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Caruana was made an international master a year younger than Bobby Fischer was, so he almost certainly is the greatest talent the US has produced since Fischer. However, Carlsen's Elo ranking is the highest in the history of the scoring system. The highest. Ever. And he became the #1-ranked FIDE player nine years younger than Fischer had reached that same ranking.

Fischer complained that with all the canned openings and defenses that had been created over the years, that modern chess had become too formulaic and, in a sense, too easy. So he invented different adaptations of the game, including new styles of 'speed chess,' to showcase the players who (like himself) were brilliantly innovative.

And as this tournament shows, he did have a point. Twelve draws out of twelve matches in regular chess, when the formulaic approach was sufficient. But the tie-breaker rapid chess matches showed that one man -- Carlsen -- was far superior at thinking on his feet.

Fischer complained that with all the canned openings and defenses that had been created over the years, that modern chess had become too formulaic and, in a sense, too easy.

After the first dozen moves variations will appear until the players are thinking on their own instead of memorized moves and then the level degrades to human style thinking. I thought Carlsen had the best position on the twelfth game when he offered a draw but it proved to be a wise choice as he cruised on the rapid matches.