After three weeks, 12 draws and harsh criticism, Norway’s Magnus Carlsen retains world chess title, beating US challenger Fabiano Caruana
- Magnus Carlsen prevailed 3-0 in the rapid-fire tiebreak matches
- Carlsen’s victory justified his controversial decision to offer Fabiano Caruana a draw in their 12th classical match
Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen defended his chess world championship title by beating American challenger Fabiano Caruana 3-0 in rapid tiebreaker games on Wednesday.
After their three-week match ended in 12 draws, Carlsen wrapped up the victory quickly with three straight wins to build an unassailable lead in the best-of-four rapid format.
“I felt like I had a really good day at work today,” the 27-year-old Carlsen said. “Everything kind of went perfectly.”
Caruana, 26, was trying to become the first American since Bobby Fischer in 1972 to become the chess world champion but lost a rook-and-pawn endgame in the first game and then had to take big risks in the next two while trying to make up the deficit. Carlsen won the second after sacrificing a piece for an unstoppable attack and then managed to promote a pawn to a second queen in the third for a massive material advantage.
Norwegian 22-year-old clinches chess world title
“I was hoping to play my best chess today but I didn’t even come close to that,” said Caruana, who was born in Miami, raised in Brooklyn and lives in St. Louis. “I felt a lot of pressure but I don’t think I had added pressure because I was the first American challenger in a long time. I think the match naturally comes with a lot of pressure.”
