Freestyle Chess World Championship: Magnus Carlsen Clinches 21st World Title Defeating Fabiano Caruana

Hyderabad: Magnus Carlsen has won the Freestyle Chess World Championship, defeating Fabiano Caruana in the title decider on Sunday to add another world title to his illustrious career. He defeated Fabiano Caruana 2.5–1.5 in the final to win the newly started FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship.

The match started with two draws, but Carlsen took a decisive lead in the third match, edging out his opponent with black pieces. He then held out a draw in the fourth match to win the contest. Carlsen was in a difficult position in the third match, but he managed to turn it around and emerged triumphant, which turned out to be decisive in lifting the title.

“Not certainly one of my more convincing wins today, but it feels great to win on a bit of an off day, and most of all I’m just happy to be done!” the Norwegian star reacted after winning the title decider.

Carlsen now has 21 world titles in his career and often proved himself to be one of the best. He has held the No. 1 position in the FIDE rankings since 1 July 2011, the longest consecutive period. He is the reigning six-time World Rapid Chess Champion and the reigning nine-time World Blitz Chess Champion.

Erigaisi finishes sixth

India’s top-ranked chess star, Arjun Erigaisi, finished sixth among eight players in a forgettable campaign. He had a chance to finish in fifth place by beating American Grandmaster Hans Niemann in the play-off match. However, Niemann defeated the Indian star in the first games to win the contest 2-0 and prevent Arjun to the sixth place only.

“Obviously, I won two great matches against very strong opponents. Usually, there would be a bit more joy, but the format’s pretty unforgiving - still, I played pretty well,” Niemann told Chessbase India after defeating Arjun.

Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdussatorov outplayed Germany’s Vincent Keymer to take third position in the standings. Abdussatorov’s compatriot, Javokhir Sindarov, finished in last place after losing to American Levon Aronian, who finished seventh.