The World Chess Championship 2016, began in New York City, on Friday 11th November, with Norway’s Magnus Carlsen beginning the defence of his title against Sergey Karjakin of Russia.
The World Champion had the White pieces in game one, and set tongues a-wagging by opening with the Trompowsky. Of course, this led to speculation that Magnus had played it tongue-in-cheek and was in good spirits. Property mogul and reality TV star, Donald Trump, had been elected as the 45th President of the United States of America just a couple of days previous — had this featured in Carlsen’s decision any? “A little bit.” However, if this was the case, Magnus was to rue the decision later, when he was repeatedly asked about it in the press conference after the game. To the first enquiry, he responded that he had already spoken about it (I assume straight after the game) and moved swiftly on, and to the second … “if I’d have known that I would be asked about it so much, I would have played something else”.
The game itself saw Carlsen take a rare line, his 6. Bb5 showing up only once in my database. This prompted Karjakin to take quite a think before playing the natural 6…e6. The real novelty came with Carlsen’s 8.Nd2, which avoided trading Queens and indicated that he wanted to play. He was moving quickly and confidently, which pointed to good preparation and Karjakin, in his first World Championship match, looked a little nervy. As the game progressed, Magnus felt that he had some advantage, but nothing telling and that Karjakin defended well, which was “no surprise” to him. He was critical of his 27.f4, which stopped his knight coming to that square, enabling Black to play …h5 and immobilise the Kingside. After this, the game headed quickly towards a draw.
Sergey Karjakin did extremely well in the game I have to say, he handled things solidly and although he went down on the clock initially, this did not lead to problems and things evened out later on. He seemed to cope very well with his first World Championship game and said that he had tried to just focus on the game and not on the events around it. Though he perhaps did not have the best opening, he was not put under any pressure and did not experience any problems. He was also not surprised too much by Carlsen’s opening choice, as he had played it against Kramnik previously (Tal Memorial 2013). Sergey agreed that his opponent’s 27.f4 was flawed and that after 27…h5 he felt that the game would be a draw. He added that he hadn’t felt that Black had big problems up to then in any case.
Not a bad opening game, in my opinion, it was not eventful really, but it was by no means boring. It means that the score is level, of course, with both players notching up a half point. Game two is on Saturday 12th November in which Karjakin will have White. This will be very interesting to see how he will choose to play — will he try something straight away with White? When asked about it, Carlsen did not speculate too much other than to say that he expected a different opening.
[Site “New York City”]
[Date “2016.11.12”]
[Round “1”]
[White “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Black “Karjakin, Sergey”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “D00”]
[Annotator “Shaw,John Lee”]
[PlyCount “84”]{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. }
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 {The Trompowsky attack — who’d have thought it?} d5 3. e3 {
It is also possible to take on f6, here and then play e3, but Magnus chooses
to delay.} c5 4. Bxf6 {A normal capture, White usually gets this knight off
the board. It can be a little inconvenient to players who play 1…Nf6 aiming
for openings like the King’s Indian, etc.} gxf6 5. dxc5 Nc6 6. Bb5 {Not a
common move, I have only one occurence in my database. This prompted quite a
think from Karjakin.} e6 {Pretty standard stuff and the best way to proceed.}
7. c4 dxc4 8. Nd2 {Stopping the Queen trade, which would dull things down
quite coinsiderably. This appears to be the novelty, Nc3 having been played in
Rahman-Mas 2008.} Bxc5 9. Ngf3 {Carlsen was playing almost instantly, so it
seemed that Sergey had been out-prepared, but this is not necessarily the case.
Sometimes players just take some moments to go over their preparation in their
heads and make sure of lines as much as they can first.} O-O {It seemed
slightly strange to me that Karjakin would be in such a rush to castle to an
area that is already a little busted. There were alternatives, here, such as ..
.Bd7 or …c4-c3, giving back the pawn in a more favourble manner than just
allowing White to whop it off on c4 as planned. Not least, White would have a
couple of isolated pawns.} (9… c3 10. bxc3 Bd7 11. O-O Qc7 12. Nd4 O-O-O {
is about equal.}) (9… Bd7 10. Rc1 Qb6 11. Bxc4 O-O {not …Qxb2, when after
Rb1 White has the advantage.} 12. O-O Rfd8 {And Black seems to be doing
alright.}) 10. O-O Na5 {This move is a little misguided, it seems that Black
wants to force the trade of Queens by being able to take whichever piece
captures on c4. However, this costs him time, when he is still lagging in
development.} 11. Rc1 {So, Magnus wants to keep the Queens on, therefore he
lets the c-pawn sit for a little longer. There is nothing wrong with Rc1, but
Qc2 was perhaps a little bit more to the point.} Be7 {A nice move and this got
Carlsen thinking. Black wants to play f6-f5 and then re-deploy his bishop to
f6, where it eyes the long a1-h8 diagonal. Though Karjakin is a little down on
the clock, he seems to be coping well with this game.} 12. Qc2 {White makes
his final preparation for the recapture on c4. Now he can do it without the
exchange of Queens. Perhaps Rfd1 will not be too far behind this move.} Bd7 {
All of a sudden it is Karjakin who is playing quickly, an indication that he
had formulated his plan and was feeling pretty good about it.} 13. Bxd7 {
There was nothing better than making this exchange.} ({Taking on c4 invites
the pin along the c-file and Blck doesn’t do too badly:} 13. Bxc4 Rc8 14. Qb1
Nxc4 15. Nxc4 b5 {when Black is equal at worst.}) 13… Qxd7 {the position is
about equal here.} 14. Qc3 {I am not one to argue with a Grandmaster or World
Champion, let alone someone who is both, but I would have preferred Rfd1 here,
getting a rook on a nice open central file and tickling the Black Queen while
it’s at it.} Qd5 {This move looked all kinds of wrong to me and it is a little
inaccurate. There was the alternative of 14…b6, which maintained the balance
better. Should White then choose to capture on c4, it is likely to result in
the Queen’s coming off and a rather safe position.} (14… b6 15. Nxc4 Rac8 {
when White’s best choice is to finally allow the Queen exchange.} 16. Qd2 Qxd2
17. Ncxd2 {by far the best recapture} f5 {and black is doing fine.}) 15. Nxc4 {
White will feel rather happy here, he has recaptured his pawn and has the
better structure and activity. Black’s Queen is also rather exposed now.} Nxc4
16. Qxc4 {This is perhaps a little too complicit in easing Black’s situation.
Again, Rfd1 is a very natural move and one which most would play automatcally
given the position of the Black Queen.} (16. Rfd1 Qc5 17. Qxc4 Qxc4 18. Rxc4 {
When White’s rook activity speaks for itself.}) 16… Qxc4 17. Rxc4 Rfc8 {
With an edge, especially with Black’s bishop sitting on e7 and not really part
of the game as yet. However, White has nothing immediate and no obvious
weaknesses to attack.} 18. Rfc1 Rxc4 19. Rxc4 Rd8 20. g3 {Making an escape
square for the King of course, with a slight but definitely there edge. Many
felt that g4 would have been better, meaning that Black’s f6-f5 plan would
result in very untidy f-pawns. However, this does not seem to give anything —
Black is not obliged to continue with that plan and can just go with the flow
and re-deploy his bishop to d6 instead of f6.} (20. g4 Bd6 21. Nd4 Kg7 22. f4
h5 23. h3 {is equal and it is hard to see any way for White to push.}) 20…
Rd7 {Here we must make an important observation, in that Karjakin will be very
happy with a draw as Black, here. Therefore, he is focussing on keeping things
tight and solid, now. If Magnus wants to score from his advantage, then it is
up to him to push and take the risks.} 21. Kf1 {The World Champion begins to
improve his King activity. He will need that if he is to win this game, now.}
f5 22. Ke2 Bf6 {It has taken some time, but Black has carried out his …f5, ..
.Bf6 plan.} 23. b3 Kf8 {Now to bring his King in to the game also.} 24. h3 h6 {
Black would have liked to play …h5 here, but as pointed out by Nigel Short
on Twitter, he would then have to worry about White’s knight working its way
to the f4-square.} 25. Ne1 Ke7 {Getting the King to a good square and Black is
doing fine. Any advantage that White held has evaporated and the game is
looking rather drawy with no obvious ways for either player to obtain a pull.}
26. Nd3 Kd8 {Possibly preparing …Rc7 but also this is a good waiting move to
see what White thinks he has and how he will proceed.} 27. f4 {This move is
misguided, as Carlsen said himself after the game. It prevents his knight from
coming to the f4 square and this leaves Black free to play …h6-h5. I think
any potential to generate anything was gone at this point.} h5 {A safe move.
It is going to be nigh impossible for White to generate anything on the
Kingside now and the game is heading to a draw.} 28. a4 Rd5 29. Nc5 b6 30. Na6
Be7 {…b5 was perhaps more direct} (30… b5 31. Rc1 bxa4 32. bxa4 Be7 {=})
31. Nb8 {Heading for c6 of course — Magnus has the tiniest of edges and is at
least going to exhaust his options and make his opponent play a few more moves
before calling it a day in this game.} a5 32. Nc6+ Ke8 33. Ne5 (33. Nxe7 Kxe7
34. Rc7+ Kf6 35. Rc6 b5 {with …axb4 coming next, or …b5-b4, depending upon
what White plays. Any axb5 results in a very quick resolution.} 36. axb5 Rxb5
37. Ra6 Rxb3 38. Rxa5 {=}) 33… Bc5 34. Rc3 Ke7 {Sergey Karjakin has all his
i’s dotted and t’s crossed, here.} 35. Rd3 {With no way through for the rook,
it does no harm to exchange it and re-evaluate.} Rxd3 36. Kxd3 f6 37. Nc6+ Kd6
38. Nd4 Kd5 {This is more or less a ‘give it up, chump’ and it’s time for
White to instigate repetition, there is no potential in the position now and
Black has everything under control.} 39. Nb5 Kc6 40. Nd4+ Kd6 41. Nb5+ Kd7 42.
Nd4 Kd6 {Game drawn. Match score 0.5 points each.} 1/2-1/2[/pgn]
