Grandmasters can’t be separated

– 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 today.

Norway’s Carlsen and Caruana wrapped up their 12-match World Chess Championship 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 for the crown since the legendary Bobby Fischer in 1972.

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

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

London