Carlsen beats Karjakin to retains world chess title

Norway's Magnus Carlsen has defended his world chess title for the third time winning in tie-break against Russian challenger Sergey Karjakin.

The tie-break, consisting of four games, took place here on Wednesday. Carlsen won the third and fourth games, thus beating Karjakin with an overall score of 3 to 1, reports Sputnik.

Karjakin said at a press conference after the Wednesday tie-break that he was "completely not ready" for the rapid-game format and made a lot of mistakes that Carlsen used to secure his victory.

During the 12 main games that Carlsen and Karjakin played from November 11-29, no winner emerged, as they were tied at 6-6.

Carlsen first won the title of the world chess champion in 2013 and then successfully defended it the next year.

This year, the world chess championship prize is $1.1 million with the winner getting 60 percent of the monetary award.

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

--IANS

sam/bg