World Championship, Game 8: An Open Sicilian Results in Another Draw
At last we were treated to an Open Sicilian, as Fabiano Caruana finally put the Rossolimo on the shelf and met Magnus Carlsen's 2...Nc6 Sicilian with 3.d4. As most commentators (myself included) expected, Carlsen went for a Sveshnikov Sicilian, and (not necessarily as expected) Caruana went for the secondary line with 7.Nd5.
Of course Carlsen was prepared for this line, but Caruana's preparation went deeper, and he didn't have a real think until move 20. He wound up with a serious advantage, too, until the unnecessary prophylactic move 24.h3 gave Carlsen the tempo he needed to get his counterplay going. White more or less had to force a queen trade, and his advantage after this was too small to give him any serious hopes of winning. With just rooks and opposite-colored bishops remaining, Caruana offered a draw with his 38th move, and it was accepted.
Only four games remain, and we'll see game 9 on Wednesday, as tomorrow (Tuesday) is a rest day. Here's game 8, with brief notes.
Reader Comments (1)
DeepMind's Hassabis made the ceremonial first move.
The stuff he then said about A0 on the official broadcast is baloney. If he really believes some of his own comments, the most polite explanation is that he's lost all objectivity.
It's really sad that propaganda pays off like this.