After 12 games at the World Chess Championship in London, Norway’s Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, who is aiming to become the first American chess champion since Bobby Fischer in 1972, are tied.
After 12 games at the World Chess Championship in London, Norway’s Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, who is aiming to become the first American chess champion since Bobby Fischer in 1972, are tied.
The match has already made history “of an ignoble kind,” according to the World Chess Federation—this is the first title match with no victories in regulation.
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That means that the title will be decided by a series of quick tiebreaker games starting at 3pm local time on Wednesday (Nov. 28). The format is as follows:
Carlsen has been the world number one since 2011, world champion since 2013, and is now a celebrity beyond the game. Caruana is in his first-ever world final. In the 12th and final game of regulation play, despite seeming to be in a dominant position, Carlsen surprised many by offering Caruana a draw. This caused Russian chess legend Gary Kasparov to change his mind on who was the favorite going into the last day of the championship.
That said, Carlsen won his last championship in 2016 by winning the last two rapid-chess games when it went to the final day. And the World Chess Federation ranks him number one at rapid chess.
There is also a World Blitz Chess Championship and the current champion is… Magnus Carlsen.
