The world championship battle is billed as the youngest ever in terms of the players' cumulative ages: Carlsen is 25 and Karyakin is 26. It is also the first between players who came of age in the computer era, representing a generational shift in the game. In another first, the world championship will be broadcast from its trendy Manhattan venue using virtual reality, organizers said. Carlsen has been called the "Mozart of Chess", and has inspired wide interest in the game in Norway since first winning the world title in 2013. Karyakin, currently ranked 9th in the world, was born on Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Source: The Nation Bangkok November 12, 2016 09:30 UTC