MAGNUS Carlsen bagged his fourth straight Norway Chess title and fifth overall after all final-round matches were decided in Armageddon on Friday in Stavanger.
The 31-year-old world champion extended his reign at his home event, finishing with 16.5 points in the 10-player single round-robin tournament, capped by a 1.5 point final-round match where he handled black against Veselin Topalov.
Carlsen unable to take the full three points meant Azerbijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had a shot to win the title playing white in the final round against compatriot Teimour Radjabov. But he could not convert and wound up with only a point after the Armageddon for a 15.5 aggregate.
Wesley So had the black pieces against China’s Wang Hao, the draw in Armageddon pushing the Philippine-born American Grandmaster’s total to 12.5.
Wesley So could not catch up after tough early rounds.
Viswanathan Anand of India was third at 14.5 and world blitz champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France scored 14 points for fourth.
Anish Giri of the Netherlands was sixth with 12 points followed by Bulgaria’s Topalov and Norway’s Aryan Tari at 9.5, Radjabov at 8 and Wang at 7.5.