 "Chess (#1226)")
Magnus Carlsen starts his second title defence on Friday against Sergey Karjakin. In terms of combined age, this is the youngest world title match. Carlsen celebrates his 26th birthday on November 30. Karjakin was born in January 1990 and is just 10 months older. The match will last 12 classical games. The prize fund is a minimal one million euros.
The venue is Pier 16, Seaport District, just around the corner from Wall Street. The match organiser, Agon, promises a virtual viewing experience for paying customers ($15 is very reasonable). It will provide a free widget for watching on other websites but on controversial terms: any website that embeds the widget must eschew its own commentary.
If any website refuses the widget, and moves and its own commentary, Agon says it will sue. US law makes it very likely that Agon would lose any such lawsuit. US courts have ruled before, (in a case involving basketball for instance) that once sports scores are registered, they are facts that anybody may report and discuss.
Agon tried a similar embargo at the Candidates in Moscow. That embargo was broken by multiple websites. Agon filed several cases. One such case has been dismissed by a Moscow Court. Other suits are pending.
Carlsen is the big favourite. The world #1 has a 80-point rating lead with Elo 2853, versus #9 Karjakin’s 2772. In the head-to-head, they have played 21 classical games and Carlsen leads 4-1. But Karjakin is, above all, a fighter with terrific composure and is backed by the vast resources of the Russian Federation. Carlsen is said to have taken special precautions against his computers being hacked.
Karjakin’s preparation has been stellar. He may be helped by former Carlsen helper, Ian Nepomniachtchi. Carlsen will likely continue relying on Jon Ludvig Hammer, Peter Heine Nielsen and probably, Ding Liren and/or Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
Carlsen has the wider repertoire with white, being happy to open with any central pawn, or play an English or 1.Nf3. Karjakin is more rigid. He tends to prefer 1.e4 a little with white. Carlsen likes amorphous positions while Karjakin prepares sharp systems in great depth. They both play Berlin Defences to the Spanish and both play Nimzo-Queens Indian Defence. Since the black repertoires overlap, they may explore the same positions with both colours.
The Diagram, White to Play, (White: Carlsen Vs Black: Karjakin, Bilbao 2016) features a powerful attack by the champion. Play went 31.g4! a5 32.Rg2 Nh7 33.h4 Rb6 34.g5 Kh8 35.Rfg1 f5 36.Qh3! Rb4 37.gxh6 Bxh6 38.Qg3 Nf6 [ The threat is Qg8 with # and the reply is forced] Now white finishes with 39.Qg6 Ng4 40.Rxg4 (1–0) [If 40.Rxg4 fxg4 41.Qxh6+ Kg8 42. Qg6+ Kh8 43. Qh5+ Kg7 44. Rxg4+]
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
