2016 World Championship: Carlsen Wins, Equalizes the Scores
Thursday, November 24, 2016 at 8:35PM
Dennis Monokroussos in 2016 World Championship, Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin

It took ten games, but Magnus Carlsen finally got his first win, and thereby evened up the match with two games to go. It wasn't a perfect game, but it was a good, hard-fought, well-earned victory by Carlsen in his signature style, posing problem after problem and turning a tiny advantage into a 75-move win.

The big question, which will undoubtedly be addressed in the press conference, is why Sergey Karjakin twice rejected an idea that would have given him a draw (or an advantage, if Carlsen chose to play on): on both moves 20 and 21 the move ...Nxf2+ forces White to repeat moves or stand worse with a material deficit. So it was a good win by Carlsen, but if Karjakin ends up losing the match he may have years of nightmares and regrets about his missed opportunities in games 9 and 10.

Game 11 is on Saturday (Friday is a rest day), and then game 12 is on Monday after a further rest day. Meanwhile, here is game 10, with my notes. (They're not as thorough as they could have been for a grand battle like this, but it is Thanksgiving here in the U.S.)

Article originally appeared on The Chess Mind (http://www.thechessmind.net/).
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