Welcome back dear reader, I hope that this finds you well and refreshed after Sunday’s rest day. I think we needed it as well as the players after the first two games of this Championship! We really have been spoiled in the opening games, which were tense and saw a glimpse of Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana with their swords drawn.
This third game had a bit of a different feel to it. You know that in Chess, we have waiting moves, where we play something useful to hold things? Well, this was a bit of a waiting game in my opinion. It just did not have much to it. Now, I could waffle on about history and theoretical stuff to fill things up a bit and make myself look really knowledgeable, but I am not going to. It was just a banker game, plain and simple.
There will be these kinds of games in this battle and there are many reasons for this. Later on, fatigue will play a part, certainly. But at this stage, there may just be tweaks in preparation to do, or they want to keep the opponent guessing and not reveal their hand just yet. I think this is quite likely. When the surprises come out, they want them to come out with a bang! We have this to look forward to, so keep that in mind when these uneventful games happen.
As has been remarked about the games so far, it is Black who is getting the best out of the openings. This trend did continue in game three, to a certain extent. It took a little longer than game one, but Magnus Carlsen had no worries as Black and managed to keep Fabiano Caruana at bay. Though he never obtained any winning chances, unlike game one, he was equal at worst in the later stages.
But what can we take from this? To be honest, I don’t think we can take anything from it at all. As Magnus Carlsen said in the press conference, it is just three games. I don’t think we have seen anything from these players yet. They are putting the feelers out and testing the water, the drama and excitement is yet to come and that is a very positive thing to say considering games one and two didn’t do too badly at all!
Game four is on Tuesday, then, with Magnus Carlsen having White. Interestingly, he will now have two Whites to take us up to the half way stage of the match. I think he will want to win at least one of these games. Actually, both players will want to lead at the halfway stage, don’t you think? So, I suppose we should be watching out for Fabiano in game five. If I was Magnus Carlsen, I would want to get in early and put pressure on that fifth game, wouldn’t you?
I guess what I am trying to say, is, there is a chance that we could see some fireworks from Magnus on Tuesday! Fingers crossed, dear reader!
[Event “FIDE World Chess Championship 2018”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2018.11.12”]
[Round “3”]
[White “Caruana, Fabiano”]
[Black “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[BlackElo “2835”]
[BlackFideId “1503014”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “B31”]
[EventDate “2018.11.09”]
[Opening “Sicilian”]
[Variation “Nimzovich-Rossolimo attack (with …g6, without …d6)”]
[WhiteElo “2832”]
[WhiteFideId “2020009”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for Hotoffthechess.com. } 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Bg7 6.O-O { Fabiano goes for a different game than in game one and who can blame him. This perhaps means that his team is still working on new ideas for that line — or, indeed, that they have ditched it. } 6…Qc7 7.Re1 e5 8.a3 Nf6 9.b4 O-O 10.Nbd2 Bg4 11.h3 Bxf3 { Black may as well exchange here, it doesn’t make sense to keep the bishop on. } 12.Nxf3 cxb4 13.axb4 a5 14.bxa5 Rxa5 15.Bd2 Raa8 16.Qb1 { This game already began to look like a split point game to me. There does not appear to be much potential for tension now. White is a little better but is not able to do anything and Black has zero. So, Magnus will hold things, make exchanges when he can and the position should come to order. } 16…Nd7 17.Qb4 Rfe8 18.Bc3 b5 19.Rxa8 Rxa8 20.Ra1 Rxa1+ 21.Bxa1 { And here, just a few moves further in, the position is largely liquidated and simplified (for these two players anyway). Draws are prohibited before move thirty in this match and this is where it can be a bad thing, because one has to wonder whether play is now just killing time. I have a feeling that this is a little bit of a banker game, with neither player really looking to get up to very much. } 21…Qa7 22.Bc3 Qa2 23.Qb2 { White has nothing and wants to bail now. } 23…Qxb2 { Black has no objections and will be quite satisfied to kill the game. } 24.Bxb2 { From here it is just a case of both players keeping things tight, dotting their i’s and crossing their t’s up to move thirty when they can agree a draw and probably the time control. } 24…f6 25.Kf1 Kf7 26.Ke2 Nc5 27.Bc3 Ne6 28.g3 Bf8 29.Nd2 Ng5 30.h4 Ne6 { The press were not going very far from the screens here, expecting there to be a handshake at any moment. All credit to the players for going a good bit further than we expected and playing the position out. } 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 48.Nxc4 Kxc4 49.exf5 { And here the players shook hands. The bishop covers White’s queening square and is able to give itself for White’s remaining pawn if needs be, when there will be insufficient mating material on the board for either side. } 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]
