And the winner scoring 3-1 in the Rapid (25 minutes) games
is Magnus Carlsen who retains his crown for another two years.
So much for the myth that one should avoid chess on your birthday.
Carlsen is 26 today, Karjakin turned 26 on the 12th of January.
There is an excellent chance that this match will not be the last
of the Carlsen - Karjakin encounters. We may see as many of
these as we did Kasparov - Karpov matches, all five of them!
I’ll give a brief summary of the game. The full PGN is at the bottom.
The Rapid Play off (Game 1) Sergey Karjakin was White.
A Ruy Lopez with most of the action taking place
on the Queenside and centre and a lot of exchanges.
One brief moment of joy when Carlsen threatened mate.
Carlsen is threatening 36...Qg1 mate.
But to no one’s surprise Karjakin spotted it and the game was soon drawn..
We have an RHP example of one of our lads missing the same mating pattern.
Patriot - The Ricster RHP 2011 (White to play)
White played 17.Qf3 allowing 17...Qg1 mate.
Next is the final position of Rapid Game one. Agreed drawn after 38 moves.
The Rapid Play off (Game 2) Magnus Carlsen was White.
A Giuoco Piano resulting in a position where Karjakin had to give up two pieces
for a Rook. Carlsen ahead on time played it calmly by slowly mounting the pressure
on Karjakin by making him lose more precious time trying to keep Carlsen at bay.
Just when it seems Carlsen is about to mate Black he allows the Queens to
come off taking us to a Rook against two Bishop ending. with level pawns.
But as the game progressed it became clear Magnus had seen the winning
idea but had to overcome some very accurate defending from Karjakin.
Suddenly Carlsen had a win on the board, he missed it and Karjakin
pulled a very instructive draw out of the air. This is must know territory.
[FEN "7k/1r3Kp1/4Bp1p/8/6PP/B7/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
1. Be7 {This self pin gave Karjakin the shot he had been looking for.} 1... h5 {gxh5 Rxe7 and Carlsen is left with the wrong Bishop for Rooks pawn. The light squared Bishop does not cover a8.} 2. gxh5 f5 3. Bxf5 Rxe7+ 4. Kxe7 {A draw. It looks like White can Zugzwang Black into pushing his g-pawn. He can.......} 4... Kg8 5. Bc2 Kh8 6. Kf7 {Now Black has to push the g-pawn but stalemate comes to the rescue.} 6... g6 {6...g5 also draws as 7.hxg6 e.p. or 7. hxg5 is stalemate.} 7. h6 g5 {8. hxg5 is stalemate} 8. h5 g4 9. Be4 {This cannot be won by White the Bishop is of the wrong colour for the rook's Pawn.}
"This is must know territory" I originally screwed the notes up thinking
g6 actually lost but BigDoggProblem spotted a flaw and I corrected it.
The clear missed win by Carlsen.
[FEN "5Bk1/2r3p1/5pKp/5B2/6PP/8/8/8 w - - 0 72"]
72. Bb4 Rb7 {Karjakin had to play Rc6 to stop the check. Magnus now played Bd6. The missed win was.} 73. Be6+ Kh8 74. Bf8 {And Karjakin would have resigned because...} 74... Ra7 75. Bf7 {...Black has to give up the Rook to stop the mate.}
S. Karjakin - M. Carlsen Rapid Tie Break (Game 3)
After a ten minute break A Ruy Lopez and the previous game took it’s
toll on Karjakin who finally blundered and Carlsen for the first time in
the match took the lead. A disaster for Karjakin but there is one game left.
The Karjakin Blunder
White had to play 38.Rb1 and although it looks bad for
White there is no way for Carlsen to get at White’s King.
Carlsen replied with the obvious 38..Ra1 and Karjakin resigned right away.
M. Carlsen - S. Karjakin Rapid Tie Break (Game 4)
So it came down to the last game with Karjakin needing a win with
the Black pieces to stay in the match. He opted for a Sicilian and
did try to mix things up but Carlsen with his nose in front was not
going to get flustered and throw it away his crucial one game lead.
Carlsen defused the Black attempts to mix and crowned the game,.
with a beautiful Queen sacrifice. A worthy way to end the match.
[FEN "6k1/r3bpp1/1p1p4/5R1P/4Pp1q/5P2/3Q2KP/2R5 w - - 0 47"]
47. Qxf4 Ra2+ 48. Kh1 Qf2 {This looks frightening but watch this for a cool head under fire.} 49. Rc8+ Kh7 50. Qh6+ {Beautiful. Karjakin resigned. gxh6 then Rf7 is mate and if...} 50... Kxh6 51. Rh8# {A wonderful way to end the World Championship.}
Carlsen and Karjakin at the press conference after the match.
The four games in full.
S. Karjakin - M. Carlsen Rapid Tie Break (Game 1)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3 O-O 9. Nc3 Nb8 10. Ne2 c5 11. Ng3 Nc6 12. c3 Rb8 13. h3 a5 14. a4 b4 15. Re1 Be6 16. Bc4 h6 17. Be3 Qc8 18. Qe2 Rd8 19. Be6 fe6 20. d4 bc3 21. bc3 cd4 22. cd4 ed4 23. Nd4 Nd4 24. Bd4 Rb4 25. Rec1 Qd7 26. Bc3 Ra4 27. Ba5 Ra1 28. Ra1 Ra8 29. Bc3 Ra1 30. Ba1 Qc6 31. Kh2 Kf7 32. Bb2 Qc5 33. f4 Bd8 34. e5 de5 35. Be5 Bb6 36. Qd1 Qd5 37. Qd5 Nd5
M. Carlsen - S. Karjakin Rapid Tie Break (Game 2)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. a4 a6 7. c3 d6 8. Re1 Ba7 9. h3 Ne7 10. d4 Ng6 11. Nbd2 c6 12. Bf1 a5 13. de5 de5 14. Qc2 Be6 15. Nc4 Qc7 16. b4 ab4 17. cb4 b5 18. Ne3 ba4 19. Ra4 Be3 20. Be3 Ra4 21. Qa4 Ne4 22. Rc1 Bd5 23. b5 cb5 24. Qe4 Qc1 25. Qd5 Qc7 26. Qb5 Rb8 27. Qd5 Rd8 28. Qb3 Rb8 29. Qa2 h6 30. Qd5 Qe7 31. Qe4 Qf6 32. g3 Rc8 33. Bd3 Qc6 34. Qf5 Re8 35. Be4 Qe6 36. Qh5 Ne7 37. Qe5 Qe5 38. Ne5 Ng6 39. Bg6 Re5 40. Bd3 f6 41. Kg2 Kh8 42. Kf3 Rd5 43. Bg6 Ra5 44. Ke4 Rb5 45. h4 Re5 46. Kd4 Ra5 47. Kc4 Re5 48. Bd4 Ra5 49. Bc5 Kg8 50. Kd5 Rb5 51. Kd6 Ra5 52. Be3 Re5 53. Bf4 Ra5 54. Bd3 Ra7 55. Ke6 Rb7 56. Kf5 Rd7 57. Bc2 Rb7 58. Kg6 Rb2 59. Bf5 Rf2 60. Be6 Kh8 61. Bd6 Re2 62. Bg4 Re8 63. Bf5 Kg8 64. Bc2 Re3 65. Bb1 Kh8 66. Kf7 Rb3 67. Be4 Re3 68. Bf5 Rc3 69. g4 Rc6 70. Bf8 Rc7 71. Kg6 Kg8 72. Bb4 Rb7 73. Bd6 Kh8 74. Bf8 Kg8 75. Ba3 Kh8 76. Be6 Rb6 77. Kf7 Rb7 78. Be7 h5 79. gh5 f5 80. Bf5 Re7 81. Ke7 Kg8 82. Bd3 Kh8 83. Kf8 g5 84. hg6
S. Karjakin - M. Carlsen Rapid Tie Break (Game 3)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3 O-O 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Ba2 Be6 11. b4 Nc6 12. Nd5 Nd4 13. Ng5 Bd5 14. ed5 Nd7 15. Ne4 f5 16. Nd2 f4 17. c3 Nf5 18. Ne4 Qe8 19. Bb3 Qg6 20. f3 Bh4 21. a4 Nf6 22. Qe2 a5 23. ab5 ab4 24. Bd2 bc3 25. Bc3 Ne3 26. Rfc1 Ra1 27. Ra1 Qe8 28. Bc4 Kh8 29. Nf6 Bf6 30. Ra3 e4 31. de4 Bc3 32. Rc3 Qe5 33. Rc1 Ra8 34. h3 h6 35. Kh2 Qd4 36. Qe1 Qb2 37. Bf1 Ra2 38. Rc7 Ra1
M. Carlsen - S. Karjakin Rapid Tie Break (Game 4)
1.e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. f3 e5 6. Nb3 Be7 7. c4 a5 8. Be3 a4 9. Nc1 O-O 10. Nc3 Qa5 11. Qd2 Na6 12. Be2 Nc5 13. O-O Bd7 14. Rb1 Rfc8 15. b4 axb3 16. axb3 Qd8 17. Nd3 Ne6 18. Nb4 Bc6 19. Rfd1 h5 20. Bf1 h4 21. Qf2 Nd7 22. g3 Ra3 23. Bh3 Rca8 24. Nc2 R3a6 25. Nb4 Ra5 26. Nc2 b6 27. Rd2 Qc7 28. Rbd1 Bf8 29. gxh4 Nf4
30. Bxf4 exf4 31. Bxd7 Qxd7 32. Nb4 Ra3 33. Nxc6 Qxc6 34. Nb5 Rxb3 35. Nd4 Qxc4 36. Nxb3 Qxb3 37. Qe2 Be7 38. Kg2 Qe6 39. h5 Ra3 40. Rd3 Ra2 41.R3d2 Ra3 42. Rd3 Ra7 43. Rd5 Rc7 44. Qd2 Qf6 45. Rf5 Qh4 46. Rc1 Ra7 47. Qxf4 Ra2+ 48. Kh1 Qf2 49. Rc8+ Kh7 50. Qh6+
So that concludes the coverage of the 2016 World Championship.
Thank you for staying with me and a big thank you my fan club
The thread accompanying this blog is
Thread 171009