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. 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%. 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 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. 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 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. 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.
Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen defeats Russian challenger Sergey Karjakin to retain the World Chess Championship title.