It was held from 7 to 25 November 2013 in Chennai, India, under the auspices of FIDE (the World Chess Federation).

Carlsen won the match 6½–3½ after ten of the twelve scheduled games, becoming the new world chess champion.

The prizes for each place were as follows:[5] Before the tournament Carlsen was considered the favourite, with Kramnik and Aronian being deemed his biggest rivals.

Carlsen started the second half by staying ahead of the field, but a loss to Ivanchuk allowed Kramnik to take the lead in round 12 by defeating Aronian.

The Championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen was held from 9 to 22 November 2013 in Chennai, India, under the auspices of FIDE.

[18] During the opening press conference, Anand revealed his new seconds to be Krishnan Sasikiran, Sandipan Chanda and Peter Leko.

[27] Twelve classical games were scheduled, each starting at 3 pm local time (09:30 UTC).

Carlsen chose a quiet line, but his play was slightly inaccurate, and he accepted a draw after 16 moves in lieu of a threefold repetition.

Anand castled queenside on move 14, which was followed by a knight exchange in the centre, after which Carlsen advanced his queen to d5 (see diagram).

This enabled a trade of queens, and, to the surprise of commentators and the audience, Anand accepted it, rather than pressing forward with 18.Qg4.

The resulting endgame was balanced; Anand exerted pressure on Carlsen's kingside pawn shield with his rooks, eliciting a repetition of moves and a draw.

However, with the temporary pawn sacrifice 28.e3 (which chess Grandmaster and commentator Sergei Shipov described as "the best known, boldest and most debatable" move of 2013),[34] Carlsen opened the position and managed to reactivate his pieces.

"[35] Anand's 45...Rc1+ was called the decisive mistake,[36] after which White was able to defend the a3-pawn, exchange bishops, and win a second pawn.

The decisive error was 60.Ra4; instead, 60.b4 was suggested by analysts and chess engines as the only move that leads to a draw with best play, since the advancing b-pawn gives White queening threats that yield counterplay and make an exchange of rooks acceptable.

[40] Carlsen opted for 1.e4 for the first time in the match and the game developed into a Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence in which he managed to trade pieces and reach a symmetrical position with a draw in 33 moves.

[42] Afterwards, Carlsen defended accurately, creating counterplay on the queenside, and ultimately queening his b-pawn with check while Anand was shifting his heavy pieces over to his mating attack.

The players traded down to a knight endgame where White had some advantage, and Carlsen may have missed a win by playing 43.Nd6 instead of 43.Nd2.