Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana played to a fifth draw in as many games on Thursday in the latest episode of their world championship showdown in London, as the Norwegian champion adroitly weathered early fireworks to negotiate a peaceful result after 34 moves and three-and-a-quarter hours.

Magnus Carlsen weathers early Fabuano Caruana surprise in Game 5 draw – as it happened Read more

Caruana, playing with the white pieces, led with a Rossolimo (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6), marking the third time in a week the players opened with the Sicilian variation. The American was first to deviate with 4. O-O, then prompted gasps with 6. b4!?, a highly aggressive move offering a pawn sacrifice with the hope of creating pressure and confusion and, ideally, winning chances in the long term.

The challenger settled into a comfortable position, but Carlsen was able to escape from immediate danger shortly after (10. Bxa1 d6 11. bxc5 Ne7 12. Qe2 b4 13. Qc4). Caruana played at an incredible pace during the first act, taking no longer than 66 seconds to complete any of his opening 13 moves, demonstrating a formidable depth of preparation.

The American required more than 31 minutes before settling on 19. Bc3, taking extra care to not squander whatever advantage remained from his opening surprise – even if the computers indicated a level and drawish position by that point. No real progress was made over the next hour and the players shook hands after another bloodless draw.

Quick guide World Chess Championship 2018 Show Hide The players Norway's Magnus Carlsen is defending the world chess championship against Fabiano Caruana of the United States. The best-of-12-games match is taking place at the College in Holborn between 9 and 28 November, 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 at the table by winning the candidates tournament in March. No American-born player has won or even competed for the world title since Bobby Fischer in 1972. 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. The format The match will consist of 12 classical games with each player awarded one point for a win and a half-point for a draw. Whoever reaches six and a half points first will be declared the champion. The time control for each game is 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 1. Players cannot agree to a draw before Black's 30th move. If the match is tied after 12 games, tie-breaks will be played on the final day in the following order: • Best of four rapid games with 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds after each move. • If still tied, they will play up to five mini-matches of two blitz games (five minutes for each player with a three-second increment). • If all five mini-matches are drawn, one sudden-death 'Armegeddon' match will be played where White receives five minutes and Black receives four minutes. Both players will receive a three-second increment after the 60th move. In the case of a draw, Black will be declared the winner.

The schedule Thu 8 Nov – Opening ceremony

Fri 9 Nov – Game 1

Sat 10 Nov – Game 2

Sun 11 Nov – Rest day

Mon 12 Nov – Game 3

Tue 13 Nov – Game 4

Wed 14 Nov – Rest day

Thu 15 Nov – Game 5

Fri 16 Nov – Game 6

Sat 17 Nov – Rest day

Sun 18 Nov – Game 7

Mon 19 Nov – Game 8

Tue 20 Nov – Rest day

Wed 21 Nov – Game 9

Thu 22 Nov – Game 10

Fri 23 Nov – Rest day

Sat 24 Nov – Game 11

Sun 25 Nov – Rest day

Mon 26 Nov – Game 12

Tue 27 Nov – Rest day

Wed 28 Nov – Tie-break games/Awards and closing The games commence each day at 3pm in London.

Caruana’s early 6. b4!? crowd-pleaser, a Molotov cocktail in a match that had adhered to a safe, conservative tenor in the days since Friday’s exciting opener, was the predictable focus of discussion at the post-game press conference.

“Well, this line is really interesting and if black is cooperative it can get very exciting,” Caruana said. “But Magnus knew the line quite well and I think played in a very logical way.”

Carlsen and Caruana played to yet another draw after 34 moves and three hours.

The world No 1 said he had not been bothered about Caruana’s start. “To be honest I was pretty happy about the opening,” he said. “I felt as though after it calmed down, only black could ever really be better. But I couldn’t find a way to push it.”

The general thinking was that Caruana faced extra pressure on Thursday as white. That’s because Carlsen, who won the draw and elected to play Game 1 as black, will get to play back-to-back contests on Friday and Sunday as white under the regulations, which dictate the rotation of the colors is reversed at the midpoint of the match.

“Of course double black is coming up and this is a quite a serious challenge, but this was always going to happen,” Caruana said. “And whether I win or draw [Thursday’s game], this was still going to happen. So I wasn’t approaching this game differently than any other.”

He added: “I can only play for a win if I get something and I can only really be disappointed that I missed a chance if I get some sort of chance in the game. And if a game is like this where we both play more or less correctly and neither of us makes a serious mistake, I don’t think that I can really be disappointed.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Spectators watch the players’ moves on an electronic board during Thursday’s game at the College in Holborn. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

Carlsen admitted he was looking forward to consecutive games as white.

“It’s like any round-robin tournament,” the Norwegian champion said. “If you have a double black or a double white, you kind of single that out when the tournament starts. That is either your opportunity to strike or when you’re at your most vulnerable. I am looking forward to it, obviously, and we’ll see what happens.

“But most of all I’m just more or less happy with the way things are going with black as it’s clear to the naked eye there is serious room for improvement at this point.”

Thursday’s contest took place two days after the apparent bombshell intel blunder that’s threatened to overshadow the match itself, where a short video clip revealing confidential details of Caruana’s preparation was uploaded to the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube channel before it was quickly taken down, but not before crucial screen shots were captured and disseminated on social media.

The footage included pictures of an open laptop with a list of openings allegedly researched by the world No 2 along with the identities of three grandmasters – Leinier Domínguez, Alejandro Ramírez and Ioan-Cristian Chirila – who could potentially be working as seconds in the challenger’s camp.

Speculation over whether it was a ghastly error by Caruana’s club or a deliberate misinformation campaign intended to spread false intelligence to the Carlsen camp have swirled since the video entered the public domain.

NRK reported on Thursday that while Carlsen was aware of the video’s existence ahead of Tuesday’s fourth game (though he hadn’t seen it), Caruana’s team opted to wait until after play ended to inform the American of the development, lest it interfere with his mental state.

“They must have assumed that he was unable to handle this shortly before the game,” Norwegian international master Torstein Bae told the network. “Then they think they should give it to him afterwards. It must also mean that the information is not so crucial.”