In choosing its athlete-of-the-year, Norges Idrettsforbund, Norway’s national athletics federation, says that Magnus Carlsen doesn’t qualify. Despite winning the World Chess Championship and support from other top athletes in the country, Carlsen was left off the list of nominees.

Responding to public pressure about the situation, the leader of the selecting jury stated, “Carlsen is not part of Norwegian athletics.”

Carlsen was nominated for name-of-the-year and in the open class.

Chess is recognized as a sport by the International Olympic Committee. Norway’s Chess federation, however, isn’t a member of the athletics federation.

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Magnus 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]

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Thursday marked the official opening of the 2013 World Chess Championship in Chennai, India. Magnus Carlsen of Norway is challenging reigning champion Viswanathan Anand on his home turf.

Twenty-two year-old Carlsen is currently the top FIDE-ranked player in the world. He achieved his grandmaster title at the age of 13, is the youngest to be ranked number 1, and holds the record for highest ever peak rating (2861). Carlsen also models for Dutch fashion line G-Star RAW, was selected as one of the sexiest men of 2013 by Cosmopolitan, and this year was declared one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine.

Anand, the first FIDE grandmaster from India, has held the World Champion title since 2007, having defended it against Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov, and Boris Gelfand.

Carlsen was accompanied to Chennai by security, a doctor, and a personal chef. Both players, though, employ a team of “seconds“, player-advisors who evaluate the opponents’ strategies and advise their players on counter-moves between games.

Live video coverage of the Championship can be seen on FIDE’s website. The first game, in which Carlsen will play white and Anand black, starts Saturday at 3:00 PM IST (4:30 AM EST).

Twelve games are planned, one each day, with a rest break every third day (plus an extra between the 11th and 12th games). Tie-break games would be held on the same day as scheduled for the closing ceremonies, November 28th.

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