Carlsen takes third world championship

NORWAY’S Magnus Carlsen extended his dominance over the chess world on Wednesday by winning the World Chess Championship for the third consecutive time on Wednesday, beating his Russian challenger Sergei Karyakin in a tiebreaker.

The win puts Carlsen (pictured with the trophy, AFP) closer to the status of chess l e g e n d s s u c h a s Ga r r y Kasparov, who dominated the game for 15 years.

Although Karyakin foiled predictions by tying Carlsen in 12 regular rounds, the Norwegian champion beat him in the final phase of four quickfire extra games.

The battle for the world chess crown ended up in the d r a mat i c t i e b r e a k e r o n Wednesday after a win apiece and nine draws.

So the young stars – both aged just 26 – headed into the chess equivalent of extra time in football.

Unlike the earlier rounds, which lasted an average of six hours, the rapid-play rules meant each game was over in an hour.

The accelerated games left plenty of opportunity for harried mistakes, and while predictions were difficult, Carlsen – a king of the blitz format and world No1 since 2010 – had remained favourite.

The Norwegian, who turned 26 on Wednesday, has played several blitz tournaments this year, beating US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura in one in October.

But he has occasionally shown flashes of losing his cool, as when he slammed the door of the press room after defeat in the eighth round, earning a fine of 5 p e r c e n t o f prize money.

‘Capable of upset’ pset’

Carlsen wonon t he championship p – organised by the International ternational Chess Federation, tion, FIDE – in 2013 and 2014,014, beating India’s Viswanathwanathan Anand. Karyakin, a child prodigy who became the youngest ever chess grandmaster at the age of 12, has known Carlsen for years and had little to lose, with no one evene having expected him tot reach the final. “Sergei has impressedimp everyone with his tena tenacity these last few weeks, so he is perfectly capable o of pulling an upset,” said Wesley So, who travelled to New Yo York from Minne nesota to watch th the clash. Much has been made of the clash as a reprise of the great Cold War chess battles of the 1970s, but Karyakin, who is from Crimea and supported Russia’s 2014 annexation of the peninsula, has played down political overtones.

The last Russian to claim the title was Vladimir Kramnik in 2007.

In a sign of the final’s significance to Moscow, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dimitry Peskov was in New York to see the start of the head-to-head.

The compet it ion i nit ia l l y of f e r e d pr i z e mone y of

600,000 ($ 637,000) for t he winner, and € 400,000 for t he loser, but that was changed to

550,000 and 450,000 respectively because the close battle went into extra time.