Both players recorded a victory apiece during the series at the Fulton Market building while 10 games ended in stalemate.

It left the final score at 6-6 with the tiebreak system beginning on Wednesday (November 30) with four games of rapid chess, played at the rate of 25 minutes per player, per game, with 10 seconds added after each move.

If these games still do not produce a victor, up to five two-game matches of blitz chess will be played where there will be even less time to make moves.

The final tiebreaker will be an "armageddon" game where white is given five minutes per move and black only four.

Black, however, will only need to draw to be granted a victory, with the format thus guaranteeing a winner. 

Today's final draw was a dull affair which was declared as a stalemate after just 30 moves and 35 minutes of play.

Both players were clearly content to settle for the tiebreakers and were not prepared to risk a gung-ho strategy which could leave them exposed to defeat.

Carlsen, who played with white, apologised to fans afterwards after all of the pieces were quickly traded off.

The Norwegian will celebrate his 26th birthday on the day of the tiebreakers.

Two previous World Championships have been decided after the regulation series ended level, firstly in 2006 when Vladimir Kramnik of Russia beat Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.

The second was in 2012, when Viswanathan Anand of India, Carlsen’s predecessor as champion, beat Boris Gelfand of Israel.

Ticket holders for today's game will be able to attend the tiebreakers as compensation for the swift draw.