Game 5 of the World Chess Championship, saw Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin agree a rather lapsy-daisy 51-move draw. It was held in New York City, United States, on Thursday 17th November and saw defending Champion, Carlsen, playing the White pieces.
The game was an Italian Opening, and though it seemed that Carlsen had prepared it, it certainly didn’t appear to go to plan for him. Black would have been quite happy out of the opening one can imagine, with White having arguably the better stance, but not being able to go anywhere with it. Quite the theme of this match so far, it has to be said!
The game would see Sergey Karjakin also get his first aggressive chances of the match, but failing to take them. This was especially the case after Carlsen’s very poor 41.Kg2(?) This gave Karjakin the opportunity to take the h-file, with …44.Qh6, taking advantage of White’s vulnerable King. This could be combined with …d4, …Bc4 and …Qh3 and White would be under pressure. Unfortunately, Karjakin seemed to not be interested and opted for 41…d4 instead, which led to the draw. Very disappointing to be quite honest. No doubt he had his reasons, and I am not sure what the time situation was as I was unable to watch the match due to other commitments — but what chess player does not want to attack a vulnerable King?
After the match both players were critical of their play, especially Carlsen who seemed very downcast and admitted that he was fortunate that his opponent had let him off the hook. This was a very interesting game, psychologically, Karjakin seems to be playing the frustration game rather than coming out with his sleeves rolled up to take it to the World Champion. As for Carlsen, he seems out of sorts and possibly irritated and frustrated by both his own play and Karjakin’s tactics. He is just not getting the positions he needs in order to outright dominate and this must be discomforting.
The scores are level, then, at 2.5-points each, with Karjakin having White for the next game. Interestingly, the Russian now has two Whites on the spin, for game 6 and then to get the second half of the match underway with game 7. One would expect him to try to use that to its fullest and seize some momentum.
[Site “New York City”]
[Date “2016.11.17”]
[Round “5”]
[White “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Black “Karjakin, Sergey”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “A00”]
[Annotator “Shaw,John Lee”]
[PlyCount “102”]
[EventDate “2016.11.17”]
[EventCountry “USA”]
{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. }
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 {So, Carlsen switches from a Ruy Lopez, or Spanish
opening, to that of an Italian.} Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. a4 {It had been
fairly standard stuff up to here, but Carlsen chooses a rarely played
continuation. However, this has good pedigree, with the likes of Aronian,
Grischuk, and Nepomniatchi playing it.} d6 7. c3 a6 8. b4 Ba7 9. Re1 Ne7 10.
Nbd2 Ng6 11. d4 c6 {Following Kucypera-Jaracz, Wroclaw 2013 (0-1).} 12. h3 {
Carlsen goes his own way, Bb3 had been played previously.} exd4 {This exchange
in the centre was not absolutely necessary, Black had alternatives such as …
b5, Qc7 and …h6 in order to guard against Ng5, doubling up with bishop and
knight against f7. It seems that Karjakin is persisting with his tendency to
try to simplify and mute Carlsen’s changes to stir things up.} 13. cxd4 {
With a slight pull for White, who has the better pieces so far and nice
central pawns.} Nxe4 14. Bxf7+ {The other choice was Nxe4, here. I keep
wavering between whether I think this was the better choice or not. I think
possibly so but then again, I am not sure it was correct for White to give the
bishop pair so lightly and Black will also have a tempo, with …d6-d5, after
White recaptures on e4.} (14. Nxe4 d5 {and here, White has two main
continuations, Bd3 and Bg5:} 15. Bd3 (15. Bg5 {this is interesting, but should
probably yield to Bd3.} f6 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. Bb3 Bb8 18. Qd2 Kh8 {is about
equal, Ng3 is probably White’s best continuation}) 15… dxe4 16. Bxe4 Be6 {
The bishop is on its way to d5, White is best seizing on this time costing
manoever.} 17. b5 Bd5 {bxc6 or bxa6 are both good here, and White is better.
It may not have been quite enough, however, but was possibly more Carlsen’s
thing than the position he got from 14.Bxf7+}) 14… Rxf7 15. Nxe4 d5 {Black
would be rather happy here, I think, White’s opening has been largely
unconvincing. White has a slight pull, but there is nothing clear.} 16. Nc5 h6
17. Ra3 Bf5 {Slightly better than striking at the White pawns on the Queenside
with …a5 — Black needs to develop.} 18. Ne5 {I can’t quite understand why
Carlsen went with this move. Having played Ra3 on his previous, one would
imagine Rae3 to be more relevant.} Nxe5 19. dxe5 (19. Rxe5 {after this, Black
gets an important tempo in redeploying is dark-squared bishop} Bb8 20. Re2 {
and after …Bd6 or …Qh4, or even …b6, Black is equal at worst I think.})
19… Qh4 {This is good play by Karjakin, who is now gradually becoming more
and more active.} 20. Rf3 Bxc5 {Again, Karjakin chooses to make an
in-obligatory exchange, opening the b-file. The tension could easily have been
maintained here with the likes of …Bg6 or …Bh7. …Qxb4 would have been
very nasty after Ba3 the e6, with a huge initiative to White.} 21. bxc5 {
One would have to say that looking longterm, White is somewhat better, here,
Black’s b-pawn is now backward and although this is not immediately crucial,
it may be later on.} Re8 22. Rf4 {A very natural move, putting Black on the
back foot.} Qe7 23. Qd4 Ref8 24. Rf3 Be4 25. Rxf7 Qxf7 26. f3 Bf5 {The game is
now getting into Magnus Carlsen’s territory, White has the better stance and
the passed pawn on e6. It is the kind of position that can be played on safely.
The flip side, is that it is once again hard to see a clear way in which White
can make progress, especially with Black’s light-squared bishop on the board.}
27. Kh2 {Preparing to mobilise the Kingside.} Be6 {A passive move, Karjakin is
making it clear that once again he is preparing to hunker down.} 28. Re2 Qg6
29. Be3 Rf7 {This is a very annoying situation for any chess player, to have
the better stance yet have no clear way to take advantage. Clearly, white will
have to take a risk if he wants to push in this game. The question is will he
over push? That is exactly Karjakin’s strategy.} 30. Rf2 Qb1 31. Rb2 Qf5 32. a5
Kf8 33. Qc3 Ke8 34. Rb4 g5 {limiting the possibility of the White rook in
switching to the Kingside. It means that White will have to push his pawns if
he wants to play for the win and this is very risky.} 35. Rb2 Kd8 36. Rf2 Kc8
37. Qd4 {The position is about equal here, and it is perfectly valid to agree
a draw unless White decides to push — he is the only player possibly playing
for a win at this stage.} Qg6 38. g4 h5 39. Qd2 Rg7 {the position is
absolutely level, here.} 40. Kg3 Rg8 41. Kg2 {This is a very uncharacteristic
slip from Magnus Carlsen, positionally. It would have been much more active to
have played Rh2, here. In the event that Karjakin chose to exchange, (which
would verge on the blunderous), the White rook would be ideally placed along
the h-file, ready to come to h5 and increase the pressure on g5. Instead, the
King cuts off the rook’s access to the h-file. Also, the King was very nicely
situated on g3.} hxg4 {Karjakin takes the opportunity to exchange on g4, this
is the right time. All of a sudden, Black is looking very healthy.} 42. hxg4 d4
{Had Black chosen 42…Qh6, the game could have become very exciting. As it is,
the game is now heading towards a draw.} (42… Qh6 {with an initiative and …
Rh8 to follow.} 43. Kf1 d4 44. Bxd4 Bc4+ 45. Kg1 Qh3 {is extremely strong for
Black!}) 43. Qxd4 Bd5 44. e6 Qxe6 45. Kg3 Qe7 46. Rh2 Qf7 47. f4 gxf4+ 48. Qxf4
Qe7 49. Rh5 Rf8 50. Rh7 Rxf4 51. Rxe7 Re4 {and the players agreed a draw, here.
An uneventful game, but psychologically very interesting!} 1/2-1/2[/pgn]
