Magnus Carlsen, the 22-year-old Norwegian who has been the most dominant chess player since 2010, finally broke through on Friday to win the game’s most important title, the world championship, for the first time.

He defeated Viswanathan Anand, 43, of India, the titleholder since 2007, and he did not lose a game in the best-of-12 series, which was held in Anand’s hometown, Chennai. Carlsen so dominated the match, which began Nov. 9, that it lasted only 10 games, with Carlsen winning three and the others ending in draws.

The championship has long been dominated by players from Russia and, before that, the Soviet Union. Carlsen is only the second player from the West to become champion since World War II, and the first since Bobby Fischer, the eccentric American who held the title from 1972 to 1975.

Carlsen has been the world’s top-ranked player almost continually since January 2010 and his current rating, the system used to compute the rankings, is the highest in history.