Norwegian Magnus Carlsen won the World Chess Championship 3-0 in the tie-breakers on Thursday (AEST) after playing out 12 draws with American Fabiano Caruana.
The 27-year-old defending champion, who collected a winner's prize of 550,000 euros ($AUD856,000) and his opponent had set a record drawing 12 out of 12 classical games through November.
That stalemate forced the pair into the faster-paced, best-of-four tie-breakers.
The failure of Caruana, 26, to defeat Carlsen means the United States has not won the chess title since the enigmatic and volatile Bobby Fischer beat Russia's Boris Spassky at the height of the Cold War in 1972.
The World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen. Source: AAP-AP-Mary Altaffer (2)
Caruana will still collect 450,000 euros for his efforts at The College, a Victorian era building in London's Holborn.
Carlsen has been the world's top ranked player for the past eight years and has now defended his title three times since he first won it in 2013.
This year was the first time he had won the championship without losing a single game.
Liverpool Trent Alexander-Arnold (L) takes on World Chess champion Magnus Carlsen. Source: Getty Images
The prime minister of Norway, Erna Solberg, sent her congratulations to the world number one.
