Image copyright AFP Image caption The games were watched by about six million people around the world

Magnus Carlsen of Norway has won the World Chess Championship for the third consecutive time after defeating challenger Sergey Karjakin of Russia.

Carlsen sealed victory following three weeks of play and a series of tiebreakers in New York.

Karjakin tied against Carlsen in 12 regular rounds but was beaten in the final phase of four quickfire games.

Organisers said the event was followed by about six million chess fans around the world.

Hundreds of spectators paid between $100 and $500 to watch the games at a former fish market in Manhattan, separated from the two grandmasters by soundproof glass.

After his victory, Carlsen's supporters greeted him by cheering and singing "Happy Birthday", to mark his 26th birthday.

The boy who conquered the chess world

The prize of $1.1m (£879,000) is divided between the two players with the winner taking 60%.

Chess reached the height of its popularity in the 1970s, when the game was overshadowed by Cold War rivalry.

In 1972, the victory of American Bobby Fischer over Russian defender Boris Spassky at the World Chess Championship in Iceland was dubbed the "match of the century".

Commentators mentioned current geopolitical tensions in connection with this year's match when Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the Russian president of the World Chess Federation, was accused by the US of collaborating with the Syrian government and barred from travelling to New York.</s>Magnus Carlsen from Norway wins the 2016 World Chess Championship in New York City on Wednesday, beating Russian Sergey Karjakin to the title. The pair had played out an epic final match in the lower Manhattan since early November and could not be separated in 12 classical games. The Championship came down to a four-game rapid playoff where Carlsen managed to sneak games three and four to retain the World Championship
• Magnus Carlsen may be the man to push the barriers for global game of chess</s>It’s not quite the cold war revisited. But over the past two weeks the world chess No 1, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, has been doing battle against a Kremlin-backed Russian grandmaster who fervently supports Crimea’s annexation and the man who did it, Vladimir Putin.

On Wednesday the World Chess Championship in New York reaches its conclusion when Carlsen plays a series of quickfire games against his challenger Sergey Karjakin. The sudden death denouement comes after a series of sometimes lacklustre draws and a single win each, with the players tantalisingly tied on Monday with six points.

The match has invited comparisons with the 1972 clash between the American Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, the Soviet Union’s defending world champion. Fischer famously won, dealing a blow to the Kremlin’s use of chess as an ideological weapon and its belief in communist superiority over capitalism.

Their last match on Monday ended with a draw after just 35 minutes and 30 moves, an outcome that disappointed fans and chess experts alike. The grandmaster Susan Polgar observed that it was “as exciting as watching clothes dry”, while Short tweeted: “If the 12th game ... were a restaurant dish, I would send it back to the chef.”

“We’re not at the penalty stage yet. We’re at extra time,” Carlsen said after Monday’s match, making a football analogy. “I understand if sometimes both teams are not trying to score in the last minute of regulation that can be frustrating but also having extra time is exciting.”

After launching an aggressive attack in game eight, only to eventually lose, Carlsen stormed out of an obligatory press conference. Latterly, he has appeared more relaxed. Wednesday’s tie-breaker starts with four rapid games, with an initial time limit of 25 minutes per player. If the deadlock continues there will be an “armageddon game”, in which white has five minutes and black four. Karjakin – who starts with black, if it gets that far – will only have to draw to win the title.

The historical analogy may be overblown but there is no doubt the 2016 world championship has a 21st century political frisson. Karjakin – who is 26 – was born in Crimea. At the time the peninsula was part of Ukraine. A prodigy, he played for Ukraine’s chess federation before defecting to Russia and becoming a citizen in 2009.



According to British grandmaster Nigel Short, Karjakin is an outspoken supporter of Russia’s president: “I like Sergey. He’s stayed at my home before. I would describe him as a political opportunist.” In 2014 Karjakin posted a photo on his Instagram account showing him wearing a T-shirt with Putin’s face on it and the patriotic message: “You don’t dump your own [people].”

“Karjakin is totally backed by Putin and the Russian machine,” Short said. “The state wants him to do well. My original prediction was a narrow victory for Carlsen. We knew Karjakin was tough, and very good.” Carlsen had been “slightly off his game” but was still the favourite to win and is the number one at “rapid” format play, Short added.

The championship is being staged in New York for the first time since 1995. The choice of venue is also political - following years of simmering US-Russia tensions, and given the pro-Putin proclivities of president-elect Donald Trump, whose Manhattan home is a cab ride away. One of those spotted in the VIP chess room with views of Brooklyn bridge has been Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s ubiquitous press spokesman.

One person is missing. That is Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the Russian president of Fide, the world chess federation. Ilyumzhinov – who once claimed that aliens took him for a ride in their spaceship – has long performed the role of informal Kremlin emissary. He has met dictators including Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gadaffi.

In late 2015 the US treasury department added Ilyumzhinov to a list of sanctioned Russians. It accused him of providing banking services to Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad. Ilyumzhninov has said this doesn’t stop him from travelling to the US. He has yet to turn up, though.

Chess federations from western countries including the US, England, and Germany have repeatedly tried to topple Ilyumzhinov from Fide’s top job. In 2014, Ilyumzhinov defeated his latest rival, the former world chess champion and Putin critic Garry Kasparov. Karjakin said he backed Ilyumzhinov and told Russian media that Kasparov’s views were “ultra-radical”.

Carlsen, meanwhile, is no cold war hawk. Rather, at 26, he is a cool young man who became a grandmaster at 13 and who dominates the world’s pre-eminent mind sport, winning the world championship in 2013. His chess rating – 2882 – is the highest ever. Carlsen has a cult following at home in Norway where his games are being live-screened. He has modelled for the Dutch clothing brand G-Star Raw.

Even for Carlsen the 2016 world championship has had moments of strain. According to Short, Carlsen enlisted the help of Microsoft to protect his computer from hackers. “Russian hackers are good at it. You are basically finished in a match like this if your analysis is available to your opponents,” Short explained. Karjakin had taken similar defensive measures, he suggested.

The game of chess has changed dramatically in recent years. Decades ago there was no live-streaming, with chess enthusiasts only able to follow matches by reading the next day’s paper. Now global spectators can follow matches live (for a $7 fee, payable to the murky organisation which owns chess rights, Agon) and can feed each move into powerful chess programs. “Even an idiot can to some degree follow what is going on,” Short said.

Phil Ehr, the former chief executive of the English chess federation, said the focus on Wednesday as the world championship reaches its dramatic end should be on chess, not international relations. “People in the west will root for Carlsen. People elsewhere will root for the Russian guy. It’s isn’t a big deal,” Ehr said, adding: “If Karjakin prevails good on him.”</s>(CNN) As birthdays go, Magnus Carlsen's 26th will take some beating.

The Norwegian's Wednesday afternoon was spent in New York, taking on challenger Sergey Karjakin in a series of tiebreakers at the finale of the World Chess Championship.

Twelve matches, over a period of three weeks, couldn't separate reigning champion Carlsen from the Russian.

Carlsen's penchant for attacking play had been snuffed out by this rival's reliance on sturdy defense, as the pair could only muster one win apiece.

The final game of #CarlsenKarjakin saw a Sicilian. It wasn't enough for the challenger! pic.twitter.com/g6CS2nB22P

And so a dramatic winner-takes-all sequence of fast and frenetic games was required to separate these gladiators of the sport. Carlsen -- ranked the best player in the world -- dominated the tiebreakers and, by winning the third, sealed his third consecutive title.

His day was capped off by the crowd serenading him with a lusty rendition of "Happy Birthday." The grandmaster took home 60% of a prize purse of $1.1 million.

"I was a bit tired but I had a bit of birthday cake," Carlsen tells CNN, in response to how he celebrated. "It's said in chess that you should not play on your birthday, as it's bad luck, but so far I've yet to experience that."

Organizers said a global audience of 10 million people experienced the match online. Many paid for the privilege of live-streamed video, though the majority followed for free by watching computer renderings of the board.

Those witnessing the first world championship match in New York since 1995 in person had the option of splurging on luxury boxes typically found at North American sports, where tickets for the VIP lounge cost up to $1,200 (a regular day pass cost a more modest $75).

Chess hasn't truly been in the spotlight since the 1970s and '80s.

And while it might be a stretch to invoke comparisons to Fischer defeating Spassky, which arguably damaged the Kremlin's use of chess as an ideological weapon -- to say nothing of the theory of communist superiority winning out over capitalism -- could Carlsen's victory be seen as a wider triumph for the West?

The player himself doesn't discuss such notions but is willing to talk -- to an extent -- about the suggestion that Microsoft was hired to protect Carlsen's communications, because of worries that Russian hackers would infiltrate his practice sessions and tip off his opponent.

"I think it would be a bit much to say that we were concerned about hackers," Carlsen clarifies. "We just wanted to have a secure system to use to communicate within our team, and I think taking some precautions doesn't hurt."

What doesn't seem in question is that, in Carlsen, chess has a potential savior in this internet age where computers have often beaten human players -- though he doesn't play against them.

The game continues to thrive thanks to the moves being played out in real time, which gives a real sense of urgency to the coverage.

Carlsen became a grandmaster at 13 -- half his lifetime ago -- and his peak chess rating of 2,882 is the highest of all time.

Back home in Norway, his games are shown live and his success has even led to endorsement deals with a fashion house (his youthful good looks haven't hurt on that front, either).

Carlsen hasn't been called "the Mozart of chess" for nothing, but he admits he was happy just to get through the championship battle.

"At some points during this match, it was a struggle," he says. "It wasn't a whole lot of fun. And it was just such a relief on the last day that I wasn't thinking about the result.

"I wasn't thinking of anything else than the game and enjoying it. I think for now I'm safe. I'll enjoy the game for the foreseeable future."</s>Two-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen won his third title on Wednesday, defeating Russian challenger Sergey Karjakin after three weeks of grueling play in the World Chess Championship

Fans greeted the Norwegian with a "happy birthday" chorus and huge cheers after his victory. He turned 26 on the same day he beat the Russian, winning two of four tie-breaking "rapid games."

The grandmasters started Wednesday's chessboard battle with a 6-6 tie after 12 games. They will share a prize of $1.1 million, the winner getting 60 percent.

Organizers say about 6 million people around the world followed the series of quick tie-breaking games — similar to sudden death play in football.

If none had ended with a winner, the championship would have gone to the nerve-wracking Armageddon endgame, which lasts less than 10 minutes.

Hungarian grandmaster Judit Polgar, the commentator for the tournament and the best ever female player, calls it "the killer 10 minutes — like Russian roulette."

For the final throes of this endurance test, hundreds of spectators streamed into a refurbished lower Manhattan building that once was the city's fish market.

Some stood behind a soundproof glass pane watching the two men facing off at the chessboard, with a lineup of water bottles keeping them hydrated.

To guard their concentration, the competitors could not see through the glass.

Outside, men, women and children speaking dozens of languages got a close-up view of the action on screens set up in a lounge overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge.

"Magnus is my hero because he takes risks, he's really exciting," said Pippa Millstone, a Manhattan 9-year-old who came to watch the tournament for her fourth time.

As she and two other children played their own game on a coffee table, the stars hovered above them on a giant screen.

"The game is pretty even now," the girl said, "but I feel like Magnus is going to start attacking really soon."

And the 25-year-old Norwegian did just that — during the second half of the third "rapid" game.

Spectators paid $100 to watch the play, and $500 for VIP seats close to the players behind the glass, plus lounge space with snacks and drinks.

But most fans were in homes and clubs across the globe. Some spent $15 for a Pay-Per-View live transmission, others watched using high-tech goggles in 3D virtual reality or by tracking moves on various free websites.

The first two of four games of "rapid chess" both ended in draws after two hours — compared to championship games that can last as many as six hours or more.

The New York championship did not escape the shadow of East-West rivalry reaching back to the Cold War days when American Bobby Fischer beat Russian Boris Spassky in 1972.

This time, a key figure in chess was absent in New York: Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a Russian businessman and longtime president of the governing World Chess Federation who was accused by the U.S. government of collaborating with the Syrian regime and barred from visiting.</s>NEW YORK (AP) — The World Chess Championship has come down to a series of lightning-fast games that will determine whether the title goes to reigning champ Magnus Carlsen of Norway or challenger Sergey Karjakin (SEHR’-gay kar-YAH’-keen) of Russia.

The two are facing off Wednesday in New York.

After 12 games played in the past three weeks, it’s still a tie between the world’s two top grandmasters.

Organizers expect about 6 million people around the world plan to follow a series of quick tie-breaking games — sort of like sudden death play in football.

The championship prize is $1.1 million divided between the two players. The winner gets 60 percent.</s>NEW YORK (AP) — On a dreary, rainy Manhattan night, a huge, happy roar arose in a crowd of chess fans from around the world.

Two-time world chess champion, Magnus Carlsen, had just reached for a final, victorious move on Wednesday that crowned him a champ for the third time.

He had beaten Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin with bold, aggressive moves in a series of tie-breakers capping three weeks of the World Chess Championship that until Wednesday was tied after 12 games.

The setting was in a refurbished New York City building overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge that was once the city’s fish market.

On this night, it became a glittering gathering of hundreds of fans — adults and children — from Norway, Russia, the United States and elsewhere. They were riveted as the two grandmasters leaned over in the tense game, barely moving, in total silence and deep in thought.

The fans paid $100 to enter, feasting on snacks and drinks as they kept their eyes glued to flat-screens that beamed close-ups of the chessboard in an inner chamber. A panel of soundproof glass shielded the players from onlookers, who could see in but whom the players could not see.

Hungarian grandmaster Judit Polgar said the four lightning-quick games played on Wednesday were “like Russian roulette.”

“Today, the faster games are a great show even for people who don’t know the game,” said Polgar, considered the greatest female player ever.

On Wednesday, the required mental strategies also played out on chessboards scattered around the spectator lounge. People hovered over them, trying out various combinations of pieces, mirroring the masters.

“Magnus is my hero because he takes risks, he’s really exciting,” said Pippa Millstone, a Manhattan 9-year-old who came to watch the tournament for her fourth time.

“The game is pretty even now, but I feel like Magnus is going to start attacking really soon,” she said in the middle of the third of four so-called “rapid games,” each about a half hour long each, played as tie-breakers on Wednesday.

Carlsen and Karjakin reached a draw in two, and the Norwegian won two for the championship.

At crucial moments, spectators hushed, waiting to see what the next move would be. At times, one whispered, “no, no” when Karjakin’s choice seemed halting, or on the defensive.

Even the winner missed a chance in one game, drawing groans and a few happy shrieks, depending on loyalties.

Organizers said about 6 million people around the world followed the tie-breaking games, sort of like sudden death play in football.

Most fans were in homes and clubs across the globe. Some spent $15 for a Pay-Per-View live transmission, others to watch via high-tech goggles in 3D virtual reality or by tracking moves on various free websites.

The prize was $1.1 million divided between the two players, with the winner getting 60 percent.

The New York championship did not escape the shadow of East-West rivalry reaching back to the Cold War days when American Bobby Fischer beat Russian Boris Spassky in 1972.

This time, a key figure in chess was absent in New York: Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a Russian businessman and longtime president of the governing World Chess Federation who was accused by the U.S. government of collaborating with the Syrian regime.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Ahead of this year’s World Chess Championship, which reaches the end game on Wednesday, defending titlist Magnus Carlsen reportedly hired Microsoft to protect his communications.

The Norwegian worried that Russian hackers would infiltrate his practice sessions and tip off his opponent, Sergey Karjakin. It’s gotten so bad that Russia didn’t draw from its usual playbook on these matters – outraged denials followed by curling into a fetal ball of patriotic self-pity. If the Russians were quieter than usual, it was probably because Karjakin was expected to lose, continuing a streak of Russian failure at their national game. That’s changed.

The championship has instead become an epic grind and political proxy war. If East is not yet fighting West in reality, it is currently doing so virtually in Lower Manhattan. “For all normal people, this is a chess match, not a political game,” Russian grandmaster Sergei Shipov told the New York Times this week.

In fairness, you must have noticed that there are fewer and fewer normal people left in the world. Carlsen and Karjakin have been playing inside a soundproof New York studio for the last three weeks.

Among the crowd that watch live via one-way mirror is a press secretary for Vladimir Putin. The Russian president follows each round online. Before he was emboldened enough to invade his neighbours, Putin hoped to express native strength through sport.

He began a series of works designed to grow Russia’s global athletic reach, many of them financed by oligarchs under Kremlin pressure. They bought foreign teams and players, built stadiums, invested ludicrous amounts of money in fringe sports such as judo (Putin’s obsession) and fixed the Olympics.

That last move was a bit much, causing the whole effort to collapse in on itself.

Karjakin, a 26-year-old Ukrainian turned Putin cheerleader, has risen from that competitive rubble.

He and Carlsen are perfect avatars for the geo-political moment. Karjakin was born in Crimea, but left for Russia before the invasion. His new citizenship was granted by presidential decree. He has since become a high-volume booster of the war in his native country.

In press reports, Karjakin is portrayed as a timid, suburban father of one and chess obsessive. He holds the record for youngest grandmaster in history – age 12. But his success at the very highest levels has come relatively late, and as a result, no one expected him to get this far.

By contrast, Carlsen, 25, is that familiar Western athletic type (if the word “athletic” is correct here) – a smouldering prodigy-cum-rock star who is in no doubt about his own talent, and given to famous bouts of pique. After losing one match in New York, Carlsen came out to his news conference, fidgeted petulantly while people were taking their seats and then walked off without speaking.

Some people regard Carlsen as the best player ever. His tactical signature is a profound adaptability. Playing a more formal style, Karjakin has spent most of November backed into the ropes while Carlsen whales away at him. It’s proved an effective strategy. Of their 12 encounters thus far, 10 have ended in draws.

In Monday’s penultimate game, with a chance for either man to seal it, neither bothered trying. They played for 36 limp minutes – the shortest game in tournament history – and retired the field.

On Wednesday, they’ll play a series of “blitz” games, each with a declining time limit. If those result in draws, a month’s worth of effort will end in “Armageddon” – white is given five minutes, black only four, with a draw counting as a win for black.

Carlsen is considered the better at speed chess, but given that he was supposed to wipe the board with Karjakin from the start, that doesn’t mean much now.

A loss would be an embarrassment for Carlsen and a blow to his carefully cultivated brand. He’s been given modelling contracts not because of his (let’s be honest) middling good looks, but because he is considered unbeatable at something. You only get one chance to get that wrong.

But whatever the Scandinavian has to lose, Karjakin’s state sponsors have so much more to gain.

After dominating most of the 20th century, Russian chess has been a basket case for years. Its central figure is billionaire Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a Putin adherent, head of the World Chess Federation and a man who has claimed he was abducted by aliens. That would make sense, since Ilyumzhinov believes chess was invented on another planet.

It’s rather a long way from Boris Spassky and the image created by a generation of Soviet players that Russians could outthink the rest of us. Even their dissidents – Garry Kasparov, Alexander Alekhine, et al. – deepened this impression of a nation’s stolidity and cool ruthlessness. When we envision Russians at their best, we picture writers, revolutionaries and chess players. Often all three at the same time.

Karjakin is very much the type, meek and thoughtful, speaking with a stutter and deeply politicized. While Carlsen curls up painfully in front of the board, head desperately in hands, Karjakin sits there like a sphinx. He may not be the better player, but he could in the end be sold as the better man.

After a series of humiliations, Karjakin’s victory – against insurmountable odds and western hubris! – would be worth far more to Putin’s Russia than any weightlifting gold.

It’s been a decade without a chess title – years in which Russia has increasingly seen itself as exceptional in the world community. You can imagine how easy it will be to spin a chess victory into a self-reinforcing vision of renewed strength – “They may be bigger than us, but we are smarter.”

Whether you care about this game or not, it is a storyline that cannot be resisted, and one that Russia will fold into its agitprop.

The players themselves have been careful to keep things cordial, garlanding each other in bland compliments. Maybe the rhetorical dam will break once the event ends, however that may be.

After Monday’s desultory draw, Karjakin said, “Let’s hope there won’t be Armageddon.”</s>The Latest on the World Chess Championship (all times local):

Reigning champ Magnus Carlsen of Norway has defeated Sergey Karjakin (SEHR'-gay kar-YAH'-keen) of Russia in the World Chess Championship in New York City.

Carlsen retained his title Wednesday night by winning the best-of-four speed games with two wins and two draws.

Organizers estimate that 6 million people around the world followed the series of quick tie-breaking games — sort of like sudden death play in football.

The championship prize is $1.1 million divided between the two players. The winner gets 60 percent.

The World Chess Championship has come down to a series of lightning-fast games that will determine whether the title goes to reigning champ Magnus Carlsen of Norway or challenger Sergey Karjakin (SEHR'-gay kar-YAH'-keen) of Russia.

The two are facing off Wednesday in New York.

After 12 games played in the past three weeks, it's still a tie between the world's two top grandmasters.

Organizers expect about 6 million people around the world plan to follow a series of quick tie-breaking games — sort of like sudden death play in football.

The championship prize is $1.1 million divided between the two players. The winner gets 60 percent.</s>Two-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen won his third title on Wednesday, defeating Russian challenger Sergey Karjakin after three weeks of grueling play in the World Chess Championship

Fans greeted the Norwegian with a “Happy Birthday” chorus and huge cheers after his victory. He turned 26 on the same day he beat the Russian, winning two of four tie-breaking “rapid games.”

The grandmasters started Wednesday’s chessboard battle with a 6-6 tie after 12 games. They will share a prize of $1.1 million, the winner getting 60 percent.

Organizers say about 6 million people around the world followed the series of quick tie-breaking games — similar to sudden death play in football.

If none had ended with a winner, the championship would have gone to the nerve-wracking Armageddon endgame, which lasts less than 10 minutes.

Hungarian grandmaster Judit Polgar, the commentator for the tournament and the best ever female player, calls it “the killer 10 minutes — like Russian roulette.”

“Today, the faster games are a great show even for people who don’t know the game.”

On Wednesday, the required mental strategies also played out on chessboards scattered around the spectator lounge. People hovered over them, trying out various combinations of pieces, mirroring the masters.

“Magnus is my hero because he takes risks, he’s really exciting,” said Pippa Millstone, a Manhattan 9-year-old who came to watch the tournament for her fourth time.

“The game is pretty even now, but I feel like Magnus is going to start attacking really soon,” she said in the middle of the third of the four so-called “rapid games,” each about a half-hour long, played as tie-breakers.

Carlsen and Karjakin reached a draw in two, and the Norwegian won two for the championship.

At crucial moments, spectators hushed, waiting to see what the next move would be. One whispered, “no, no” when Karjakin’s choice seemed halting, or on the defensive.

Even the winner missed a chance in one game, drawing groans and a few happy shrieks, depending on loyalties.

Most fans were in homes and clubs across the globe. Some spent $15 for a pay-per-view live transmission, others to watch via high-tech goggles in 3-D virtual reality or by tracking moves on various free websites.

The New York championship did not escape the shadow of East-West rivalry dating to the Cold War days when American Bobby Fischer beat Russian defender Boris Spassky in 1972.

This time, a key figure in chess was absent in New York: Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a Russian multimillionaire and longtime president of the governing World Chess Federation who was accused by the U.S. government of collaborating with the Syrian regime.
Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen defeats Russian challenger Sergey Karjakin to retain the World Chess Championship title.