Hard-fought draw
The 2016 World Chess Championship match between Magnus Carlsen (2853 Norway) and his challenger Sergey Karjakin (2772 Russia) is already at the halfway point and the score is still tied 3.0-3.0.
World Chess Championship New York, USA Nov. 11-30, 2016
Current Standings (6 of 12) Magnus Carlsen — Sergey Karjakin, match is tied, 3.0-3.0
Time Control: 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.
The first two games were boring draws and Carlsen narrowly missed a win in the third game (we covered this last Thursday). This was of course a disappointment but it shouldn’t be — Magnus played White and by dint of superhuman technique created winning chances for himself. He just failed to find the winning blow in a position where it was not obvious. Even after the game neither player was sure whether Black was lost at any time.
In game 4, Carlsen again missed a win but this time it was a bit disconcerting. The defending champion was Black but had no difficulty in gaining the upper hand. He got precisely the kind of position I described as his bread and butter last Thursday: a “boring technical endgame where not many tactics can be found” and tried for 6.5 hours and 94 moves to cash in the full point but Karjakin showed unbelievable resourcefulness and held the draw.
*** Karjakin,Sergey (2772) — Carlsen,Magnus (2853) [C88] Wch 2016 New York (4), 15.11.2016 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 8.h3
If 8.c3 then we get the Marshall Attack with 8...d5 but of course Karjakin is not going to enter that labyrinth without heavy preparation. Take note that next time, after having been alerted in this game, he just might go into that.
8...Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Qd7
Perhaps Karjakin expected 10...Nb8 11. Nbd2 Nbd7 12. Nf1 Re8 13. Ng3 Bf8 14.Ng5 d5 as Magnus has played it before and won. Zhigalko,S (2656)-Carlsen,M (2850) Berlin Wch Rapid 2015 0–1 44.
11.Nbd2 Rfe8 12.c3
GM Nigel Short: “In such positions, with White I always feel I have no advantage, but with Black that I can’t equalize”.
12...Bf8 13.Nf1 h6 14.N3h2
I remember many years back I read a book by Al Horowitz ( don’t recall the title but it had a diagram after every move) where he described the typical White attack against the Ruy Lopez and this move figured prominently. However, perhaps in this particular position it was not so well timed as Black now gets in the thematic ...d6–d5 break in the center and gets a good game. Perhaps Ne3 first is better.
14...d5! 15.Qf3
Threatening Bxh6. Taking the Horowitz book as a reference, White also plans to follow- up with Ng3 and Ng4. In case Black takes the knight on g4 and White retakes with his h-pawn and the next stage is to move his rook to the h1 file. Yup, Al Horowitz and Fred Reinfeld have touched the lives of almost all Filipino chessplayers.
15...Na5 16.Ba2 dxe4 17.dxe4 Nc4! <D>
Carlsen simply ignores White’s threat! Karjakin put in a long think but couldn’t see why the pawn could not be taken.]
18.Bxh6
Karjakin thought he had a brilliancy coming. He had analyzed: 18... Nxe4 19. Rxe4 f5 20. Rxc4! sacrificing his queen but after 20...Bxf3 21.Rxc7+ White is clearly winning. But after
18...Qc6!
Karjakin thought “what have I done?” when he realized Black’s idea.
19.Bxc4?
White was discombobulated by Magnus’ last move and commits a mistake here, forever making his b2–pawn a weakness. Necessary was 19.Bc1 after which the position is still equal.
19...bxc4
Not 19...Qxc4? 20.Nd2 White keeps the extra pawn.
20.Be3 Nxe4 21.Ng3
Realizing that he has been outplayed Karjakin decides to liquidate the position to an inferior endgame where he has chances to hold.
21...Nd6 22.Rad1 Rab8 23.Bc1 f6 24.Qxc6 Bxc6
Black has a better position due to his bishop pair, pawn majority in the center and the weak b2 square. This is the sort of position Carlsen relishes and he would happily grind away for 100+ moves to eke out the win. I was online at the chessbase server and the overwhelming consensus of both the titled and untitled audience was that Black will win this.
25.Ng4 Rb5 26.f3
The famous chess coach GM Dorian Rogozenko had an interesting observation here. I quote: “Thanks to his bishop’s pair and the pressure on b2 Black has a clear advantage. Basically there are two ways to treat the position: to slowplay it with a move like 26... Kf7, improving the pieces step by step, or take immediate action — which is what Carlsen did in the game.” He then opined that slowplay might have been more unpleasant for Karjakin, who was already feeling some time pressure.
26... f5 27. Nf2 Be7 28. f4 Bh4 29.fxe5 Bxg3 30.exd6 Rxe1+ 31.Rxe1 cxd6 32.Rd1 Kf7
Carlsen is bringing all his pieces, including his king, into the action.
33.Rd4 Re5 34.Kf1
[ 34. Bd2? Re2 either the knight or the g2 pawn falls]
34...Rd5
That’s right, remember the adage “all rook endings are drawn?” Taking out the rooks from the board simplifies Black’s task.
35.Rxd5
You will appreciate Black’s technique at this stage of the game. First he forces White’s king to go to f1 and now Karjakin cannot play 35.Rxc4 because of 35...Bb5.
35...Bxd5 36.Bg5 Kg6 37.h4
A controversial decision as there is a big likelihood that the pawn on h4 will fall. However, Karjakin probably wanted to give his knight some air on h3.
37... Kh5 38. Nh3 Bf7 39. Be7 Bxh4?
Not the best. The White pawn on h4 is not going anywhere and Black could have won it by 39... Bd5 40. Bg5 Bc6 41.Be7 Be4 42.Bg5 (42.Ng1? Bd3+ 43. Ne2 d5 White is paralyzed) 42... Bxh4 with an easy win.
40. Bxd6 Bd8 41. Ke2 g5 42. Nf2 Kg6!
Now the king is going to b3.
43.g4
Karjakin has seen the path to Black’s victory, so he starts gambling, ultimately successfully.
43...Bb6 44.Be5 a5 45.Nd1 f4?
A mistake. After the game Carlsen said that he felt after this move it is a forced win but the reality is that the move closes the kingside and after that Black can only penetrate on the queenside. This allows Karjakin the chance to manufacture a fortress which Black cannot penetrate. This fortress would not have been possible if White had to guard against penetration from both sides of the board. Instead 45... Be6! would have won.
46. Bd4 Bc7 47. Nf2 Be6 48. Kf3 Bd5+ 49.Ke2 Bg2 50.Kd2
Carlsen had thought that now all he has to do is bring his king to b3 and the White position collapses, but that is not so — Karjakin will just put his king on c1.
50...Kf7 51.Kc2 Bd5 52.Kd2 Bd8 53.Kc2 Ke6 54.Kd2 Kd7 55.Kc2 Kc6 56.Kd2 Kb5 57.Kc1 Ka4 58.Kc2 Bf7 59.Kc1 Bg6 60.Kd2 Kb3 61.Kc1
Karjakin’s fortress. Black cannot break through.
61... Bd3 62. Nh3 Ka2 63. Bc5 Be2 64. Nf2 Bf3 65. Kc2 Bc6 66. Bd4 Bd7 67. Bc5 Bc7 68. Bd4 Be6 69. Bc5 f3 70. Be3 Bd7 71. Kc1 Bc8 72. Kc2 Bd7 73. Kc1 Bf4 74. Bxf4 gxf4 75. Kc2 Be6 76. Kc1 Bc8 77. Kc2 Be6 78. Kc1 Kb3 79. Kb1 Ka4 80. Kc2 Kb5 81. Kd2 Kc6 82. Ke1 Kd5 83. Kf1 Ke5 84. Kg1 Kf6 85.Ne4+ Kg6 86.Kf2 Bxg4 87.Nd2 Be6 88. Kxf3 Kf5 89. a4 Bd5+ 90. Kf2 Kg4 91. Nf1 Kg5 92. Nd2 Kf5 93. Ke2 Kg4 94.Kf2 ½–½
His inability to win this game must have been a huge disappointment for Magnus Carlsen.
Karjakin was in good spirits after the game but he should be worried a bit since Magnus Carlsen showed superior opening preparation, something which was supposed to be the Russian’s strong suit. Even with the Black pieces Carlsen went from the opening to the middle game and then quickly to the endgame with a tangible advantage.
The defending champion consoled himself with the thought that “I really believe it’s better to be attacking than defending.” That is true, and indeed most people considered that the two consecutive near wins is an indication that it was merely a matter of time
I will show you game 5 on Thursday.