It was a change of suit for Magnus Carlsen for game two of his World Chess Championship match against Fabiano Caruana. Away went the dark and in came the light as he donned a light grey number. It mirrored exactly the situation at the board, as the Champion swapped the Black pieces of game 1 for the White ones in this round.
Unfortunately, it didn’t mirror the British weather, which is typically damp and gloomy and Fabiano Caruana especially had caught some droplets.
The Chess World watched and waited to see what this game would bring. Carlsen had started the match off with a confident start to the first game and had great winning chances. However, his resilient opponent had demonstrated his tenacious side, surviving the trying situation he had found himself in to earn himself a half point and deny the World Champion a dream start to his title defence.
In this game, Carlsen would be in charge of the beginning, he had the potential to dictate play right from the off, could he steer himself into an advantageous position again?
Carlsen ‘s Turn For A Dud With White
The answer, was a resounding no. The game was quite the carbon copy of the previous game, but with the players reversed. It was Carlsen who suffered a total failure with the White pieces, not achieving anything from the opening. In the Champion’s words, he quickly found himself in “…full grovel mode,” after a bit of an, “…oh shit!” moment.
That came, namely, with Caruana’s 10…Rd8(!?) which was an obscurity that he had obviously done some work on at home. The most crucial test of this was 11.Nd2, but Magnus did not feel it was the moment and went for 11.Bd2, which he found safer. Perhaps that is the case, but his 15.Ne5(?) was a bit too much and threatened to backfire on him. According to the Champion he had taken Black’s option of 15…Bd6, here, a bit too lightly.
From here, it was a case of securing the draw and he set about simplifying and exchanging pieces. This gave him a worse endgame, but one that wasn’t too much trouble to hold. Luckily for the players, journalists and spectators alike, today’s game did not drag on after it was clear that neither side would be achieving the point. The players called it a day in 49 moves.
Something To Think About
At the press conference afterwards, Magnus was very candid about his flop with White in this game. He made no secret that it had not gone his way and that he had to a certain extent shied away from what he expected was Caruana’s prep. He knew 11.Nd2 was the way to test 10…Rd8, but had gone safer with 11.Bd2. I found it especially revealing when he said that he was not only playing Fabiano and his team, but also the computer.
Caruana will no doubt be much more satisfied with this game as Black than his White of round 1. He will feel that he is now completely on level ground and has sent Carlsen a message that he has come well armed. I should think that this was something that the Champion was well aware of already, but will be fully reminded none-the-less.
They will now have a day off on Sunday, which is also Armistice Day. Perhaps it is fitting, then, that chess shows how the fiercest of battles can come to a peaceful resolution, and end with respect and a handshake. The players will now go away, take stock, try to learn from their mistakes, and come back fresh on Monday.
Perhaps the leaders of the World –the World handed to us by the people we pause to remember at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month– should play more chess?
[Event “FIDE World Chess Championship 2018”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2018.11.10”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Black “Caruana, Fabiano”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[BlackElo “2832”]
[BlackFideId “2020009”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “D37”]
[EventDate “2018.11.09”]
[Opening “QGD”]
[Variation “classical variation (5.Bf4)”]
[WhiteElo “2835”]
[WhiteFideId “1503014”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]{ Annotated by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1.d4 { So, the Challenger opened game one with the King’s pawn and the Champion goes his own way in game two and opens with the Queen’s pawn. No matter what statistics may say, this is neither expected nor unexpected I think. } 1…Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qc2 Nc6 9.a3 Qa5 10.Rd1 Rd8 { This move is not a novelty, but it’s as good as. It is an obscurity from the annals that Fabiano and his team have obviously done some work with. And it netted them a satisfaction point as Magnus descended into a think that lasted over 15 minutes. } 11.Be2 { It was agreed in the press conference afterwards that the most crucial test of the …Rd8 move, was Nd2. Magnus wasn’t up to testing it today and chose something which he felt was safer. } 11…Ne4 12.O-O Nxc3 13.bxc3 h6 14.a4 Ne7 15.Ne5 { ? This is not a good move at all and Magnus referred to it as a ‘miscalculation’ afterwards. } 15…Bd6 { A good response by Fabiano and Magnus now goes into what he called ‘ full grovel mode’ and decides to play to secure the draw. His opening has failed. } 16.cxd5 { Beginning the process of simplifying the position. This will be combined with exchanging some pieces. } 16…Nxd5 17.Bf3 Nxf4 18.exf4 Bxe5 19.Rxd8+ Qxd8 20.fxe5 { The preceding few moves have all been pretty logical if not obligatory. White will feel quite alright here. He has the worse endgame, but Black will not be able to do anything with good play. } 20…Qc7 21.Rb1 { Deciding to let e5 go in return for activity. } 21…Rb8 { Black could have taken on e5, but it would not have changed the result. } ( 21…Qxe5 { This ‘wins’ a pawn, but because his activity is not great, Black would not be jumping up and down. White would be fine. } 22.Qd3 g6 23.Qd2 Kg7 24.Rb5 Qf6 { and this is about equal, there is nothing for either side. } ) 22.Qd3 Bd7 23.a5 Bc6 24.Qd6 { ! The better way to go for liquidation than immediately capturing on c6. That would allow Black a nice Zwisenchug. White has to be careful just for a little while longer. } ( 24.Bxc6 { This allows Black to throw in a handy in-between move … } 24…Rd8 { ! } 25.Qe3 Qxc6 { Sees Black’s activity improved greatly, but still only about equal when all is said and done. } ) 24…Qxd6 25.exd6 Bxf3 26.gxf3 { So here we see the situation. Magnus has allowed Fabiano to bust his structure in return for getting the pieces off the board. His position is ugly, but perfectly holdable unless he does something silly, which is highly unlikely from here. } 26…Kf8 27.c4 Ke8 28.a6 b6 29.c5 Kd7 30.cxb6 axb6 31.a7 Ra8 32.Rxb6 Rxa7 33.Kg2 e5 34.Rb4 f5 { Upon …Kxd6, 35.f4 would have brought about a situation not unlike game one, with black having three pawns to White’s two. } ( 34…Kxd6 35.f4 exf4 36.Rxf4 { Despite appearances, White is alright here. The activity of White’s King is adequate to aid the defence and the pwns being on the wing make conversion much less straight forward. } ) 35.Rb6 Ke6 36.d7+ Kxd7 37.Rb5 { The game is in its final throws. Black is better, but White has the situation managed. The situation would have been very different had the pawns been in the centre. } 37…Ke6 38.Rb6+ Kf7 39.Rb5 Kf6 40.Rb6+ Kg5 41.Rb5 Kf4 42.Rb4+ e4 43.fxe4 fxe4 44.h3 Ra5 45.Rb7 Rg5+ 46.Kf1 Rg6 47.Rb4 Rg5 48.Rb7 Rg6 49.Rb4 { Here, the players agreed a draw. Match score 1-1. } 1/2-1/2[/pgn]
