Eddie Wyckoff

Breakdown of the World Chess Championships

Magnus Carlsen celebrated his 26th birthday and a third consecutive World Chess Championship victory last Wednesday. Hundreds of millions watched while over the course of nearly three weeks the defending Norwegian champion played Russian challenger Sergey Karjakin to retain the title. Both grandmasters are a mere 26 years old. Carlsen was thought to be the overwhelming favorite going in, but, game by game, Karjakin matched Carlsen’s ingenuity, inevitably requiring an additional tiebreak series of four rapid games to settle matters.