★★★ INTRO ★★★

The 2013 World Chess Championship was between 43 year old defending champion Viswanathan Anand of India and 22 year old challenger Magnus Carlsen of Norway.

★★★ QUALIFICATIONS ★★★

After Anand defended his title the previous year (see Game Collection: 2012 World Chess Championship for games and more info), it was time to find a new challenger. A candidates tournament was held (see World Championship Candidates (2013) for games). It was a double-round robin with 8 players. Carlsen, Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik all earned their qualification via. rating (top 3 average among July 2011 & January 2012 list). Teimour Radjabov earned his qualification via. the wild card. Alexander Grischuk, Vasyl Ivanchuk and Peter Svidler all earned their qualification via. placing in the top 3 in the 2011 World Cup (see World Cup (2011) for games). Lastly, Boris Gelfand earned his qualification by losing the previous WCC.

The Candidates tournament was tough, with Kramnik and Carlsen both losing in the last round, but Carlsen edged out Kramnik on tiebreaks (both finished 8.5/14).

★★★ CONDITIONS ★★★

The match took place in Chennai, India, which gave Anand home-field advantage. It was a best of 12 games, meaning the first player to 6 1/2 points would be declared the winner. If it's tied after 12 games, there will be a tiebreak, consisting of a maximum of 5 2-game blitz matches. If it's still tied, there will be one armageddon game. Game 1 was played on November 9th, 2013.

★★★ NOTABLE GAMES ★★★

Game 5: Carlsen vs Anand, 2013

Game 6: Anand vs Carlsen, 2013

Game 9: Anand vs Carlsen, 2013

★★★ FINAL ★★★

Game 10 was played on November 22nd, 2013. Heading into Game 10, Carlsen had a 6-3 lead and needed just a draw in the remaining 3 games (2 with white) to become world champion.

Game 10: Carlsen vs Anand, 2013

1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 d6 3.♗b5+ ♘d7 4.d4 cxd4 5.♕xd4 a6 6.♗xd7+ ♗xd7 7.c4 ♘f6 8.♗g5 e6 9.♘c3 ♗e7 10.O-O ♗c6 11.♕d3 O-O 12.♘d4 ♖c8 13.b3 ♕c7 14.♘xc6 ♕xc6 15.♖ac1 h6 16.♗e3 ♘d7 17.♗d4 ♖fd8 18.h3 ♕c7 19.♖fd1 ♕a5 20.♕d2 ♔f8 21.♕b2 ♔g8 22.a4 ♕h5 23.♘e2 ♗f6 24.♖c3 ♗xd4 25.♖xd4 ♕e5 26.♕d2 ♘f6 27.♖e3 ♖d7 28.a5 ♕g5 29.e5 ♘e8 30.exd6 ♖c6 31.f4 ♕d8 32.♖ed3 ♖cxd6 33.♖xd6 ♖xd6 34.♖xd6 ♕xd6 35.♕xd6 ♘xd6 36.♔f2 ♔f8 37.♔e3 ♔e7 38.♔d4 ♔d7 39.♔c5 ♔c7 40.♘c3 ♘f5 41.♘e4 ♘e3 42.g3 f5 43.♘d6 g5 44.♘e8+ ♔d7 45.♘f6+ ♔e7 46.♘g8+ ♔f8 47.♘xh6 gxf4 48.gxf4 ♔g7 49.♘xf5+ exf5 50.♔b6 ♘g2 51.♔xb7 ♘xf4 52.♔xa6 ♘e6 53.♔b6

53.♔b6

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Carlsen had a slight advantage throught out the game, although nothing really significant. In this endgame, white's a-pawn and black's f-pawn have a footrace to promotion, with white queening first.

53...f4 54.a6 f3 55.a7 f2 56.a8=♕ f1=♕ 57.♕d5 ♕e1 58.♕d6 ♕e3+ 59.♔a6 ♘c5+ 60.♔b5 ♘xb3 61.♕c7+ ♔h6 62.♕b6+ ♕xb6+ 63.♔xb6 ♔h5 64.h4 ♔xh4 65.c5 ♘xc5 1/2-1/2

65...♘xc5 1/2-1/2

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This game is drawn. I can see that 66.Kxc5 leaves both sides with just the king, which is a draw regardless of what happens (excluding forfeiting or resignation). Just for fun, the kings can race to the center of the board with moves like 66...♔g4 67.♔d4 ♔f5, but this means nothing, as there is insufficient mating material.

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With the draw, Carlsen becomes the 16th undisputed world chess championship by the final score of 6 1/2-3 1/2.

★★★ MINI TABLE ★★★

Carlsen 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 (3 wins, 7 draws, 0 losses) <65.0% score>

Anand 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 0 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 (0 wins, 7 draws, 3 losses) <35.0% score>

★★★ OTHER LINKS ★★★

See also: Anand - Carlsen World Championship Match (2013)

Head to Head Record Prior to 2013: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (6 wins, 24 draws and 3 losses in favour of Anand)

Previous World Championship: Game Collection: 2012 World Chess Championship

Next World Championship: Game Collection: 2014 World Chess Championship