MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. Being a Crimean native, grandmaster Sergey Karjakin, who won the FIDE World Chess Candidates Tournament, will be glad to represent Russia in a game against the incumbent world champion, Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen.

"Being Russian, and native Crimean, I would be glad to represent Russia in New York at the world leadership match," he told the closing ceremony of the FIDE World Chess Candidates Tournament. "I am proud to present my native land of Crimea."

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the FIDE president, awarded Karjakin with a medal at the ceremony, which Russian presidential aide Igor Levitin and Alexander Zhukov, the president of the Russian Olympic Committee, have also attended.

The two week-tournament ended on Monday with the victory of the 26-year-old Russian chess grandmaster, and Karjakin is now the contender for the world’s chess crown, which currently belongs to Norwegian Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen.

The 2016 FIDE World Chess Candidates Tournament was hosted by the Russian capital of Moscow between March 11 and 28 bringing together eight chess players from Armenia, the United States, Russia, Bulgaria and India.