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 third game was another Rossolimo variation of the Sicilian which saw White gain a slight edge, although some imprecise play saw the game tilt towards Black before a draw was agreed. Game 3 Caruana,F (2832) - Carlsen,M (2835) [B31] WCh 2018 London ENG (3) 2018
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Bg7 6.0–0 Qc7 7.Re1 e5 8.a3 Nf6 9.b4 0–0 10.Nbd2 Bg4 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Nxf3 cxb4 13.axb4 a5 14.bxa5 Rxa5 15.Bd2?! (15 Rxa5 Qxa5 16 Bd2 Qc7 17 Qa1 Nd7 18 Qa7 with some pressure was a
line that Caruana lamented not entering) …Raa8 16.Qb1 Nd7 17.Qb4 Rfe8 18.Bc3 b5 19.Rxa8 Rxa8 20.Ra1 Rxa1+ 21.Bxa1 Qa7 22.Bc3 Qa2 23.Qb2 Qxb2 24.Bxb2 f6 25.Kf1 Kf7 26.Ke2 Nc5 27.Bc3 Ne6 28.g3 Bf8 29.Nd2 Ng5 30.h4 Ne6 31.Nb3 h5 32.Bd2 Bd6 33.c3 c5 34.Be3 Ke7 35.Kd1 Kd7 36.Kc2 f5 37.Kd1 fxe4 38.dxe4 c4 39.Nd2 Nc5 40.Bxc5 Bxc5 41.Ke2 Kc6 42.Nf1 b4 43.cxb4 Bxb4 44.Ne3 Kc5 45.f4 exf4 46.gxf4 Ba5 47.f5 gxf5 SEE DIAGRAM
48.Nxc4! (The simplest route to a draw as Black is left with an h pawn and the ‘wrong coloured’ bishop) … Kxc4 49.exf5 0.5-0.5 (Since the king will march to h1 to reach the classic drawing position) Carlsen 1.5-1.5 Caruana ‘Caruana is often compared to Fischer, the late American savant who beat Soviet champion Boris Spassky in a geopolitically-charged title match in 1972. Caruana was born in Miami and, like Fischer, raised in Brooklyn. He is the United States’ most promising hope in almost half a century. Since narrowly missing the right to play Carlsen for the 2016 title, Caruana has established himself as Carlsen’s clearest rival. Carlsen hasn’t, in earnest, had a challenger of this calibre during his reign. The Norwegian has continuously held the No. 1 ranking since 2011 and evolved from the chess wunderkind to a swaggering champion who has managed to make the board game at least kind of cool. But Caruana is storming the castle with a run of play, including wins over Carlsen, that has created a belief his opponent has a legitimate chance.’ (Wall Street Journal)