 12, has known Carlsen for years and had little to lose, with no one even having expected him to reach the final.
“Sergei has impressed everyone with his tenacity these last few weeks so he is perfectly capable of pulling an upset,” said Wesley So, who traveled to New York from Minnesota to watch the clash.
Both players are young enough to build a rivalry for years to come, though three Americans — Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura — were all rated higher than Mr. Karjakin going into the match and are eager for a shot at the title in 2018. If one of them gets that far, he will be the first American to compete for the coveted Championship since Bobby Fischer won it in 1972.
The last Russian to claim the title was Vladimir Kramnik in 2007.
The Norwegian, who turned 26 on Wednesday, has played several blitz tournaments this year, beating US Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura in one of the games in October.
Magnus Carlsen World Chess Champion: The Money
The competition initially offered prize money of 600,000 euros ($637,000) for the winner, and 400,000 euros for the losers, but that was changed to 550,000 and 450,000 euros respectively because the battle went into extra time.
Magnus Carlsen World Chess Champion : Post-Match Press Statement
“The classical part [of the match], I’m quite satisfied,” says Karjakin. “But somehow after we played 12 classical games, I was completely not ready to play rapid games. In the three games out of four I was lost. Of course Magnus took advantage of my mistakes and he deserved to win. My congratulations to him.”
“I pretty much knew this was going to happen when we made the draw in the 11th game,” Carlsen says. “But I felt good coming into today having had a few days of rest and days to prepare. The second game was a bit frustrating, but I’m very happy to have gotten there in the end.”
(inputs from f sports/ny times)
