In a first, Carlsen gets 22-carat medal

Chennai: Magnus Carlsen (23) of Norway was crowned the 20th world chess champion in a short and sweet closing ceremony here on Monday. The highlight of the awards function was the 22-carat pure gold medal awarded to the champion of the world chess championship match 2013. It was for the first time that the world chess cha­mpion was presented with a pure gold medal.

The medal designed and overseen by Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa weighed 103.600 grams (ei­ght grams make a sovereign). The second place finisher Viswan­athan Anand was presented with a silver medal. This apart, the champion Carlsen recei­ved 60 per cent of the prize money, which amounted to Rs 9.9 crore, while Anand got Rs 6.03 crore (40 per cent).

The chief minister also presented the winner with a specially carved trophy made of 3.51 kg silver and coated with gold. The champion was also presented with a traditional olive garland specially sourced from the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu. On the other hand, Anand was presented with silver plaque weighing 1.395 kg.

The Tamil Nadu government decided to host the Big Match between five-time champion and local GM Anand and world No. 1 Carlsen in Chennai and allocated Rs 29 crore during the Tamil Nadu Assembly on April 8 this year. Right from the beginning, the chief minister, who was also the patron of the event, took special attention and interest in organising the event.

The 12-game series ended after 10 rounds, when Carlsen defeated Anand 6.5-3.5 to win his first title. The match started with both players sharing a point each in the first four rounds. Then, Carlsen won ga­mes five and six to move ahead of Anand. After two more draws in games seven and eight, Carlsen won again in game nine and later the match by drawing the 10th round game.

Speaking to DC, the newly crowned world champion Carlsen said that the Tamil Nadu state had abundance of talent in chess. He had high opinion of the state players. “The children who played against me in the simultaneous match, when I came on a visit to the city in Au­gust are very talented. They will surely go on to become grandmasters,” he added.