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Magnus Carlsen wins World Chess Championship
After over three hours, Carlsen achieved his fifth win in five world championship matches
Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen confirmed his long-held reputation as the best chess player in the world by retaining the world championship on Friday.
The tightly wound contest - held at the Dubai Expo in the United Arab Emirates - was expected to end in a draw before Carlsen’s Russian challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi made a dire blunder.
It was Carlsen’s fourth win against the Russian chess grandmaster of their 11 encounters in Dubai, The Guardian reported.
After their first five meetings ended in draws, Carlsen reached the fourth decisive result in the next six games.
The Norwegian’s winning score of 7½-3½ is the most lopsided result in a world championship chess match since Jose Raul Capablanca’s triumph exactly 100 years ago in Havana.
“It’s hard to feel that great joy when the situation was so comfortable to begin with, but I’m happy with a very good performance overall,” Carlsen said, The Guardian reported.
“You can point to things you could have done differently in every game of course, but overall I’m happy with my play, very proud of my effort in the sixth game, and that sort of laid the foundation for everything.”
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When Nepomniachtchi finally resigned after over three hours and 49 moves, Carlsen achieved his fifth win in five world championship matches.
“I think it was just a very good professional performance overall. No regrets at all, just very satisfied,” said Carlsen, who was awarded a 60 percent share of the $1.9m purse.