Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen has defended his chess world championship title by beating American challenger Fabiano Caruana 3-0 in rapid tiebreaker games.
After their three-week match ended in 12 draws, Carlsen wrapped up the victory quickly on Wednesday with three straight wins to build an unassailable lead in the best-of-four rapid format. The tiebreakers were played with 25 minutes for each player per game, while the 12 previous classical-style games lasted up to seven hours each.
It’s the third time the 27-year-old Carlsen has successfully defended his title after winning it from Viswanathan Anand of India in 2013.
Caruana, 26, was trying to become the first American since Bobby Fischer in 1972 to become the chess world champion.
Carlsen pockets 550,000 euros ($621,000) for the win while Caruana gets 450,000 euros ($508,000).
