Norwegian prodigy Carlsen retains World Chess championship

MOSCOW: Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen retained his title as World Chess Champion on Sunday, defeating rival Viswanathan Anand for the second year in a row.

The 23-year-old world number one beat India´s Anand, title-holder of the championship from 2007 to 2013 when he was dethroned by Carlsen, in two of 11 games of the competition, with the others ending in draws.

Carlsen had been playing since November 8 against Anand, who is nearly 20 years his senior, in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.

The victory, secured with a difference of just two points, will mean one million euros ($1.2 million) in prize money for Carlsen just a week before his 24th birthday.

Carlsen turned grandmaster at 13 and in 2010, aged only 19, became the youngest player in history to be ranked world number one. He won the Candidates Tournament in 2013 to earn the right to challenge Anand.

His breakthrough in chess came in 2004, when as a 13-year-old he defeated Russian former world champion Anatoly Karpov, forced Russian legend Garry Kasparov to a draw, and became a grandmaster.

Before Carlsen captured the championship crown in 2013, the last Westerner to hold the title was American legend Bobby Fischer who relinquished it in 1975.

Carlsen missed by a few weeks becoming the youngest world champion, a record set by his one-time coach Kasparov in 1985. (AFP)