He defeated 18-year-old Indian Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa in the final after tie breaks.

Carlsen won the first rapid tie breaker after 47 moves and secured the second after a draw to finally lay the ghost of the one tournament he had never won.

"Winning the World Cup wasn't a thing for me until 2017, but after I did so poorly I felt I couldn't let it be my legacy from the World Cup," Carlsen told the Chess24  website.

Carlsen had also thanked doctors for helping him through a two-day bout of food poisoning which had seemed to threaten his chances of lifting the World Cup.

In the third place play-off, Fabiano Caruana of the United States won both tie break games against Azerbaijan's Nijat Abasov to end a run which had captivated the host nation.

The top three have all secured a place in the FIDE World Championship Candidates Tournament which is set to take place in Toronto next year but Carlsen has hinted that he might not be interested in playing.

FIDE has indicated that in such a case, Abasov would take the spot in the competition.