The World Championship match between holder Magnus Carlsen and challenger Fabiano Caruana remained in a dead-lock even after the fifth game as both the players preferred to split the point after 34 moves in London on Thursday.
With the earlier four games also ending in stalemate, it was expected that the players may try something new to find that elusive win after a day’s rest. Though Caruana again opened with a Rossolimo and Carlsen responded with a Sicilian just like in the first and third games, the former opted for a rarely used variation of b4 on the sixth move.
However, Carlsen had faced this variation almost 13 years ago and though the Norwegian was surprised by the move he knew the lines well enough never concede any advantage to Caruana and settled for a draw.
Carlsen, who missed his best chance to score a win in the opening game, will have white in the sixth round and it would be interesting to see if he comes up with any new variation.
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