Chess (#1227)

The world title match is evenly balanced after five hard-fought draws. Magnus Carlsen is not in prime form. Or, to put it another way, Sergey Karjakin is living up to his reputation as a stubborn, inventive defender. The world champion must be wondering why he is not 2-0 ahead. 

It started with two cautious games where the positions never got imbalanced though they played down to flat equal endgames.  Game 1 saw Carlsen playing the unusual Trompovsky Opening with white. This could not have come as a big surprise since he has played the same system against Vladimir Kramnik. Game 2 was another mild surprise as Karjakin opened with a  Spanish and Carlsen played the Morphy Defence rather than his favourite Berlin.  

In Game 3, Carlsen  switched to the Spanish and Karjakin played the Berlin.  White gained a stable advantage of an extra pawn in a rook + minor piece endgame. But Karjakin kept looking for counter-chances and got them. Carlsen missed a couple of wins before Karjakin sliced it to a study-like draw.

 Game 4 was the sort of torture Carlsen excels at. He outplayed the challenger from the black side of an anti-Marshall Spanish. By move 35, he had a winning endgame, with what looked like an overwhelming edge with an extra pawn and  the bishop pair on an open board. But Karjakin held on and somehow created a fortress, which Carlsen admitted he had never considered. They split the point after 94 moves.   

Game 5 saw Carlsen change opening strategy by trying the Italian. Karjakin  also plays the Italian sometimes and it didn't bother him at all. Neither side was willing to take risks again. They drew a heavy piece + opposite bishops position which petered out after some manoeuvring. 

It’s hard to say who has the psychological edge in this situation though Carlsen obviously had the pressure in the last two games. Karjakin is one of those rare Individuals who calmly defends passive positions and appears unbothered. 

 Meanwhile Anand produced an impressive performance by winning the “Champions Showdown”, outplaying Veselin Topalov, Fabiano Caruana  and Hikaru Nakamura.  This was a multi-round-robin combining three speed formats. 

The Diagram, ( White: Carlsen,Magnus  Vs Black: Karjakin,Sergey, Game 3, 2016 World Championship, 14.11.2016)  is like a study: White to play & win. It’s not easy even with an extra piece. Carlsen played 72.Rb7? and it was drawn after 72...Ra1! 73.Rb5+ Kf4! 74.Rxb4+ Kg3! 75.Rg4+ Kf2 76.Nc4 h3 77.Rh4 Kg3 78.Rg4+ Kf2 (1/2-1/2).  The h-pawn forces a repeat. 

The win was 72.Rf7+! Ke6 73.Rf2! h3 74.Kh4 Ra1 (Or 74...h2? 75.Ra2!) 75.Nb7 Ra3 76.Rd2! Ke5 77.Nc5 h2 78.Rxh2 Kd5 79.Rc2! White has a stable formation. He can bring his king back. Worth deep analysis to work out sub-variations.
 

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player