Carlsen defends title vs. Russian challenger in World Chess Championship

GET ON BOARD: Magnus Carlsen, left, Norwegian chess grandmaster, and current World Chess Champion speaks during a press conference next to challenger Sergey Karjakin of Russia on Thursday in New York City. (AFP)

NEW YORK: The defending world champion is a 25-year-old Norwegian who’s been named one of the world’s sexiest men.
Magnus Carlsen is tops in an endurance sport that doesn’t require him to move from his chair.
It’s called chess.
Carlsen, the highest-rated player in chess history, again aims to win the World Chess Championship, the most eagerly awaited match in a generation, starting Friday in New York.
Trying to wrest the title from Carlsen is the 26-year-old Ukrainian-born Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin.
The prize purse of $1.1 million will be divided 60-40 between the men, who are treated like rock stars in their countries.
Carlsen and Karjakin will play in a renovated building on the historic Manhattan waterfront, near Wall Street and the Brooklyn Bridge.
The championship has returned to the United States for the first time in 21 years; the last one was in Sochi, Russia, in 2014.
In the US, organizers face a challenge: how to popularize a sedentary sport with little visible action in a society where most fans favor dynamic sports like football, boxing, basketball and baseball.
Still, chess has its fervent American fans, including Jay Z, Jude Law, Arnold Schwarzenegger and President Barack Obama.
The International Olympic Committee recognizes the World Chess Federation, which governs championship-linked matches, as a sports entity. It requires not only brain acrobatics but also the physical stamina to sit as long as six hours at a time for three weeks.
The board battle pits figures of medieval warriors, kings, queens, bishops and knights against each other in ever-changing plots as dramatic as the “Game of Thrones.”
About 1 billion downloads have been tracked to apps offering electronic versions of the game, says Ilya Merenzon, the Moscow-based chief executive officer of Agon Ltd., which owns the marketing and commercial rights to the World Chess brand for the championships and the qualifying games leading up to it.
There are an estimated 600 million players worldwide, Merenzon says.
By contrast with the glitzy, high-tech championship, chess enthusiasts can be found playing in hundreds of New York outdoor public spaces, such as Central Park. Some of these urban street players are homeless.
Karjakin was 12 when he became the youngest grandmaster, and Carlsen was a grandmaster at 13.
“When I was young, I was used to winning games in a very aggressive style, and I would attack all the time and I was used to my opponents cracking,” Carlsen said. “But when I got to the highest level, then people defended better, so now I’m more pragmatic. Whatever risks I take, I try to control the game.”
Carlsen has cashed in through sponsorships, his own chess app and modeling for ads. He appeared in G-Star Raw’s Spring/Summer fashion ad campaign along with actress and model Lily Cole.