This epic battle is proof that chess is far from dull

When the battle to become world chess champion reaches its climax today with a rapid-fire series of tiebreaks to decide the match between the Norwegian title holder Magnus Carlsen and his American challenger Fabiano Caruana it will bring to an end a quietly compelling contest that has turned into one of London’s sporting highlights of the year.

Even before today — when the players will be forced to make moves within seconds and face the prospect of a final “Armageddon” game to find the victor — there has been drama aplenty, with Carlsen appearing for his final games with a black eye after a footballing accident, accusations of a loss of nerve by the champion, and missed chances by both players.

On top of that there’s been the amusement provided by Carlsen’s deadpan humour at the post-game press conferences during the three-week-long competition and the sparky commentary provided at the venue in Holborn and to online viewers by Hungarian chess star Judit Polgar and her vivacious compatriot Anna Rudolf.

All of this would be more than enough on its own to dispel any misconceived notion that chess is a dull game.

But best of all has been the tension and brilliance on display inside the glass box where the 27-year-old champion and Caruana, 26, have spent hours trying to outwit each other.

The contrast between passages of play where it’s taken half an hour for a single move and others in which a flurry of moves has come in minutes with time running out has only added to the enjoyment for those lucky enough to see the match.

Not everything has been perfect, of course. Some play could have been more attacking, particularly from Carlsen. He appeared to have adopted the chess equivalent of football’s tactic of playing out time for penalties during the final two games of the 12 scheduled “classical” games in the contest. It would also have been preferable if each of these games had not been drawn — the first time in history this has happened in a world championship match — and the contest had instead witnessed the added excitement of victories and defeats and more sharply changing fortunes for each player.

The auditorium used for the match might have been bigger too, giving more spectators a better view of the players competing behind a soundproofed glass screen.

These quibbles aside, it’s been wonderful to see chess’s biggest stars in action in London. Two wishes follow. The first is that this match inspires more young people here to take up the game. The charity Chess in Schools and Communities already encourages this but it would be good to see it expanded further.

The second hope is for more world-class chess in the capital. It’ll be sad when today’s contest is over. Let’s have these thrilling players back soon.