Hello from London my dear reader! For the next few weeks, this city is not only the United Kingdom’s capital, but also chess’s capital! And we will get to that after a slight digression…
I would like to start with an apology, namely for the halt in blogging these last few days. Unfortunately my start to this World Championship trip has not gone as I intended. Perhaps the closure of the road to the airport on the morning of my flight (making me an hour late) was a sign of things to come. I didn’t really believe in omens before, but I have to say, that is gradually changing.
When I got to my hotel, I had a couple of days to do some relaxed build-up blogging before it was action stations. I thought so anyway. Unfortunately, HOTCH had other ideas. The damn site threw a tantrum at my new IP address and locked me out! I finally regained access yesterday, thanks to my Wife tweaking a few settings for me from home, and here I am. Hopefully you find that a good thing!
Ok then, with that out of the way, back to the chess and hopefully we will be interruption free from now on!
Henrik Carlsen: Magnus is Ready
The first event that I attended here, was the opening press conference. I am not going to get into that too much because you will no doubt have read all the quotes and suchlike by now.
However, one thing I will say is that when Magnus Carlsen first arrived and sat down, my feeling was that he looked extremely hacked off. He had a very hard stare and was looking around rather more like a boxer than a chess player. Fabiano Caruana looked his usual calm self, emotionless, trying to get used to the spotlight. The difference in body language was extremely noticeable to me.
Anyway, you may be wondering what the relevance of this is, considering the post is about Game One? Well, the thing is, after the press conference, I went to talk with Magnus’s Father, Henrik Carlsen. I have the greatest of respect for Henrik, he is a very pleasant person and I always enjoy talking to him.
I asked him how Magnus was and I added that it was off the record. In truth, I was actually asking out of concern rather than any journalistic motivations as Magnus had seemed out of sorts to me for a while. Henrik replied, “Off the record … and on the record [therefore I am quoting him] … he is fine. He is ready now.”
For me, this was extremely powerful. The relaxed tone in this Father’s voice, the total confidence and belief in his Son, the lack of doubt or concern. That unsaid feeling that Magnus knows what he’s doing and all is well. It spoke volumes to me.
And this leads us nicely into Game One.
A Game Of Two Halves
I was lucky enough to be one of the photographers allowed to take photographs on the stage as the players arrived (trust me, luck had nothing to do with it and this is a whole other tale in itself). I watched Magnus make the same stern entrance and sit at the board with the same hard expression on his face that he had for the press conference. This expression, this demeanour, now held a whole new meaning for me.
Of course, Fabiano Caruana would have White in this first game. The first move was made by Hollywood megastar, Woody Harrelson, who proceeded to make the wrong move (playing 1.d4 instead of Fabiano’s 1.e4) and followed that up by knocking his King over. We would later find out that this was intentional and Woody’s idea of a joke. We will come to this again later.
Anyway, Fabiano was able to adjust his move and Magnus replied 1…c5. Right off, then, we had a Sicilian on the board. No more joking, things had become very serious. Unfortunately for Caruana, he found himself on the wrong side of the seriousness. Whether it was nerves, (bound to not have been aided by Harrelson’s antics), or surprise at the Sicilian (Carlsen does not whop 1…c5 out often), we will have to wait and see, but the American had a seriously tough day at the office.
In truth, he suffered. Magnus Carlsen quickly got into the game, equalised and castled Queenside, the opposite wing than his opponent. Magnus said in the press conference later, that he showed that he was not necessarily playing for a draw as Black in this game — correct, and this was one of the moves that demonstrated it. It came immediately after Fabiano’s out of context 16.Ng4(?) which the Challenger said he regretted immediately after playing it.
He had good cause.
Move by move from here, Magnus Carlsen became better and took more of a grip on the game. Fabiano’s activity suffered, his King’s position suffered. Magnus started to make threats and expose weaknesses and this caused his opponent to start to use time solving them. This, in turn, meant that White’s clock situation started to suffer too.
It seemed that the World Champion was going to start the defence of his title with a win.
However, just like their game at the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis just a couple of months ago, when Caruana also quickly landed himself in trouble against the World Champion, but escaped with a draw, so it was this time too. In Saint Louis, Magnus had concentrated too little (in my opinion anyway) and I think that here in London he perhaps concentrated too hard. He started to use too much time also and begin to not see the wood for the trees.
Some moves started to appear that were just not good enough to take him all the way. It came down to the tiniest of margins, but ultimately Fabiano survived by the skin of his teeth. This turned out to be just a few seconds on the first time control.
And after this time control, the game turned from the brilliant to the bizarre. As it turned out, it was only around a third in. In an endgame that offered little to no winning chances –unless Woody Harrelson came along and plonked another piece on the board– the players seemed to settle in for the night. It was not until move 115 that they finally shook hands and agreed the draw.
There is nothing much to say about this, other than that it was a waste of their energy. Personally, I can’t make much sense in playing certainly the last forty-five-percent of the game. It did not achieve anything, other than letting the preceding bit down.
It did not even set the record as the longest World Chess Championship game ever (Karpov-Korchnoi, 1978, 124 moves). And no, it is not even the second longest World Chess Championship game ever either, (Carlsen-Anand, 2014, 122 moves). This left me to ponder what it was all about, as captured by chess photographer extraordinaire, David Llada …
Finally I got to meet @JohnLeeShaw in the flesh! pic.twitter.com/8QPsXjF8cr
— David Llada ♔ (@davidllada) November 9, 2018
Shared Spoils, Shared Toils
It is a question of perspective as to which of the players will be more satisfied with this game. On one hand, Fabiano started badly and landed himself in extremely hot water, while Magnus started confidently and managed to create serious chances with the Black pieces. On the other hand, those chances were not taken and this is very unusual for Magnus Carlsen. Fabiano Caruana weathered the storm and seemed to emerge from it stronger.
At the press conference afterwards, neither player seemed happy and neither seemed unhappy. They just seemed tired after their marathon encounter. Fabiano Caruana did, however, seem rather displeased to learn that Woody Harrelson had deliberately messed up the start of the game. Caruana’s face reddened and as he took a drink of water, there seemed to be a shake of the head.
I understand this and I feel for him. It is nervy enough to be playing your first World Championship game against a Champion like Magnus Carlsen, without having something like that disrupt your composure and concentration. Even worse, is when it is done by a countryman who happens to be a fan of the other guy. I think this raises an interesting question about neutrality of first move VIP’s. This kind of thing should not happen in my opinion.
Anyway, Woody enjoyed his day here at the Championship and joined Anna Rudolf and Judit Polgar in the commentary. They are wonderful, by the way and kept going through this marathon game with few breaks. Considering that half of the game was unnecessary, they kept the audience entertained until the end, which is a great achievement!
As for Fabiano Caruana, he will be relieved to have notched up half a point and will feel that he is in this match now. Magnus Carlsen will feel that he missed a chance to seize an early initiative by not getting the full point. I think that it is accurate to say that he probably had not expected the chance to come straight away and that will make missing it all the more vexing.
For me, this means that the World Champion is still to prove his readiness — a few years ago, he would now be leading by a point.
[Event “FIDE World Chess Championship 2018”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2018.11.09”]
[Round “1”]
[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”]{ Annotated by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Bg7 6.h3 Nf6 7.Nc3 Nd7 8.Be3 e5 9.O-O b6 10.Nh2 { More normal here had been Qd2. White is of course aiming for a quick f2-f4. } 10…Nf8 { Judit Polgar remarked in her commentary that Magnus showed that he is not afraid of f2-f4 with this move. He is in no rush to get castled, for sure. Clearly, he wants his light-squared bishop on e6, a much better square than b7! } 11.f4 { Fabiano pushes on with his plan of f2-f4. Not to makes his Nh2 move a little silly. } 11…exf4 { it makes no sense to allow White to push on to f5. } 12.Rxf4 Be6 13.Rf2 h6 14.Qd2 g5 15.Raf1 Qd6 16.Ng4 { Not a good move and Fabiano was most critical of it in the press conference. } 16…O-O-O { ! This move by Magnus was probably when I started to feel that something was starting to happen. He had most likely intended this all along, but Ng4 has made it all the more potent. The reason is that with the Kings on opposite wings, the players now want to open lines and push pawns. The Ng4 potentially helps Black in both. } 17.Nf6 Nd7 18.Nh5 { They say that a knight on the rim is dim and this really demonstrates that. This is Caruana in the defensive. Its function here is not to hit the bishop but to stop a future advance of the h-pawn. } 18…Be5 19.g4 f6 20.b3 Bf7 21.Nd1 Nf8 22.Nxf6 Ne6 23.Nh5 Bxh5 24.gxh5 Nf4 25.Bxf4 { There was really no option other than to make this exchange, because of h5. However, Black will now have the g-file in along which to threaten the White King. } 25…gxf4 26.Rg2 { Caruana is eager to compete along the g-file. } 26…Rhg8 { Carlsen is eager to exchange the Rg2 before White gets the chance to arrange his defence. It is imporant to bear in mind, here, that White has multiple dangers to cover. As well as the g-file, there is the f-pawn advancing, as well as Black’s Queen or bishop coming to d4. } 27.Qe2 Rxg2+ 28.Qxg2 Qe6 29.Nf2 Rg8 30.Ng4 { The knight returns to g4, the square it went to earlier, which resulted in this initiative by Carlsen being launched. } 30…Qe8 31.Qf3 Qxh5 { The question now is not whether Black is better or not, but by how much. What can the World Champion do? } 32.Kf2 Bc7 { The bishop is a very useful piece, so Magnus wants to keep it on. } 33.Ke2 Qg5 34.Nh2 h5 35.Rf2 Qg1 36.Nf1 h4 37.Kd2 Kb7 38.c3 { ? This seems a useful move but it is actually not great. Fabiano misses Black’s main threat. However, luckily for the American, so does Magnus. } 38…Be5 { Adequate to keep White praying for miracles. However, …Rg3 instead might have been rather dampening to the White hopes. The other factor here was the clocks. Caruana was in really serious time pressure and actually ended up making the time control with ten seconds to spare. With a few more problems to solve and maybe a surprise like Rg3, he may just have had one or two things too many to think about.. } ( 38…Rg3 { I don’t know whether it is all the online tactical training I have been doing where these kinds of moves are commonplace, but this move had been glaring at me for a while. However, I could not see where Black goes after Nxg3 hxg3, Rg2. Magnus said in the press conference afterwards that he could not make it work either. } 39.Nxg3 { If White does not have this move, then he is just lost after …Rg3, so this is the critical move. } 39…hxg3 { The powerful recapture, there is nothing in …fxg3. And the tempo on the rook will allow Black to swing the Queen over to b1 or a1. } 40.Rg2 { It seems to make sense to hit the Queen. If Re2 then …Be5 seems good for Black. } 40…Qa1 41.d4 { White is losing here, but this seems to be the most productive move if he doesn’t want to resign (which he probably shouldn’t do yet). There is certainly no point in trying to hang onto the a-pawn, after a2-a4, Black just plays …Qb2+ followed by …Qxc3. } 41…Qxa2+ 42.Ke1 Qxb3 { And Black has got more than good return for his rook, with White’s Queen and Rook tied up defending. Further more, it is only a matter of time before the Black Queenside pawns start to march. I don’t think there would be much hope for Caruana here. } ) 39.Kc2 Qg7 { Magnus is beginning to lose his way. But things are tricky now. Best seems to be b6-b5 but the World Champion had declined it. The point is that it is hard for White to make moves and that is why Black is so much better. However, the question is whether Black can achieve anything or not by force. 38…Rg3 may have been the way. } 40.Nh2 Bxc3 41.Qxf4 { White begins to increase activity from here and Black’s advantage dissipates. Evaluations stay much in his favour, but the likely outcome is now a draw. } 41…Bd4 42.Qf7+ Ka6 43.Qxg7 Rxg7 44.Re2 { Now it is pretty much a draw because of the e-pawn which will start to advance. } 44…Rg3 45.Ng4 Rxh3 46.e5 Rf3 47.e6 Rf8 48.e7 Re8 49.Nh6 h3 50.Nf5 Bf6 51.a3 b5 52.b4 cxb4 53.axb4 Bxe7 54.Nxe7 h2 55.Rxh2 Rxe7 { At this point, though Black has an extra pawn, there is no way for him to do anything with good play by White and no one would expect anything other than good play by White from here. Amazingly, we are only approaching half way in the game! If you will forgive me, I am not going to comment on the remaining moves because there is very little to say other than that they are pointless and a bemusing waste of the players energy. } 56.Rh6 Kb6 57.Kc3 Rd7 58.Rg6 Kc7 59.Rh6 Rd6 60.Rh8 Rg6 61.Ra8 Kb7 62.Rh8 Rg5 63.Rh7+ Kb6 64.Rh6 Rg1 65.Kc2 Rf1 66.Rg6 Rh1 67.Rf6 Rh8 68.Kc3 Ra8 69.d4 Rd8 70.Rh6 Rd7 71.Rg6 Kc7 72.Rg5 Rd6 73.Rg8 Rh6 74.Ra8 Rh3+ 75.Kc2 Ra3 76.Kb2 Ra4 77.Kc3 a6 78.Rh8 Ra3+ 79.Kb2 Rg3 80.Kc2 Rg5 81.Rh6 Rd5 82.Kc3 Rd6 83.Rh8 Rg6 84.Kc2 Kb7 85.Kc3 Rg3+ 86.Kc2 Rg1 87.Rh5 Rg2+ 88.Kc3 Rg3+ 89.Kc2 Rg4 90.Kc3 Kb6 91.Rh6 Rg5 92.Rf6 Rh5 93.Rg6 Rh3+ 94.Kc2 Rh5 95.Kc3 Rd5 96.Rh6 Kc7 97.Rh7+ Rd7 98.Rh5 Rd6 99.Rh8 Rg6 100.Rf8 Rg3+ 101.Kc2 Ra3 102.Rf7+ Kd6 103.Ra7 Kd5 104.Kb2 Rd3 105.Rxa6 Rxd4 106.Kb3 Re4 107.Kc3 Rc4+ 108.Kb3 Kd4 109.Rb6 Kd3 110.Ra6 Rc2 111.Rb6 Rc3+ 112.Kb2 Rc4 113.Kb3 Kd4 114.Ra6 Kd5 115.Ra8 1/2-1/2[/pgn]
