Carlsen-Karjakin Game-2: Ruy Lopez draw

We don’t know for sure if Woody Harrelson is the best chess player among Hollywood actors, but he was the first famous person who made the first move in the World Championship Match 2016, between Magnus Carlsen and Sergei Karjakin. His presence gives some extra popularity to the chess world. It will be cool to see such ‘super starts’ for the chess events.  

(photo: Polina Gurtovaya)

For the first time, the challenger has White pieces in the match 

Sergey Karjakin – Magnus Carlsen [C84]
World Chess Championship New York NY USA (2), 12.11.2016

In the second game of the match, the Challenger played with the White pieces and the World Champion with Black. Karjakin started the game with the move 1.e4. Bobby Fischer, the former World Champion, once said was “best by test”. Carlsen didn’t surprise us in this game, so he played his pet system, e5. Carlsen declines the Berlin Defense, an opening that had appeared repeatedly in his previous two World Championship Matches in 2013 and 2014.

Suggested: you may like to read this interesting article about “World Chess Championship Match 2014: Anand vs Carlsen“

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3

Black to play

This is a very solid move which doesn’t allow Black to play a variety of systems like Zaitzev, Breyer or Marshall. In the press conference, one journalist asked both players what they will advise the young players?

• Carlsen’s advice is to take chess not too seriously.

• Karjakin didn’t provide a clear piece of advice, but his move is very clear to amateur players.

With this move, White is cutting most of Black’s options. With 6.d3 White can develop his pieces normally and hope for a decent game. Similarly, this line cannot give a lot of options or a very sharp play for White. Thus, both players try to be rock-solid in the first games of the match.

6…b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a3 0-0 9.Nc3 Na5 10.Ba2 Be6 11.d4 Bxa2 12.Rxa2 Re8

White to play

Karjakin made an attempt to take control of the center with 11 d4, but Carlsen neutralizes his plan easily. His last move, 12…Re8, was a powerful prophylactic move. White cannot win the e5-pawn because Black will exchange the queens and then they will threaten the e5-knight with Bd6. White will reveal or unleash the power of the e8-rook, so e5-knight and the e4-pawn will be under heavy pressure.

The following variation is characteristic: [ 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.Nxe5 Qxd1 15.Rxd1 Bd6 16.Nf3 Nxe4= ]

13.Ra1 Nc4 14.Re1 Rc8 15.h3 h6 16.b3 Nb6 17.Bb2 Bf8 18.dxe5 dxe5 19.a4 c6 20.Qxd8 Rcxd8 21.axb5 axb5 22.Ne2 Bb4 23.Bc3 Bxc3 24.Nxc3 Nbd7 25.Ra6 Rc8

White to play

This position is dead equal because both players have similar pieces and the pawn structure is symmetrical. Carlsen didn’t face any difficulties in the opening and if Karjakin would like to have real chances to fight for the World Championship match, now it is time to reveal his cards. I’m guessing that he has a very interesting opening preparation and he will go with more theoretical, critical and sharp lines in the next games.

26.b4 Re6 27.Rb1 c5 28.Rxe6 fxe6 29.Nxb5 cxb4 30.Rxb4 Rxc2 31.Nd6 Rc1+ 32.Kh2 Rc2 33.Kg1 ½-½

You can download the PGN of the game here.

I hope that you would like the analysis and as always you are very welcome to provide your ideas, comments, and suggestions. 

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Yes, he will

The Carlsen consent

After a period of suspense, World champion Magnus Carlsen has agreed to defend his crown against Viswanathan Anand in Sochi from November 5.

By P. K. Ajith Kumar.

Will he, won’t he?

That was the question the chess world had been asking for a while, ever since World champion Magnus Carlsen expressed doubts about defending his crown. He had reservations about the venue, Sochi, where, FIDE had announced, the World championship match between the Norwegian and India’s Viswanathan Anand would be held from November 5 to 25.

Carlsen wasn’t happy with the venue and the prize-money of $ 3 million, which was one million less than what the last World championship in Chennai offered. Carlsen’s manager Epsen Agdestein sought a postponement of the event, citing unrest in Ukraine. FIDE, perhaps bolstered further by its president Kirsan Ilymuzhinov’s election victory against Garry Kasparov, refused. “This match has been part of the official tournament calendar since last year, and a postponement could lead to problems with the current calendar,” Ilyumzhinov said.

Carlsen’s deadline to sign the contract was August 31, which clashed with his participation at the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis (US). FIDE though allowed an extension of the deadline till September 7, the final day of the Sinquefield Cup, which was also the strongest tournament in chess history.

Carlsen wasn’t exactly having a great time in Saint Louis and had to be the second best to Italian Fabiano Caruana, who played incredibly brilliant chess to win the tournament by a whopping three points (see box). On September 7, Carslen signed the contract. He also posted a photo of him signing the agreement on his Twitter account, captioning, “It has been a pleasure signing autographs for the fans in St. Louis. After the tournament I found the time for 1 more.”

That ended all the speculation. Chess followers were wondering if Carlsen would forfeit the title like Bobby Fischer — the biggest global superstar in chess before him — did or if he would arrange parallel World championships, like Garry Kasparov used to do, with someone like Levon Aronian, the World No. 2.

The world can now look forward to another battle of wits between Carlsen and Anand. Part 1 in Chennai was a big letdown, with the younger man comprehensively defeating the defending champion, who was playing in his hometown. The Indian genius could not win even a game. But, if you looked closer, you could find that the chess Anand played wasn’t as anywhere near as bad as the score-line would suggest.

More than Carlsen’s brilliance, it was Anand’s mistakes that decided the match. The genial genius got it strategically wrong too, as he did not, until it was too late, play to his strength of sharp, tactical chess; he had chosen, fatally, to take on Carslen in his own waiting game. Chess pundits, not surprisingly, were quick to write Anand off and gave little chance for him to earn the right to challenge Carlsen again.

He proved all of them wrong by winning the qualifying event, the Candidates tournament at Khanty-Mansiysk (Russia) last March in some style. He was seeded fourth, behind Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov, and was the oldest in the field of eight.

In November, Carlsen could very well find Sochi, which had hosted the Winter Olympics earlier in the year, much hotter than Chennai.

Caruana cruisess past Carlsen

Apart from the Sochi World championship in November, the Sinquefield Cup was going to be the biggest event of the year in chess. The line-up was the strongest ever for a tournament. It was double-round robin featuring six of the finest players in the world: Carlsen (Elo rating 2877), Aronian (2807), Caruana (2801), Hikaru Nakamura (2787), Topalov (2772) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2768).

Carlsen, statistically the strongest player of all time, was the favourite, but he could only finish runner-up, with 5.5 points, as Caruana ran away with the title and $ 100,000.

It was a remarkable show by the Italian, who won his first seven games — that is extraordinary at this level. It would remain one of the greatest performances of all time in chess. He finished with 8.5 points, after conceding draws to Carlsen, Nakamura and Aronian in the second leg.

Source: http://www.sportstaronnet.com

Carlsen - Anand World Championship 2014 in Sochi

Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand will play the World Championship Match in November in Sochi, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced at the press conference with Interfax.

The Match will take place from 7 to 28 November at the Olympic Village in Sochi. The budget is 3 million USD.

ITAR-TASS states that both players agreed with this solution.

The RCF President Andrei Filatov confirmed that the federation will participate in the organization of the event.

Magnus Carlsen became the World Champion last November by defeating Viswanathan Anand in Chennai, but the Indian bounced back and earned a rematch by winning the Candidates Tournament in Khanty-Mansiysk.

Espen Agdestein, manager of Magnus Carlsen, said for Dagbladet that “there was nothing wrong with Sochi”. The city hosted the Winter Olympics and even Carlsen was there to follow biathlon competitions.

Regarding the world politics, Agdestein added that he contacted the Norwegian Foreign Ministry and currently there is no question of any sports boycott.



Source - http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/