Every previous world championship showdown since 1886 - 132 years ago - has witnessed some kind of breakthrough, but Caruana and Carlsen remain deadlocked after more than 50 hours of play over nearly three weeks inside London's The College of Holborn theatre. The World Chess Federation Championship between American challenger Fabiano Caruana and Norway's champion Magnus Carlsen has already become the first title showdown between grand masters that's failed to record a deadlock-busting victory across the 12 classic games scheduled. 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. 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. "In light of this shocking draw offer from Magnus in a superior position with more time, I reconsider my evaluation of him being the favourite 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. Zhou hasn’t had a chance to take on Caruana, but he hopes someday he’ll get his chance. "But I don't know what's going to happen." 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. 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. Reigning champion Carlsen then showed up for Game 9 sporting a black eye which he'd suffered during a weekend amateur football game. 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).
Magnus Carlsen retains the title after a 3–0 victory against Fabiano Caruana in the best-of-four rapid tiebreaking series.