OSLO, Norway & OLD GREENWICH, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Play Magnus, a leading chess platform created by World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen, and WorldQuant, the global quantitative asset management firm, today announced a new partnership and the launch of the inaugural Magnus Quant Challenge.

This month-long competition is designed to test analytical skills, teach quantitative finance and identify top performers who may be considered for research consulting positions at WorldQuant’s Virtual Research Center (VRC). Participants — who represent more than 80 countries — must be users registered through the Play Magnus chess app. VRC operates an online platform, WebSim, which enables individuals to conduct research and build algorithms that seek to predict the future price movements of various financial instruments (or alphas, as WorldQuant calls them).

“We’re excited to broaden our partnership with Play Magnus and bring additional opportunities to top global talent. Premier chess competitors utilize concentration, strategy and the ability to identify patterns to predict future moves and act based on that information. These skills are very similar to those that quantitative finance minds use every day,” said Igor Tulchinsky, CEO, Chairman and Founder of WorldQuant.

“I’m first and foremost passionate about chess, and I’m also convinced that it is important to innovate in order to grow future interest in chess,” said World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen. “The fact that WorldQuant sees an opportunity to attract talent through the online platforms we have developed motivates me to take our efforts to a new level.”

“Chess is played by hundreds of millions of people on a daily basis. Research proves that people who play chess score higher than others in STEM subjects, which is highly correlated with identifying quantitative finance minds,” said Play Magnus CEO Kate Murphy. “Our vision is to use chess as a fun tool to make the world a smarter place, and this partnership with WorldQuant gets us one step closer to achieving our vision.”

VRC has more than 70,000 users from 180 countries and over 2,000 universities who are given the opportunity to learn about quantitative finance, build financial models, participate in global competitions and be considered for research consultant positions. WorldQuant users have collectively run over 93 million simulations on VRC’s online platform. Of those users, approximately 1,200 globally are in VRC consultant positions. Consultants have flexibility in their hours and work location, are compensated based on their activity and productivity, are eligible for additional compensation based on their alphas’ performance and may ultimately be considered for full-time roles. Additional information, including how to register for Websim, can be found at www.WorldQuantVRC.com.

Magnus Carlsen is a Norwegian chess grandmaster, reigning World Chess Champion and the No. 1 ranked player in the world.

Play Magnus is the official creator of Magnus Carlsen branded products with a mission to spread chess to more people around the world.

WorldQuant is a global quantitative asset management firm that was founded in 2007 by Igor Tulchinsky and has more than 25 offices in 15 countries, over 700 employees and 1,200 consultants. WorldQuant develops and deploys systematic investment strategies across a variety of asset classes in global markets, utilizing a proprietary research platform and investment process. For more information on WorldQuant’s culture and philosophy, please visit www.WeAreWorldQuant.com.</s>Magnus Carlsen confessed to nerves after holding on for a high-wire draw with Fabiano Caruana on Thursday in the marathon 10th game of their world championship showdown, which left the best-of-12-games match in a 5-all deadlock.

The 27-year-old champion from Norway, playing with the black pieces, weathered Caruana’s novel deviation from the Sveshnikov Sicilian (12. b4) and responded with a bold attacking surprise (21. … b5!) to go for broke on the kingside and briefly take advantages in position and time.

But one false step (44. ... Kd4) while trying to squeeze victory from a seemingly drawish position left the champion on the back foot, where he admitted he was “fortunate” to salvage a draw after five hours and 19 minutes.

“I felt that it was very close to mate,” Carlsen said of his kingside attack. “The problem is if I don’t mate I’m losing. So I was trying to find some middle ground and my time was running out. I don’t know. I was just so nervous, I couldn’t make it happen. It ended up just being nothing.”

Both players will look forward to Friday’s rest day before the competition resumes on Saturday at the College in Holborn with Carlsen playing as white in Game 11.

“It was just a case of too complicated and too much at stake,” Carlsen said. “That was the main thing. I could have played better many times. Both of us made many mistakes.”

This is a developing story. More to follow.</s>The World Chess Championship of 2018 set the record for the longest streak of draws to open a world championship match as Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana drew their ninth straight game on Wednesday evening. Previously, the record was held by the Anand-Kasparov World Championship Match of 1999 which had begun with eight successive draws.

But while the day ended with a record, it had also begun with something unprecedented. The world champion had arrived for the game with a black eye! Carlsen had been playing football on the rest day and during the five-a-side game, he collided with the NRK reporter Emil Gukild. The injury was minor but the world champ was seen sporting a bandage over his eye during the game.

Carlsen, who had the white pieces in this ninth instalment of the match, gained a decent edge out of the opening. At one point, the chess engine, Stockfish 9, gave Carlsen an edge almost equivalent to that of an extra pawn. Carlsen had repeated the line from Game 4, opting for the Four Knights variation of the English Opening. After following the moves of the fourth game for the first eight moves, the world champion was the first to deviate and whipped out an opening novelty on his 11th move with 11.Bc1.

The bishop retreat had some threats attached to it as the bishop intended to go to the a1-h8 diagonal, keeping a strong, broad centre. The other intent of the move was psychological. It was designed to take Caruana by surprise – and it worked.

Caruana expended a decent bit of time playing his next few moves. The position had the potential to turn in Carlsen’s favour but, on the other hand, Caruana hadn’t really committed any mistakes and it was unlikely that he should be worse. That said, it did not mean the challenger wasn’t uncomfortable.

The 17th move of the game saw Caruana give up his centrally placed bishop for the white knight. Positionally, this wasn’t the best choice and was, perhaps, even dubious. But Caruana had his reasons to play the move.

“I didn’t feel totally comfortable; I thought, if I started to drift, it could get very unpleasant. White’s moves are easy – e3 and Ne2. So, I wanted to make it more concrete,” Caruana explained. “Of course, I am basically admitting that my position is very unpleasant, but still the drawing margin is very high with these opposite coloured bishops,” he added.

Caruana also said that having less time on the clock also contributed to this decision: “I had less time so I thought it will be easier to play if I simplify the position a bit.”

Although Caruana had his reasons to play the move, this gave Carlsen the kind of advantage he excels in exploiting – a small edge with which he could squeeze his opponent eternally.

A few exchanges later, on his 24th turn, Carlsen tried to gain space on the kingside with his 24.h4. White threatened to strengthen his position further by pushing the pawn up the board once again. Caruana, therefore, checked this advance with 24…g6 – or at least he thought he did.

Carlsen pushed on, undeterred. This looked bold at the outset as it attempts to soften black’s king position but Caruana simply hacked off the pawn and used it to gain counterplay eventually.

This kingside expansion was criticized equivocally by all experts. “It looks a bit premature to me,” said Hikaru Nakamura. IM Daniel Rensch also felt the world champion had “rushed it” while the top woman player on the planet, GM Hou Yifan felt Carlsen’s move was “too hurried”.

After the game, Carlsen said he felt his 24.h4 itself was a mistake and thought he should have played more solidly by placing his king on g2 and bishop on f3.

“I felt in the game after [24.] h4 g6, if I don’t play h5 then h5 is gonna come [from black] followed by f5 and this just clamps it,” Carlsen said.

“It’s obviously quite comfortable still but I don’t really see how to make progress. Black is just too solid,” he added.

He also said that he had “mixed feelings” about the position that ensued after Caruana gave up his bishop on the 17th move. “On one hand it leads to a very comfortable advantage. On the other hand, as Fabiano said, it simplifies the game quite a lot. I felt like I wasn’t in time to do everything that I wanted,” Carlsen said.

Both pairs of rooks were traded off soon after Carlsen’s kingside expansion on the 25th move and the position had begun to look drawn. However, the world champion still felt he could create some play and continued until the 56th move before finally calling it a day.

Carlsen was clearly irritated when a reporter asked why he played on despite the position being inevitably drawn and when he understood it was a draw.

“When did I understand it was a draw? I understood it immediately. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t play. I’m trying to entice him to play h5 and if he does play h5 then I at least have a target. But obviously if he just keeps still and keeps his fortress just waiting for my king to enter then there’s nothing, but there’s no harm in playing. I really don’t understand the point,” Carlsen retorted.

With just three more games remaining, the match seems to be inching towards a tiebreak. If this does happen to be the case, Carlsen will be a big favourite. While Caruana is only 3 points behind Carlsen in classical ratings, the gap between the two players is far wider in faster time controls.

In the rapid time control, Caruana, rated 2789 is a full 91 points behind Carlsen who is rated 2880. In blitz, the gap is even wider. Carlsen tops the world charts with a rating of 2939 while Caruana is way down the list at number 18 with a rating of 2767.

Caruana, though, said he is “not really thinking about the tiebreaks right now”.

“If we get there, then I’ll start to think about it, but there’s still a lot of chess to be played. And I really don’t agree with most people about my chances in the tiebreaks,” said Caruana.</s>Magnus Carlsen got a black eye before Game 9 of the World Chess Championship. But it didn’t hinder his vision of the board as Wednesday’s play began.

For the first time in nearly two weeks of play, Carlsen, the defending champion, was able to successfully command the white pieces to an attacking advantage. Throughout much of Game 9, Carlsen outdueled his challenger, Fabiano Caruana. Caruana, the world No. 2, appeared to reel at points, and his allocated time melted off his clock as he pondered his defense.

But Carlsen’s advantage melted, too. The game was drawn after 56 moves over 3.5 hours of play. It was the ninth consecutive draw and the best-of-12 match sits level at 4.5-4.5.

Before the game Wednesday, the list of colorful stories orbiting the match ballooned to two. First came the infamous deleted YouTube video appearing to show elements of Caruana’s pre-match strategic preparation. Now we had the black eye.

NRK, the Norwegian broadcaster, reported that Carlsen collided — excuse me, “kolliderte” — with one of its own journalists while playing soccer on Tuesday, a rest day from the chess. Questions were raised about Carlsen’s mental soundness — a grandmaster should do nothing but grandmastering, apparently. Per Google’s translation of NRK, he was reportedly “dumbfounded” after the crash. “If he has to use pain relief, there may be a potential problem,” NRK wrote.

But those neurological questions seemed quickly answered at the board and Carlsen said he felt no pain while playing.

The first eight moves on Wednesday exactly matched the first eight from Game 4 — their name sounds like something out of Tolkien, an English opening that became a Reverse Dragon. But the game took a radical and aggressive turn on move 9, when Carlsen scrambled his bishop to the g5 square, into enemy territory and with its mitre directly pointed at Caruana’s queen.

This specific position has only ever materialized on a tournament chessboard once before, according to the ChessBase database, in an otherwise uncelebrated game in 2008 between two Croatian non-grandmasters. (Though black won that one.) The attack was on, and Caruana contributed with a misstep on his 17th move, capturing a knight in Carlsen’s territory that he oughtn’t have. That capture sparked a series of moves that eventually allowed Carlsen’s bishop to escape, flying across the board to capture the black pawn on b7.

As deep into the game as the 18th move, Carlsen hadn’t spent more than a minute on any one move and quickly opened up a 40-minute advantage on the clock. One knock against the champ in this match has been his apparently lackadaisical preparation. But he was solidly prepared for his aggressive line on Wednesday, sailing through his moves. Caruana, meanwhile, took 9 minutes to make his 12th move, 21 minutes on his 13th, 8 on his 14th and 13 on his 17th.

The fruits of the Norwegian’s preparation appeared to be a comfortable position: Either he would win or he would draw. Before Carlsen’s 24th move, the position looked like this.

“I think there are some long-term dangers here for black,” said Hikaru Nakamura, a top American grandmaster commentating for Chess.com. Carlsen’s white bishop, for example, was far more active than Caruana’s. “If Caruana doesn’t find the right moves, he will lose.”

It appeared to all the world that the Norwegian chess superstar would finally make real progress in the match, and indeed that a victory in the moves to come would effectively decide the match — and the world title — itself. “There are certain types of positions where Magnus is stronger than a computer,” said Anish Giri, the world No. 5, on a chess24 broadcast.

It’s an evocative claim, but it was not true on Wednesday. Carlsen may have rushed his attack on move 25, shortly after the position above. He pushed his pawn up the flank on the edge of the board, to h4 and toward Caruana’s king. He then pushed it again, to h5. It may have been a square too far, or at least too soon. (The computer engine Stockfish preferred involving that active white bishop instead.)

“He’s just not playing his best chess,” added Peter Svidler, the world No. 19, on that very same broadcast. The position simplified dramatically and the two shook hands — which they must be getting very good at — after 56 moves.

Ah, chess is cruel. Here’s a chart to quantify that cruelty — and we’ll keep it updated throughout the rest of the match. There are three regular games left, and speedier tiebreaker games will follow on Nov. 27, if necessary.

This match has been different for Carlsen than his 2016 World Chess Championship encounter against Russian challenger Sergey Karjakin, which began with seven consecutive draws. Many of those found Karjakin on the backfoot, escaping like Houdini from the shackles of the world champion. Caruana, however, has rarely been in real trouble until Wednesday, and this year Carlsen has been forced to play the part of escape artist.

Carlsen would, however, be an enormous favorite should the tiebreakers become necessary.

“I’m really not thinking about the tiebreak now,” Caruana said after the game. “I really don’t agree with most people about my chances in the tiebreak.”

Game 10 begins Thursday at 3 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time — that’s 10 a.m. Eastern. But that’s also Thanksgiving. As a result, our next dispatch will come on Friday. Chess waits for no turkey, but FiveThirtyEight does. I’ll be covering the rest of the match here and on Twitter.</s>OSLO — Late on Friday night, a couple hundred people were packed into a dimly lit, stylishly decorated bar in the heart of Oslo’s downtown night-life district.

The place already was generating considerable buzz. It had been open for only a week, but one recent night the line to enter had snaked down the block. Inside, it felt like so many of the other hip spots in downtown Oslo — candlelight illuminating framed artwork on the walls, conversation humming over the clink of beer glasses — except for one small detail: the chess games happening at every table and countertop.

“That’s the Magnus Effect,” said Martin Mortensen, a 32-year-old software developer at the bar, referring to the Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen. “Almost everyone in Norway has some relationship to chess nowadays. It’s on T.V. and in newspapers all the time.”

Carlsen, 27, has been the world’s top-ranked chess player for the past eight years. He has won the past three world championships, and this month in London he has been locked in tense competition with Fabiano Caruana, a 26-year-old American, in a bid to claim a fourth title.</s>The championship in London is a nail-biting competition between an American and the defending champion, who's from Norway. Steve Inskeep talks to Ben Tippett of the sports website Deadspin.

The top two chess players in the world are playing a world championship match in London. It's the best of 12 games. There's an American, Fabiano Caruana, who is in the match against the Norwegian defending champion, Magnus Carlsen. And to say that they are evenly matched would be an understatement, which we will discuss with Ben Tippett, who's writing about their rivalry for the sports website Deadspin. Welcome.

BEN TIPPETT: Good morning, Steve. Good morning, NPR viewers. Thanks so much for having me.

INSKEEP: (Laughter) Glad you could join us. OK, so they're - they've completed eight games. What's the score?

TIPPETT: Eight games, eight draws so far, incredibly tense match - there's just about nothing between these two guys, the No. 1 and No. 2 in the world. It's the largest draw streak to start a world championship match in history. They've both had winning chances in various games, but so far, no one has drawn blood.

INSKEEP: What does it look like when these two players sit down to play? What do they look like? How do they comport each other across the chessboard?

TIPPETT: Well, in the playing arena here in London, they are sitting in what I've described as a very comfortable police interrogation room. They're in a brightly lit room behind a glass panel, which separates them from the audience, who are - there's about room for about 150 people who are sitting in a darkened room. And they're separated from everyone so that there can be no outside interference. Some of these games can stretch up to seven hours, leaning at the board with an incredible air of drama as they bang out their moves.

INSKEEP: How unusual is it to have an American in the championship?

TIPPETT: Well, there has not been an American competing for the undisputed title since 1972. Fabiano Caruana could be the first one in more than four decades.

INSKEEP: First one since Bobby Fischer. How did he get here?

TIPPETT: Well, the way that the classical world chess championship works is that the winner defends their title against a challenger every second year. So they have an automatic pass through to defend their title, and Fabiano Caruana qualified to a traditional tournament called the candidate's tournament. And he won his way through. And so that's how he became the challenger. And it's the match we were all looking for.

INSKEEP: Do the players ever talk to each other?

TIPPETT: They're not allowed to. I was lucky enough to interview Fabiano. I asked if there was any trash talk at the board. In classical chess, there's not. You cannot talk to each other except to offer a draw so that there's no collusion or any interference.

INSKEEP: I think I read that these two guys hardly even look at each other as they play.

TIPPETT: They don't very much, although there was a very interesting moment in the second game where Fabiano sprung an opening surprise, which knocked the world champion for a bit of a loop. And he glared at his opponent. He was trying to stare into his mind and say, what have you got prepared for me? It was an incredible moment.

INSKEEP: So they've tied eight games. They each get half a point for a tie, so I guess it's 4-4. They're going to play 12 games, which I have to note is an even number of games. What happens if they get to the end of the 12 and they're still tied?

TIPPETT: Then they go to a day of tiebreaks. The reason it's an even number of games is because, in chess, white always moves first, so they have an advantage, so you can't play an odd number of games and expect it to be a fair contest. So they first go to rapid games, which are 25 minutes a side. Then if those are tied, they go to rapids, which are 10 minutes a side. And if it all comes down to the final game, they play something called Armageddon in which it's a one-off game. White gets five minutes, black gets four minutes, and if black draws, then they win.

INSKEEP: Well, Ben Tippett, could be exciting. We'll pay attention.

TIPPETT: Steve, thanks so much for having me. Thanks for having me, everyone.

INSKEEP: He is writing about the World Chess Championship for Deadspin.</s>An American could become the first to win the World Chess Championship in nearly 50 years if he emerges victorious after a grueling best of 12 match against a Norwegian rival.

Brooklyn-raised grandmaster Fabiano Caruana is locked in an ongoing battle against Magnus Carlsen, who has been ranked No. 1 in the world for the last eight years. His peak rating of 2882, which he reached in 2014, is the highest in history.

The final resumes today with the competitors in a tight deadlock after eight games.

There is almost nothing to separate Italian-American dual citizen Caruana, 26, who is the official world No. 2 from Carlsen, 27.

Caruana was a chess prodigy, becoming the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the U.S when he was 14.

The last American to become world champion was Bobby Fischer, when he beat defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in 1972.

The Caruana-Carlsen rivalry has turned chess into a gripping spectator sport with an atmosphere to rival any old fashioned sporting occasion.

A one-day ticket for the 2018 World Chess Championship final in London starts at $60,but many are opting or VIP tickets that include expert commentary and closer proximity to the players.

While slow to unfold, audience members get more game time for their money as the best of 12 final will continue until November 28.

The intimate venue seats only 200 but the total television and internet audience is likely to exceed 1.5 billion.

The last final in which an American was victorious kicked off a month after the Watergate break in, at the height of the Cold War.

Since then, chess has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, as technology and app versions have made it more accessible to the masses and easy to play on the go.

Carlsen and Caruana are both active on Instagram and have cultivated large followings based on their personal brands.

In Norway, chess championship games are televised live owing to the popularity of the game and of Carlsen, who is a national celebrity and part-time model.

In 2017, he even made a special appearance on The Simpsons, in an episode where Homer's chess past is revealed.</s>A freshly bruised Magnus Carlsen came dangerously close to landing a decisive blow in Wednesday’s ninth game of his tightly wound defense of the world chess championship against Fabiano Caruana, until a moment of impatience allowed his opponent off the hook and left the best-of-12-games match in a 4½-all deadlock.

The 27-year-old defending champion, sporting a bandage over a fresh black eye from a collision with a Norwegian journalist during a kickabout on Tuesday’s rest day, harried the American challenger out of his preparation early and pushed him to the brink of disaster in the middlegame, but one rushed misstep (25. h5) gifted Caruana the slack he required to hold for a 58-move draw with three classical games remaining and the gnawing spectre of a tie-breaker looming ever larger.

“I felt like I had a comfortable advantage and then I just blew it,” a clearly disappointed Carlsen said in the immediate aftermath. “I was poor.”

Carlsen opted for the geographically appropriate English Opening (1. c4), as he did in the fourth game, and the parallel lines extended for Carlsen’s first eight moves (1. ... e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bc5 7. O-O O-O 8. d3 Re8) until he veered with 9. Bg5. The opening choice came as a bit of a surprise given how seldom Carlsen had played it in the past (only once in 37 previous classical games with Caruana entering Game 4) and how frustratingly little he was able to yield from it eight days ago in what had quickly petered out to a straightforward draw.

Carlsen’s deviation (9. Bg5) represented an aggressive effort to remove Caruana from the encyclopedic prep that’s buoyed him amply throughout the fortnight to date, but the 26-year-old American challenger responded quickly for the next few moves (10. bxc3 f6 11. Bc1 Be6) until 12. Bb2 prompted the first long think of the match. Caruana’s ultimate decision (13. ... Bd5) after 21 minutes was met by Carlsen’s 14. Qc2 after a scant 72 seconds and he suddenly found himself more than a half hour behind on time before his 14th move.

Caruana’s temporal problems were redoubled with his drastic and potentially dubious 17. ... Bxf3, which sent Carlsen’s advantage into a spike on the Stockfish evaluation engine. Said Russian grandmaster Peter Svidler from the commentary booth: “It’s an incredible curious choice to take on f3 here, even if you think you will eventually hold this. In general you are giving Magnus exactly what he wants from this game. A stable advantage forever with no way to completely equalize.”

Carlsen, edge on time approaching an hour, continued to make the right moves, making equal exchanging of material while continuing to squeeze Caruana’s slowly diminishing position: 18. Qb3+ Kh8 19. Bxf3 Nxd4 20. Bxd4 Qxd4 21. e3 Qe5 22. Bxb7 Rad8 23. Rad1 Qe7 24. h4 g6. Little by little it seemed Carlsen, after eight draws in as many matches, was inching toward a breakthrough win that would all but seal his third defense of the title he captured from Viswanathan Anand in 2013.

And then he blinked.

Carlsen’s choice to offer a pawn with 25. h5 immediately prompted from both the computers and the pundits. American grandmaster Hiraku Nakamura called it a “strange move” and “peculiar choice”, adding: “It feels a little bit premature to me.”

That assessment was only confirmed over the next few moves (25. ... gxh5 26. Qc4 f5 27. Bf3 h4 28. Rxd8 Rxd8 29. gxh4) only and from there a peaceful result appeared inevitable despite a patch of counterplay opportunities for the challenger that kept the action engaging. Eventually, the rivals shook hands after three and a half hours.

“I was very happy with the opening, obviously,” a downtrodden Carlsen said during the post-game press conference. “You cannot expect more than what I had for sure.”

The champion admitted he had “mixed feelings” about 27. Bf3: “On one hand it leads to a very comfortable advantage. On the other hand, as Fabiano said, it simplifies the game quite a lot. I felt like I wasn’t in time to do everything that I wanted. I just think (25. h5) was a a mistake.”

An impassioned Carlsen bristled when asked by a reporter from Norwegian broadcaster NRK why he continued to play for so long in the endgame despite the likelihood of a peaceful result. When did he understand it was a draw?

“I understood it immediately,” the champion said. “It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t play. I’m trying to entice him to play h5 and if he does play h5 then I at least have a target. But obviously if he just keeps still and keeps his fortress just waiting for my king to enter then there’s nothing, but there’s no harm in playing. I really don’t understand the point.”

Carlsen is widely regarded as the favorite to retain the title in the €1m ($1.14m) match if the next three game end in draws, forcing a tie-breaker consisting of a series of matches under tighter time controls. The Norwegian, who in addition to his No 1 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), in unbeaten in tie-breakers over the last 13 years. But the circumstance is one that Caruana is not willing to entertain just yet, and even less willing to concede.

“I’m really not thinking about the tiebreak now,” the American says. “If we get there then I’ll start to think about it, but there’s still a lot of chess to be played.”

He added: “And I really don’t agree with most people about my chances in the tie-break.”

Carlsen and Caruana will have a quick turnaround before the competition resumes on Thursday with Caruana playing as white in Game 10.</s>An American could become the first to win the World Chess Championship in nearly 50 years if he emerges victorious after a grueling best of 12 match against a Norwegian rival.

Brooklyn-raised grandmaster Fabiano Caruana is locked in an ongoing battle against Magnus Carlsen, who has been ranked No. 1 in the world for the last eight years. His peak rating of 2882, which he reached in 2014, is the highest in history.

The final resumes today with the competitors in a tight deadlock after eight games.

There is almost nothing to separate Italian-American dual citizen Caruana, 26, who is the official world No. 2 from Carlsen, 27.

Caruana was a chess prodigy, becoming the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the U.S when he was 14.

The last American to become world champion was Bobby Fischer, when he beat defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in 1972.

The Caruana-Carlsen rivalry has turned chess into a gripping spectator sport with an atmosphere to rival any old fashioned sporting occasion.

A one-day ticket for the 2018 World Chess Championship final in London starts at $60,but many are opting or VIP tickets that include expert commentary and closer proximity to the players.

While slow to unfold, audience members get more game time for their money as the best of 12 final will continue until November 28.

The intimate venue seats only 200 but the total television and internet audience is likely to exceed 1.5 billion.

The last final in which an American was victorious kicked off a month after the Watergate break in, at the height of the Cold War.

Since then, chess has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, as technology and app versions have made it more accessible to the masses and easy to play on the go.

Carlsen and Caruana are both active on Instagram and have cultivated large followings based on their personal brands.

In Norway, chess championship games are televised live owing to the popularity of the game and of Carlsen, who is a national celebrity and part-time model.

In 2017, he even made a special appearance on The Simpsons, in an episode where Homer's chess past is revealed.</s>Norwegian chess grand master Magnus Carlsen has suffered a bruising encounter away from the board, injuring his eye ahead of the crucial match against US star Fabiano Caruana at the World Chess Championship in London, UK.

“The match is heating up,” the reigning world champion wrote on Instagram, along with a photo showing his black eye which he injured while playing football during a day off.

READ MORE: Golf fan ‘blind in one eye’ after being hit by stray shot at Ryder Cup

On Tuesday, the 27-year-old collided with another player during a football training session and sustained a slight head injury, which will not affect his performance at the World Championship according to doctors.

“There’s no concussion, as we had feared,” said Dr Brede Kvisvik, adding that they applied ice to reduce swelling around his eye.

“If he has any vision problems, then it can be difficult [to compete],” Kvisvik said, also assuring that Carlsen’s brain is “functioning just as well” despite the football incident.

The "Mozart of chess" – as Carlsen was dubbed by the Washington Post at the age of 14 – is fighting to retain the world chess crown which he has held since 2013.

The reigning champ is facing tough resistance from Caruana, the first American to compete for the world title since Bobby Fischer in 1972.

Neither of the players has celebrated a single victory so far, with draws being registered in all eight rounds that have been played.

The ninth game is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, with both grand masters eyeing the chance to clinch the title.
After nine consecutive draws, a record for the 132-year-old championship, Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana are tied 4½ points each in the best-of-12-games match.