After a day off for the players, the World Chess Championship, resumed on the 23rd November, with game 9. It would see the challenger for the crown, Sergey Karjakin, leading World Champion, Magnus Carlsen by a point. After 7 draws, Karjakin was the first to draw blood, by winning game 8. This had incensed Magnus Carlsen, who declined interviews after the match and stormed out of the post-match press conference, complaining that he had been kept waiting.
The chess world had been given a taste of his pride and temper and now waited to see his metal.
Game 9 saw Sergey Karjakin take the White pieces, leading the match by 4.5-3.5 — would he go for the jugular or would it be more tentative play and consolidation? Well, the game started well, with the Russian sticking with 1.e4 and the Ruy Lopez, but unfortunately Magnus Carlsen was not in the mood to bare any teeth. He chose the Archangelsk Defence, which is very solid but presents Black with few chances. It was clear that Carlsen was going for a comfortable hold with the Black pieces, content to contain Karjakin. There was no panic, and no pressure felt to strike back immediately. After all, he would have White in games 10 and 12, and all kind of things can still happen.
As it turned out, whether this was a correct approach or not is open to debate, but it could well have backfired on him. As the game progressed, Sergey took the better of things and Magnus started to fall behind on the clock. This didn’t help matters and had Karjakin chosen 39.Qb3, there may have been some excitement as Magnus could have found himself under some pressure. As it was, White opted for 39.Bxf7+ and this led to a very drawy position, where Black was able to tighten up and batten down the hatches. Sergey played on, but there was nothing really possible unless his opponent made a mistake, which was unlikely. The shuffling and probing came to nothing and the players split the point in 74-moves.
The outcome of the game will likely be mission accomplished for Magnus Carlsen — he stopped the rot and held without too much trouble in the end. Sergey Karjakin, however, will probably have mixed feelings — ok, he is still a point ahead in the match and that can not be understated, but he had an opportunity to try to make his lead two points. These chances do not come up often against Magnus Carlsen, and to not take them is rather wasteful. Carlsen will have White in game 10, and really has to do something. Karjakin now has more pressure on that game than he could (should) have.
Match score: 5-4 to Karjakin.
[Site “New York City”]
[Date “2016.11.23”]
[Round “9”]
[White “Karjakin, Sergey”]
[Black “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “A00”]
[Annotator “Shaw,John Lee”]
[PlyCount “148”]
[EventDate “2016.11.23”]
[EventCountry “USA”]{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. }
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 {Carlsen chooses
a different continuation, the Archangelsk Defence. This is rarely seen, the
reason being that, although solid, it tends to present Black with few
aggressive chances. So is Carlsen playing for a draw in this game? Could be,
with the idea of playing for wins in his remaining White games.} 7. a4 Rb8 8.
c3 d6 9. d4 Bb6 10. axb5 axb5 11. Na3 O-O 12. Nxb5 Bg4 13. Bc2 exd4 14. Nbxd4
Nxd4 15. cxd4 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Nh5 {There is some puzzlement over why Carlsen
chose this line in a position where he is a point behind with only this and 3
more games left. This line shows only White wins in among a lot of draws.} 17.
Kh1 Qf6 18. Be3 c5 {Karjakin-Adams, Baku 2008, continued 18…Ra8 and was won
by Karjakin in 66 moves. Carlsen’s move shows up only twice in my database,
Nakamura-Kasimdzhanov, Tromso 2014 1-0 being one.} 19. e5 {Karjakin goes with
Nakamura.} Qe6 {and Carlsen sticks with Kasimdzhanov.} 20. exd6 c4 21. b3 cxb3
{Carlsen deviates from the Nakamura-Kasimdzhanov game, which continued 21…c3.
} 22. Bxb3 Qxd6 23. Ra6 Rfd8 24. Rg1 Qd7 25. Rg4 {Cutting off the Queen’s
access to the h3-square. Rg5 appears a little more bold, with the potential to
swing the King’s rook over to the Queenside, but this is not the case and is
easily neutralised by …Qh3.} Nf6 26. Rh4 Qb5 {Carlsen seemed hesitant about
this move, twice hovering his hand over the Queen before finally playing it.
It is a very sensible move, though not really very potent. He is playing the
containment game.} 27. Ra1 g6 28. Rb1 {Threatening a brutal discovery of Bxf7+.
} Qd7 {Very sensibly relocating his Queen to a safer square. It is very
apparent, here, that Black is somewhat limited with regard to active
possibilities, the whole game revolves around whether or not White can be
prevented from making progress, either on the Kingside or with his d-pawn.} 29.
Qd3 Nd5 {When playing against an isolated pawn, one wants to blockade it if
at all possible. But it is very noticeable, here, that Black’s position is
very mute and defensive, White has by far the more positive setup, though it
is unlikely to be one with which he can do much.} 30. Rg1 Bc7 {Carlsen was
beginning to feel things on the clock, here, with 30 minutes for his next 10
moves.} 31. Bg5 Re8 32. Qc4 Rb5 33. Qc2 Ra8 34. Bc4 Rba5 35. Bd2 Ra4 36. Qd3
Ra1 {With time being ever pressing (Carlsen had only a few minutes to get to
move 40 so it really was pressing too) it can be of use to make an exchange or
two.} 37. Rxa1 Rxa1+ 38. Kg2 Ne7 39. Bxf7+ {Sergey Karjakin thought for 26
minutes for this move, going from having over 20 minutes time advantage on
Magnus Carlsen to just a few minutes. In the end, he probably plumped for the
wrong continuation — after Qb3 Carlsen would have a tough position to contend
with.} (39. Qb3 Nf5 40. Bxf7+ {The only way to proceed if White wants to play
for anything.} Kg7 41. Rh3 {again, the only way to play. After this, White has
a very nice situation.} Qe7 {With choices of d5, Qc3, and Bg8 here. Just a
question of taste, White is in control.}) 39… Kxf7 40. Qc4+ Kg7 41. d5 Nf5
42. Bc3+ Kf8 43. Bxa1 Nxh4+ 44. Qxh4 {The only viable move — but this allows
Black to liquidate White’s d-pawn.} Qxd5 {I am not sure how prudent it is to
have let this pawn go. I don’t think White has enough out of this line to
justify it, personally.} 45. Qf6+ Qf7 {Perhaps Karjakin overlooked this move
in his analysis. I think if he was playing for anything and he saw this
position, he would have gone for 39.Qb3. White is still better, here, but
progress is very difficult.} 46. Qd4 (46. Qh8+ {This offered no more.} Ke7 {
(…Qg8 is also perfectly fine.)} 47. Bc3 Bd6 {And White is unlikely to
achieve anything without a very big mistake.}) 46… Ke8 47. Qe4+ Qe7 48. Qd5 {
Bf6 was perhaps worth a try.} (48. Bf6 {This forces Black to trade Queens,
tidying White’s pawns up somewhat and giving him a passer.} Qxe4 49. fxe4 Bf4
50. h3 {Preparing to activate his King and with the comfort of being able to
play on without risk. Not the most pleasant of situations for Black.}) 48…
Bd8 49. Kf1 Qf7 50. Qe4+ Qe7 51. Be5 Qe6 52. Kg2 {Here we see that White isn’t
really going anywhere. I think Karjakin would be quite disappointed, he had
possibilities to take a 2-point lead over the World Champion, here.} Be7 53.
Qa8+ Kf7 54. Qh8 h5 55. Qg7+ Ke8 56. Bf4 Qf7 57. Qh8+ Qf8 {Black seems to have
solved his problems and is fully able to contain White, here. White plays on
in the hope of a mistake, but this is unlikely to happen.} 58. Qd4 Qf5 59. Qc4
Kd7 60. Bd2 Qe6 61. Qa4+ Qc6 62. Qa7+ Qc7 63. Qa2 Qd6 64. Be3 Qe6 65. Qa7+ Ke8
66. Bc5 Bd8 {Better to keep pieces on. The game has lost its potential and
there is nothing left to do, really, than agree to split the point.} 67. h3 Qd5
68. Be3 Be7 69. Qb8+ Kf7 70. Qh8 Qe6 71. Bf4 Qf6 72. Qb8 Qe6 73. Qb7 Kg8 74.
Qb5 Bf6 {And the players agreed a draw, here.} 1/2-1/2[/pgn]
