Defending champion Magnus Carlsen and US challenger Fabiano Caruana produced a third successive draw in their world chess title challenge match in Central London today.
Involving 49 moves and four-and-a-quarter hours play, game three was a relatively brief affair compared to the seven-hour marathon of the opening contest where Caruana had to battle for a draw.
After putting himself into a superior position in the second game, Caruana provoked a tenacious rearguard action from the 27-year-old Norwegian champion.
Game three, undertaken after yesterday's rest day, also presented opportunities for both players.
"I thought it was uncomfortable from the opening and I may have mixed something up," said Carlsen, who now stands at 1½-1½ with his 26-year-old challenger.
"Then I got an advantage in the endgame, I don't think I had any chances, but I would have liked to do something more…
"My results are okay but I can still improve."
Play continues in this International Chess Federation (FIDE) event tomorrow at The College, in Holborn.
Meanwhile the quarter-finals got underway in the FIDE Women's World Championships at Khanty-Mansiysk in Russia - and defending champion Ju Wenjun was held to a draw in the first of her two scheduled matches with the surprise package of the event, Uzbekistan’s 19-year-old Guirukhbegim Tokhirjonova, who is world-ranked 40th.
The 27-year-old top seed needs to win her second match tomorrow to proceed.
A draw would result in the match going to a tiebreak.
The other notable result in the first round of last-eight matches was the 1-0 lead established by Kazakhstan’s 15th-ranked Zhansaya Abdumalik over Ukraine’s seventh-ranked former world champion Mariya Muzychuk.
Meanwhile Muzychuk’s fourth-ranked elder sister Anna stands level in her match against Russia’s fifth-ranked Alexandra Kosteniuk.
In the fourth quarter-final, Russia’s third seed Kateryna Lagno holds a 1-0 lead over China’s 22nd-ranked Lei Tingjie.
