MARK RUBERY CHESS
The Match for the World Championship between the holder Magnus Carlsen (27) and his challenger Fabiano Caruana (26) is being held in London. The contest will be played over twelve games (plus tiebreaks if necessary) at The College in Holborn. The players receive 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and finally 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus a 30-second bonus per move starting from move 1. The prize fund of €1 million will be divided 60 / 40 between the winner and loser of the match unless it goes to a tiebreak, in which case the winner will collect 55% and the loser 45%. The second half of the match saw the champion again make little progress with the White pieces (the player who began the match with Black plays with White in games six and seven) as Caruana’s Queens Gambit Declined stood firm. Game 7 Carlsen,M (2835) - Caruana,F (2832) [D37] WCh London ENG (7), 2018 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0–0 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qc2 Nc6 9.a3 Qa5 10.Nd2 Qd8 (Not a new move but a comparatively rare one) 11.Nb3 Bb6 12.Be2 Qe7 13.Bg5 dxc4 14.Nd2 Ne5 15.0–0 Bd7 16.Bf4 Ng6 17.Bg3 Bc6 18.Nxc4 Bc7 19.Rfd1 Rfd8 (The coming exchange of all the rooks indicates that the chances of a decisive result are fading fast) 20.Rxd8+ Rxd8 21.Rd1 Rxd1+ 22.Qxd1 Nd5 23.Qd4 Nxc3 24.Qxc3 Bxg3 25.hxg3 Qd7 26.Bd3 b6 27.f3 Bb7 28.Bxg6 hxg6 29.e4 Qc7 30.e5 Qc5+ 31.Kh2 Ba6 32.Nd6 Qxc3 33.bxc3 f6 34.f4 Kf8 35.Kg1 Ke7 36.Kf2 Kd7 37.Ke3 Bf1 38.Kf2 Ba6 39.Ke3 Bf1 40.Kf2 0.5-0.5 Carlsen 3.5-3.5 Caruana “It is not, however, the goal of the World Championship participants to entertain the spectators as effectively as possible. They are concerned with achieving the best possible result. It seems to me a strange contradiction to demand, on the one hand, the content of the games be “thrilling” when, on the other hand, recognising that the element of competition is paramount. If the result is the most important thing, you have to leave it to the players how they want to pursue their goals; they will know best.” (Robert Huebner-former World Ch Candidate) Can White take advantage of Black’s last move 1...Nh4? SEE DIAGRAM