It came down to a series of rapid tie-break games, but defending world chess champion Magnus Carlsen has emerged victorious once again. Carlsen, a 27-year
It came down to a series of rapid tie-break games, but defending world chess champion Magnus Carlsen has emerged victorious once again.
Carlsen, a 27-year-old Norwegian, has held the title since 2013. He defeated Fabiano Caruana, who would have been the first U. S. citizen to win the world title since Bobby Fischer in 1972.
The two appeared evenly matched in the 12 games they played over three weeks before Wednesday’s climax. Each of those 12 games resulted in a draw, making it the first time in the tournament’s history that no player won a game during regular play.
But Carlsen dominated the board at Wednesday’s matches in London, decisively winning three games in a row to clinch the title.
“After a generally close-fought 12 games of classical, today just felt like slaughter,” commented grandmaster Peter Svidler in a chess24 livestream of the match .
