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.