Cheaters never prosper! According to Norwegian journalist Tarjei Svensen, officials are scanning the studio for electronic devices ahead of today’s match.
Hello and welcome to Game 3 of the World Chess Championship. We’re back in action today after the first rest day following a pair of draws in Friday’s Game 1 and Saturday’s Game 2 that were notable for Black having the upper hand in both.
For those of you just coming aboard, Norway’s Magnus Carlsen is defending the title he’s held for the past five years against Fabiano Caruana of the United States, who is looking to become the first American to win the world title since Bobby Fischer in 1972. The best-of-12-games match is taking place at the College in Holborn over the next three weeks, with the winner earning a 60% share of the €1m ($1.14m) prize fund if the match ends in regulation (or 55% if it’s decided by tie-break games).
Carlsen, 27, has been ranked No 1 for eight straight years and was considered the world’s best player even before he defeated Viswanathan Anand for the title in 2013. Caruana, 26, is ranked No 2, having earned his place the table by winning the candidates tournament in March. It marks the first title match between the world’s top two players since 1990, when Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov faced off for a fifth and final time.
We’re a little over a half hour from today’s first move, so not much longer now. In the meantime here’s my interview with Caruana ahead of this month’s showdown.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s our Tim Lewis’s take on the match so far.
Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS)