World Chess Championship 2013: Child Prodigy Carlsen becomes the youngest Undisputed No. 1

Grandmaster and defending champion watched before his eyes as his Saemisch variation of attack was foiled by a 22 year old child prodigy, Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen. Carlsen, the Norwegian is the Challenger as he blazed through the Candidates tournament, topping by a tie-breaker. The 22 year old was considered the favorite coming into the Candidates tournament after he reached a historical rating of 2872, the highest by any player, beating Kasparov’s 2851. Kramnik and Aronian were the other 2 who were expected to become the Challengers, but the 22 year old trumped all.

22nd November: Carlsen now leads Anand 6-3, just 0.5 points away from becoming the champion, a draw match crowning him the champion. The spectators at the Hyatt in Chennai were witness to some brilliant display of strategy as Carlsen thoroughly demolished his opponent, losing just one match, winning 3 and drawing 5. The Norwegian, who started his chess career initially with attacking style, has since changed his style to suit his competitors. In the latest match, Carlsen used the Nimzo Indian defense, one which favored over Ruy Lopez in order to counter the attacking defending champion. However, a couple of fatal mistakes by Anand saw Carlsen capitalizing on them to strike back at the defending champion.

23rd November:  Carlsen came into the match needing just a draw to be crowned the champions. With odds stacked up against Anand, Carlsen went on the defensive, but maintaining his typical astuteness of capitalizing on even the smallest of mistakes by his opponent.  With 65 moves into the game, the game was called a draw, with Carlsen nailing the final nail in the coffin. With this win, Carlsen becomes the undisputed the champion in the world of Chess. Anand, playing in his home turf, Chennai was expected to capitalize on the same to trump Carlsen, but found Carlsen in top-notch form. Anand, post – match expressed his displeasure at his petty mistakes, but praised Carlsen for his consistency in gameplay.

With this, Carlsen becomes the youngest champion at the age of 22, becoming a grandmaster at 13 and youngest No. 1 at the age of 18. Anand, prior to this, was the undisputed champion from 2007.