Magnus Carlsen World Chess ChampionMagnus Carlsen of Norway is the new World Chess Champion!

Going in to game 9 trailing Carlsen 5-3, Viswanathan Anand had no choice but to play more aggressively and take some risks. And in fact, leading as white, Anand took the game in a more dynamic direction than any played earlier in the match. It was an exciting game—the kind fans had been waiting for—in which Carlsen later acknowledged he had few real options. And yet, after 3 hours of play, just as the reigning champion was making his big attack, he failed to notice an obvious move by his opponent and played the wrong piece. Carlsen was able to block the attack and shortly after that, Anand resigned.

At this point, Carlsen needed only a single draw or win among the three remaining games in order to take the crown.

But game 10 opened with Anand giving it his best—and finally choosing a Sicilian defense as black. The pressure seemed to get to both players, though. Each made errors during the game, losing out on some distinct opportunities. The two continued to fight through a knight end-game, even promoting pawns to queens along the way. But the balanced positions could not be shaken. All other pieces were eliminated and a draw was called at move 65, one capture short of king-on-king.

[image via Susan Polgar]