Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana played out a third straight draw on Monday in the third game of their World Chess Championship clash in London.
Caruana, playing with the white pieces, started with 1. e4. Carlsen countered with the Rossolimo Variation of the Sicilian Defence. The American was the more confident of the two at the beginning, but lost his way after an rook exchange on the 17th move. The play helped defending champion Carlsen come level on position.
From thereon the American was pushed into a defensive position for the remainder of the game as the Norwegian pushed for a win. Caruana, though, managed to ward off the threat to walk away with a draw from a game that lasted 49 moves and stretched to a little over four hours.
Carlsen and Caruana are level on 1.5 apiece after three games in the best-of-12-games showdown. The advantage lies with the champion, who has five games with white in the remaining nine games.