Three-time defending champion Magnus Carlsen had been neck and neck with American Fabiano Caruana ahead of their latest match, which once again resulted in a tie.

Game 12 of 12 ended in a draw after 31 moves, with Carlsen — who had been enjoying a clear time advantage — offering a draw that Caruana accepted.

Many observers were surprised that Carlsen offered a draw while appearing to have the upper hand, including former chess champion Gary Kasparov, who felt the Norwegian might be losing his nerve.

The pair also eked out ties in their first 11 world championship games, meaning they stand level in the championship stakes on six points each (with half a point awarded to each player for each draw).

The 27-year-old Carlsen — nicknamed the "Thor of Chess" — has been seeking to cement his reputation as one of history's greatest players of the game. Caruana, aged 26, is the first American to compete for the title since chess legend Bobby Fischer in 1972.

In the playoff on Wednesday, the pair will face each other in the best of four rapid games. If still tied, they would compete in two "blitz games" in which each player would have only five minutes. Should the players still be level, the championship would go down to a single "Armageddon" match, the format of which guarantees a winner.

Carlsen could be favorite in the tie-break, considering that he also holds titles in speed and blitz chess, while Caruana's recent record in speed chess has been poor.

In addition to the prestige of winning the title, the pair are also battling over a €1 million (£880,000) cash prize.

Caruana, an Italian-American from Miami, earned his shot to play Carlsen by winning the Candidates Tournament earlier this year in Berlin. </s> The world championship tilt between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana will be decided in a quickfire tie-breaker after Monday’s Game 12 ended in a 31-move draw. The result shocked onlookers in light of the champion’s advantages in position and time, and left the best-of-12-games match in a historic 6-6 deadlock.

The latest bloodless result, the 12th draw between the world’s top two players in as many contests, ensured the €1m showdown in London will go down as the first title match in which no decisive results were managed in the official 132-year history of world championship play.

“I wasn’t necessarily going for the maximum,” said Carlsen, who essentially admitted he was content to settle it in the tie-breaker after move 20. “I just wanted a position that was completely safe, [BUT]where I could put some pressure. If a draw hadn’t been a satisfactory result, obviously I would have approached it differently.”

The 27-year-old champion from Norway will play as white in Wednesday’s first tie-break stage after a drawing of lots following Monday’s game: a best-of-four rapid match with 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds after each move. If that’s not enough to break the deadlock, they will play up to five mini-matches of two blitz games (five minutes for each player with a three-second increment). If all five mini-matches are drawn, it will come down to one sudden-death ‘Armegeddon’ match where white receives five minutes and black receives four minutes and both will receive a three-second increment after the 60th move. If that game is drawn, black will be declared the winner.

Carlsen, who in addition to his number one ranking is the world’s top rated rapid player and top rated blitz player (compared to Caruana’s respective ratings of No 8 and No 16), is widely regarded as a warm favorite in the format, not least due to a 13-year unbeaten record in tie-breakers. But no less than Garry Kasparov said Monday that Carlsen’s hasty draw offer betrayed a lapse of nerve in the 27-year-old reigning champion.

“In light of this shocking draw offer from Magnus in a superior position with more time, I reconsider my evaluation of him being the favorite in rapids,” the longtime world number one wrote on Twitter. “Tiebreaks require tremendous nerves and he seems to be losing his.”

Caruana, as white, played into the Sveshnikov variation in Monday’s classical finale, as he did in the eighth and 10th games. Carlsen was first to deviate from those lines with 8. ... Ne7 and Caruana quickly fell behind on time after the champion played a novelty with 12. ... h5.

The 26-year-old American challenger was offered a chance for a draw by repetition shortly after (13. Qa4 Bd7 14. Qb4 Bf5) but bravely turned it down with 15. Be3. Yet Caruana’s temporal issues compounded over the next few moves (15. ... a6 16. Nc3 Qc7 17. g3 Be7 18. f3 Nf8 19. Ne4 Nd7 20. Bd3) and he found himself nearly 50 minutes behind on the clock.

After Carlsen castled following a 12-minute think (20. ... O-O), Caruana delivered a surprise move (21. Rh2!?) that cost him in the opinion of the evaluation engines, but earned praise from the Russian grandmaster Alexander Grischuk from the commentary booth: “The deepest move in the match so far,” he said.

Even after the champion expended another 10 minutes before playing 21. ... Rac8, Carlsen was ahead in development with more than a half-hour advantage in time. He pressed the initiative with 22. ... Bg6 23. Rc2 f5 and Caruana’s dubious 25. f4 sent the computers haywire. The challenger’s position appeared increasingly difficult to hold after 26. ... e4 27. Be2 Be8 28. Kb1 Bf6 29. Re1 a4 30. Qb4 g6.

Which made Carlsen’s decision to offer a draw after 31. Rd1 Ra8 nothing short of mystifying. A relieved Caruana gladly accepted after a game that had lasted two hours and 57 minutes, sending the match to Wednesday’s tie-breaker.

“I was a bit surprised by the draw offer,” Caruana said. “I can never be better [THEN MOVE 31]. And I don’t really have any active ideas. If anything, black is better. At least I thought I was over the worst of it. I thought it was much more dangerous a few moves ago.”

He added: “I’m mainly relieved because I thought it was quite close today. I was very worried during the game. When you feel like you’re sort of on the brink of defeat, or at least you have a very dangerous position, then of course it’s quite good.” </s> The big chess showdown between three-time defending champion Magnus Carlsen and his US challenger Fabiano Caruana will be decided by a series of rapid-play tiebreakers on Wednesday.

Norway’s Carlsen and Caruana wrapped up their 12-match World ChessChampionship series in London with their 12th successive draw on Monday.

It was an anti-climactic finish to a showdown between 27-year old Carlsen – a former child prodigy now regarded by many as the greatest ever chess player – and the first American contender to the crown since the legendary Bobby Fischer in 1972.

The result means the players will have a day off on Tuesday before getting together for an intense session of chess played in a completely different format.

They will try to settle things first in a four-game series in which each player will have 25 minutes. An extra 10 seconds of time are added for each move they make.

Things will go to an even faster-paced format if there is still no winner.

The final tiebreaker is a single winner-take-all game played in a lightning three minutes.

Carlsen will be viewed as the favourite on Wednesday. He excels at rapid chess and defended his title through tiebreakers against the Russian Sergey Karjakin in 2016.

“I think I have very good chances,” the Norwegian told reporters after Monday’s game.

But chess legend Garry Kasparov said he was losing faith in Carlsen.

The former Soviet and Russian world champion said Carlsen had the upper hand in Monday’s encounter but agreed to settle on a draw because he had lost his nerve.

“In light of this shocking draw offer from Magnus in a superior position with more time, I reconsider my evaluation of him being the favorite in rapids,” Kasparov tweeted.

“Tiebreaks require tremendous nerves and he seems to be losing his.” </s> • The 2018 World Chess Championship will go to tiebreakers after a shocking draw in Game 12 on Monday.
• There had been an unprecedented 11 draws before Monday’s result.
• The reigning world champion, Magnus Carlsen, had an edge in Game 12 but didn’t capitalize.

UPDATE: Game 12 ended, controversially, in a draw after 31 moves, after Magnus Carlsen held a slight edge with the black pieces. The chess world was shocked by the result. The match will now go to tiebreakers on Wednesday to decide the championship.

After an unprecedented 11 draws, the 2018 World Chess Championship has come down to a final classical game on Monday in London between the defending champ, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, and his challenger, Fabiano Caruana of the United States.

The No. 1 and No. 2 players in the world are separated by just a year in age and a few ranking points: Carlsen, 27, is at 2,835, and Caruana, 26, is at 2,832. So the march of equal results shouldn’t entirely be a surprise, though it’s never happened before. In 2013 and 2014, Carlsen defeated the former world champion Vishy Anand of India with decisive wins over the board in classical time controls, without going to rapid or blitz tiebreakers.

That wasn’t the case in 2016, when Russia’s Sergey Karjakin challenged Carlsen and won a single game. Carlsen also won a game, then the remainder were draws, but Carlsen defended his title in the “Armageddon” rounds that followed.

On Monday, Caruana has the white pieces and a slight statistical edge, but the big question is whether he’ll press for a win, overextend himself, and hand the title to Carlsen, or angle for a draw and take his chances in the tiebreakers. The latter is risky, as Carlsen is the world’s best rapid and blitz player.

Read more: American challenger Fabiano Caruana missed his best chance to win a game against Magnus Carlsen at World Chess Championship

Caruana’s preparation for the match has generally been better than Carlsen’s, but while both players have enjoyed opportunities to win, neither has converted. Caruana, not an aggressive player, has sought to negate whatever small advantages Carlsen snared – a major difference from Anand’s brand of power chess, where he countered Carlsen’s talents by launching redoubtable assaults from his side of the board.

Caruana’s preparation vs. Carlsen’s uncanny ability to find the right responses, even when he’s in trouble

In the competitive championship games, we’ve seen Carlsen repeatedly caught in Caruana’s superior opening preparation but able to find the best moves to equalize. Caruana, meanwhile, has missed some tactical shots – or, if you accept that he possesses computerlike calculating skills, followed such moves down their lines of play and decided they were too risky.

The 11-all score line has set off the usual bout of complaints that there are too many draws in super-grandmaster chess. The Carlsen-Caruana draws have been fascinating studies in peaceful outcomes, and there have even been a few novelties uncorked, as well as many Sicilian Defences with the black pieces. (The Sicilian is regarded as one of black’s best chances to play for a win.)

But the chess has been rather studious, and it’s shown that at the top level, the use of analysis engines means it’s difficult to rattle the best competitors.

For many fans, a decisive result on Monday would be thrilling and make up for the march of draws; America might also have its first world champion since Bobby Fischer in 1972.

Coming off a rest day, neither player should be prone to a blunder brought on by stress, so one of these guys will have to go for it. The prospect of a sharper Sicilian looms, as that was the opening employed in Game 12, which showed an advantage for white after 12 moves, the result of an early punch thrown on the kingside by Carlsen.

Sharp Sicilians are notorious for getting out of hand for black – and Carlsen, having trounced Karjakin in the tiebreakers two years ago and knowing Caruana is the lesser “fast” player, could aim for a draw, though the initial moves of Game 12 suggest he has a win on his mind. </s> After nine consecutive draws, Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen have drawn yet again in the Chess World Championship in London. There are now just two games left for either player to find a win or the series will go to a best of four tiebreaker series.

World number one Carlsen came close to winning Game 9 on Wednesday but lost his advantage following a rushed decision to offer up a pawn on his 25th move. Grandmaster (GM) Hiraku Nakamura called the move “a little premature to me”, a sentiment which was echoed by Carlsen after the game concluded.

“I felt like I had a comfortable advantage and then I just blew it, I was poor,” said Carlsen, visibly disappointed by the way the game ended. That ninth draw set the record for the longest streak of games without a win in the 132-year history of the Chess World Championship.

Finally though, in Game 10, Carlsen went all in. After spending 15 minutes contemplating his 21st move he surprised everyone by sacrificing a pawn in order to remove a rook hindering his attacks. Once he made the move he jumped up from his chair and headed to the refreshment area.

The pressure ramped up on world number two Caruana. As the moves progressed the pair traded bishops and then queens before reaching time control on move 40. For Carlsen to win, he needed to do it with just his rooks and pawns.

Russian GM Peter Svidler said Caruana was in a difficult position. “My hands would be very shaky with white in this position. It’s very, very scary.” With the game in such a fine balance, one mistake could prove fatal.

An over-extension of the king by Carlsen potentially opened the door for Caruana to take something from the game but Carlsen managed to retreat just in time. The game then fizzled out to a draw a few moves later as neither side had a chance of winning.

There are still two games left in the series, organised by the World Chess Federation (FIDE), with a prize fund of one million euros on the line. If the score is level after these last two games then the series will go to the tiebreakers.

In these extra games each player will start with 25 minutes on the clock with an increment of 10 seconds after each move. Should the series reach this point, Carlsen will be the favourite to win given he is also the world number one Blitz Chess player.

Off the board, there was major controversy early on in the series as a two-minute video was uploaded to the Saint Louis Chess Club Youtube channel before being removed shortly after. The video showed details of Caruana’s preparation for the championship.

While the video was online several screenshots were taken and shared online. Chess fans were quick to analyse the photos, including one of a laptop screen showing openings potentially being research by Caruana. The names of three grandmasters were also contained in the video – Leinier Domínguez, Alejandro Ramírez and Ioan-Cristian Chirila – who are working as second’s to help the American prepare

The final games of the series are played on Saturday 24th and Monday 26th and are shown for free on the FIDE website. They are also streamed on Twitch.tv by Chess.com hosted by IM Daniel Rensch and GM Robert Hess with regular appearances by guests such as GM’s Hiraku Nakamura and Yifan Hou. </s> Chess world title match comes down to rapid tiebreakers

LONDON (AP) — After more than 50 hours of play over nearly three weeks, the chess world championship title will be decided by speedy tiebreaker games on Wednesday.

A 12-game battle of brains between American challenger Fabiano Caruana and reigning champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway has resulted in 12 straight draws — the first time that has happened in a chess world championship match.

That means the match — which is taking place behind soundproof glass on a stage in London — now comes down to a series of rapid games.

Caruana, 26, is trying to become the first American since Bobby Fischer to be crowned chess world champion. Still, he remains the underdog against the 27-year-old Carlsen, a former teenage prodigy who has been the world's top-ranked player since the age of 19 and is considered even more dominant when playing with shorter time controls.

However, Carlsen stunned many commentators when he offered Caruana a draw in the 12th game Monday despite having what experts and computer programs considered to be a better position and a large time advantage on the clocks. That led to suggestions the defending champion may be cracking under the pressure.

"In light of this shocking draw offer from Magnus in a superior position with more time, I reconsider my evaluation of him being the favorite in rapids," former world champion Garry Kasparov tweeted. "Tiebreaks require tremendous nerves and he seems to be losing his."

Even Caruana acknowledged he was "relieved" to be able to reach the tiebreakers after being on the ropes in the last game.

"When you feel like you're sort of on the brink of defeat, or at least you have a very dangerous position, then of course it's quite good," the American said.

Carlsen, though, remained confident in his ability to outplay the challenger in speed chess.

"I think I have very good chances obviously," the Norwegian said. "But I don't know what's going to happen."

With no decisive games and no political undertones, this match has not created anything resembling the worldwide buzz that Fischer's 1972 title meeting with Soviet champion Boris Spassky generated during the height of the Cold War.

Still, American chess fans are hoping that a win for the Miami-born Caruana could boost the game in the U.S.

Carlsen has created a chess craze in Norway, where his matches are front-page news and often shown live on TV. In 2014, he checkmated Bill Gates in nine moves on a Norwegian talk show, using just 12 seconds on the clock.

For a global audience, these games have been live-streamed online with several top grandmasters providing play-by-play commentary and analysis, aided by super computers that instantly evaluate each position. The first game, on Nov. 9, came closest to a decisive result but Carlsen failed to convert a winning advantage and had to settle for a draw after a seven-hour tussle.

Carlsen's previous title fight against Russian Sergey Karjakin also went to tiebreakers in 2016 after they only managed to win one game each.

But despite the lack of knockout blows, this year's championship has still had some drama as both players have missed good chances to win games. Carlsen even showed up with a black eye for one game after getting injured playing soccer on an off-day.

On Wednesday, the two players will first face off in four games with rapid time controls — 25 minutes plus 10 additional seconds per move for each player.

If the match remains deadlocked after that, they will play a series of five-minute games.

And if that fails to produce a winner, the match will end in an "Armageddon" game — where the player with the white pieces gets five minutes on the clock while the person playing black only gets four minutes, but a draw counts as a win for black.

The winner will get 550,000 euros ($621,000), with the runner-up pocketing 450,000 euros ($508,000). </s> LONDON (AP) — After more than 50 hours of play over nearly three weeks, the chess world championship title will be decided by speedy tiebreaker games on Wednesday.

A 12-game battle of brains between American challenger Fabiano Caruana and reigning champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway has resulted in 12 straight draws — the first time that has happened in a chess world championship match.

That means the match — which is taking place behind soundproof glass on a stage in London — now comes down to a series of rapid games that could even conclude in a sudden-death format known as "Armageddon" if a winner can't be found.

Caruana, 26, is trying to become the first American since Bobby Fischer to be crowned chess world champion. Still, he remains the underdog against the 27-year-old Carlsen, a former teenage prodigy who has been the world's top-ranked player since the age of 19 and is considered even more dominant when playing with shorter time controls.

However, Carlsen stunned many commentators when he offered Caruana a draw in the 12th game Monday despite having what experts and computer programs considered to be a better position and a large time advantage on the clocks. That led to suggestions the defending champion may be cracking under the pressure.

"In light of this shocking draw offer from Magnus in a superior position with more time, I reconsider my evaluation of him being the favorite in rapids," former world champion Garry Kasparov tweeted . "Tiebreaks require tremendous nerves and he seems to be losing his."

Even Caruana acknowledged he was "relieved" to be able to reach the tiebreakers after being on the ropes in the last game.

"When you feel like you're sort of on the brink of defeat, or at least you have a very dangerous position, then of course it's quite good," the American said.

Carlsen, though, remained confident in his ability to outplay the challenger in speed chess.

"I think I have very good chances obviously," the Norwegian said. "But I don't know what's going to happen."

With no decisive games and no political undertones, this match has not created anything resembling the worldwide buzz that Fischer's 1972 title meeting with Soviet champion Boris Spassky generated during the height of the Cold War.

Still, American chess fans are hoping that a win for the Miami-born Caruana could boost the game in the U.S.

Carlsen has created a chess craze in Norway, where his matches are front-page news and often shown live on TV. In 2014, he checkmated Microsoft founder Bill Gates in nine moves on a Norwegian talk show, using just 12 seconds on the clock.

For a global audience, these games have been live-streamed online with several top grandmasters providing play-by-play commentary and analysis, aided by super computers that instantly evaluate each position. The first game, on Nov. 9, came closest to a decisive result but Carlsen failed to convert a winning advantage and had to settle for a draw after a seven-hour tussle.

Carlsen's previous title fight against Russian Sergey Karjakin also went to tiebreakers in 2016 after they only managed to win one game each.

But despite the lack of knockout blows, this year's championship has still had some drama as both players have missed good chances to win games. Carlsen even showed up with a black eye for one game after getting injured playing soccer on an off-day.

On Wednesday, the two players will first face off in four games with rapid time controls — 25 minutes plus 10 additional seconds per move for each player.

If the match remains deadlocked after that, they will play a series of five-minute games.

And if that fails to produce a winner, the match will end in an "Armageddon" game — where the player with the white pieces gets five minutes on the clock while the person playing black only gets four minutes, but a draw counts as a win for black.

The winner will get 550,000 euros ($621,000), with the runner-up pocketing 450,000 euros ($508,000). </s> LONDON — After more than 50 hours of play over nearly three weeks, the chess world championship title will be decided by speedy tiebreaker games on Wednesday.

A 12-game battle of brains between American challenger Fabiano Caruana and reigning champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway has resulted in 12 straight draws — the first time that has happened in a chess world championship match.

That means the match — which is taking place behind soundproof glass on a stage in London — now comes down to a series of rapid games that could even conclude in a sudden-death format known as "Armageddon" if a winner can't be found.

Caruana, 26, is trying to become the first American since Bobby Fischer to be crowned chess world champion. Still, he remains the underdog against the 27-year-old Carlsen, a former teenage prodigy who has been the world's top-ranked player since the age of 19 and is considered even more dominant when playing with shorter time controls.

However, Carlsen stunned many commentators when he offered Caruana a draw in the 12th game Monday despite having what experts and computer programs considered to be a better position and a large time advantage on the clocks. That led to suggestions the defending champion may be cracking under the pressure.

"In light of this shocking draw offer from Magnus in a superior position with more time, I reconsider my evaluation of him being the favorite in rapids," former world champion Garry Kasparov tweeted . "Tiebreaks require tremendous nerves and he seems to be losing his."

Even Caruana acknowledged he was "relieved" to be able to reach the tiebreakers after being on the ropes in the last game.

"When you feel like you're sort of on the brink of defeat, or at least you have a very dangerous position, then of course it's quite good," the American said.

Carlsen, though, remained confident in his ability to outplay the challenger in speed chess.

"I think I have very good chances obviously," the Norwegian said. "But I don't know what's going to happen."

With no decisive games and no political undertones, this match has not created anything resembling the worldwide buzz that Fischer's 1972 title meeting with Soviet champion Boris Spassky generated during the height of the Cold War.

Still, American chess fans are hoping that a win for the Miami-born Caruana could boost the game in the U.S.

Carlsen has created a chess craze in Norway, where his matches are front-page news and often shown live on TV. In 2014, he checkmated Microsoft founder Bill Gates in nine moves on a Norwegian talk show, using just 12 seconds on the clock.

For a global audience, these games have been live-streamed online with several top grandmasters providing play-by-play commentary and analysis, aided by super computers that instantly evaluate each position. The first game, on Nov. 9, came closest to a decisive result but Carlsen failed to convert a winning advantage and had to settle for a draw after a seven-hour tussle.

Carlsen's previous title fight against Russian Sergey Karjakin also went to tiebreakers in 2016 after they only managed to win one game each.

But despite the lack of knockout blows, this year's championship has still had some drama as both players have missed good chances to win games. Carlsen even showed up with a black eye for one game after getting injured playing soccer on an off-day.

On Wednesday, the two players will first face off in four games with rapid time controls — 25 minutes plus 10 additional seconds per move for each player.

If the match remains deadlocked after that, they will play a series of five-minute games.

And if that fails to produce a winner, the match will end in an "Armageddon" game — where the player with the white pieces gets five minutes on the clock while the person playing black only gets four minutes, but a draw counts as a win for black.

The winner will get 550,000 euros ($621,000), with the runner-up pocketing 450,000 euros ($508,000). </s> Hello and welcome to London for today’s 12th game of the world chess championship between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. Play resumes today at the College in Holborn after with the best-of-12-games match deadlocked at 5½-all following 11 draws in as many contests. Sixteen days and no blood drawn: the longest streak of games to open a match without a decisive result in the recognized 132-year history of world championship play. But the tension will never be higher than today, where a decisive result would lift the winner over the 6½-point threshold and determine an outright winner in the €1m ($1.14m) showdown.

If Carlsen can pull off a win with the black pieces, the 27-year-old from Norway will seal his third defense of the title he captured from Viswanathan Anand in 2013.

If Caruana can win as white, the 26-year-old challenger will not only become the second American-born player to capture the world championship after Bobby Fischer in 1972, he will inherit the No 1 ranking that Carlsen has held uninterrupted since July 2011.

If they draw for a 12th time, it will all come down to Wednesday’s tie-breaker, which consists of a series of games under shorter time controls.

A brief recap on how we got here: Game 1 was a grueling seven-hour, 115-move staredown, where Carlsen nearly become the first defending champion to win the opening game of a world championship as black in 37 years. The next four contests – Game 2, Game 3, Game 4 and Game 5 – were mostly safer, straightforward affairs that allowed Caruana to get his teeth in the match. The tension ramped up in Game 6 when Carlsen was outplayed by Caruana in the middlegame and pushed to the limit before saving a draw with incredibly precise defending. They played to another draw in Game 7, a result that left the champion lamenting his gun-shy play as white. In Game 8, Carlsen found himself down nearly an hour on the clock facing a dangerous position as black, until one false step by the American allowed him to hold. It was Caruana’s turn to suffer in Wednesday’s Game 9 until he was bailed out by a Carlsen inaccuracy. Then came Thursday’s Game 10, where Caruana found himself on the brink once more until Carlsen overextended himself and was made to grovel for a peaceful result. Saturday’s Game 11 fizzled out practically before liftoff, ending in a simple two-and-a-quarter-hour draw.

Eleven games. Eleven draws. Will the staredown finally end today? We’ll soon find out when Caruana makes the first move at the top of the hour.
Magnus Carlsen retains the title after a 3–0 victory against Fabiano Caruana in the best-of-four rapid tiebreaking series.