Magnus Carlsen dethrones Viswanathan Anand as world chess champion

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Magnus Carlsen is the new world chess champion. After game N. 10 of the world championship ended in a draw in Chennai on Friday, the 22-year-old Norwegian got the required half-a-point needed to reach 6.5 points and dethrone India's super Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand. The world championship is a 12-game affair over 20 days and the first to reach 6.5 points wins the series. This is Carlsen's maiden title.

“Armenpress” reports citing sports.ndtv.com that after suffering his third loss in the ninth game on Thursday, Anand (3 points) needed three wins in-a-row to force the tie-breaker, but it was not to be. Anand played with Black on Friday and started on an aggressive note in a bid to crash through Carlsen's defenses. But world No. 1 Carlsen defended well in a whirlwind first hour that saw the players making 21 moves each. The second hour saw just seven moves as both players backed their chances to win a full point.

The first time control was reached after 41 moves as a gritty Anand gave it all but Carlsen seemed to be in a slightly better position. All three results looked a possibility in a long and gripping endgame where Carlsen looked desperate for a win. The draw was finally agreed after 65 moves after an almost a five-hour battle. The final scoreline 6.5-3.5 in Carlsen's favour.

The Norwegian sensation needed a draw after scoring his third win over reigning champion Anand on Thursday. Carlsen, the current world number one, won the crucial ninth game after Anand resigned following an engrossing 56-move match that lasted three hours and 21 minutes. Carlsen had also won the fifth and sixth games and drawn the other six.

Anand, who at 43 is 21 years older than his rival, has held the world crown since 2007. On Thursday, he conceded it will need a miraculous turnaround to keep his chances alive. "I need three wins in-a-row," he said. "I can try but the situation does not look very good."

For more than three years, Carlsen has been the uncrowned king of chess. The Norwegian has been the N. 1 player in the world almost continuously since January 2010. Carlsen, playing with white pieces on Friday, was definitely in an advantageous position against Anand, who has been rather subdued in this championship.

The total prize fund for the title clash is about $2.24 million with the winner getting 60 per cent and the loser taking home the rest.

Sven Magnus Øen Carlsenborn on 30 November 1990 is a Norwegianchess grandmaster and formerchess prodigy who is theworld chess champion andNo. 1 ranked player in the world. His peakrating is 2872, thehighest in history. Carlsen was the 2009 WorldBlitz chess champion.

On 26 April 2004, Carlsen became a grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 148 days, making him at that time thesecond youngest grandmaster in history, although he has since become the third youngest. On 1 January 2010, at the age of 19 years, 32 days, he became the youngest chess player in history to be rankedworld N. 1. On the January 2013FIDE rating list, Carlsen reached an Elo rating of 2861, at that time the highest in history. In November 2013, Carlsen beatViswanathan Anand. in theWorld Chess Championship 2013, thus becoming the 16thundisputed world chess champion.

Known for his attacking style as a teenager, Carlsen later developed into a more universal player. He does not focus onopening preparation as much as other top players, and plays a variety of openings, making it harder for opponents to prepare against him. Hispositional mastery andendgame prowess have drawn comparisons to those of former world championsAnatoly Karpov,José Capablanca andVasily Smyslov.