Vladimir Kramnik beat Bulgaria's Veselin Topalov in a tie-breaker on Friday to become the first universally recognised world chess champion since 1993.

The Russian Grandmaster won a tension-filled 12-game re-unification match in Elista, Russia, that was played between September 21 and October 13, by an 8.5-7.5 margin.

As the 12 games failed to identify the winner with the scores locked 6-6, the final day witnessed a rapid chess tie-break, which Kramnik 2.5-1.5.

Both players will receive US $500,000 for taking part in the match, which was arranged to heal a 13-year-old schism in the chess world dating back to World champion Garry Kasparov's withdrawal from the World Chess Federation.

Kramnik, playing white, secured victory in Friday's fourth game.

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