Chess and the Virtue of the Slow
An interesting article here about chess and the appeal of slower sports.
HT: Anon.
An interesting article here about chess and the appeal of slower sports.
HT: Anon.
This article strikes me more as a conclusion in search of a story than something real, but perhaps those more intimately aware of how Russia works from the inside will disagree and correct my error.
In passing, there are (at least) two or maybe three factual errors in the story. First and second, the author surely meant to say that Russians held the title from 1948 to 2007, not from 1958 to 2000. (Botvinnik was just as Russian in 1948 as he was a decade later, as was one-year titlelist Smyslov from 1957-1958. And of course Kramnik was a Russian during his reign from 2000 to 2007 - and he still is.) And third, one could fuss a bit over whether Tal and Petrosian should be called "Russian" as opposed to "Soviet". Both lived in Moscow at times, but my impression is that they would have considered themselves Latvian and Armenian, respectively.
HT: Aurelio
Today's game was short but well-played and full of content, and for the ninth time in the match a draw. Once again the game was a Ruy, and once again Sergey Karjakin failed to achieve anything substantive with the white pieces. With 17...c4 Magnus Carlsen showed that he wanted more than the slightly less active side of an equal position, and with 19...d5! gave Karjakin some problems to solve. And he did: he successfully navigated all the tactics, and in the end the perpetual check was forced for both sides.
Tomorrow is another rest day, and on Monday the classical portion of the match comes to an end with game 12; Carlsen will have white. If either player wins it, he wins the match; if not, there's another rest day followed by rapid (and if necessary, blitz) tiebreaks to determine the champion. In the meantime, my analysis of game 11 is here.
538 refers to a subsite on ESPN's webpage, run by Nate Silver and his merry band of statisticians. There's an article on the match there now, and the one statistical claim they offer is that Magnus Carlsen has a 38% chance of winning the match in 12 games, Sergey Karjakin only a 10% chance, with a 52% probability that the match will go to tiebreaks. (The odds for each player in those tiebreaks wasn't offered.)
HT: Ron Fenton
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.)
Sergey Karjakin still leads by a point with three games to go, but today he had a great chance to give himself a two-point lead over Magnus Carlsen.
The game was a very theoretical Neo-Archangelsk (aka the Malaniuk Variation, the Tkachiev Variation, the Yurtaev Variation...or maybe something else) that followed a Nakamura-Kasimdzhanov game from 2014 until Carlsen's 21...cxb3. Play carried on without anything too dramatic happening until move 38, when the general contours from 20 moves ago were still in place. White had an extra, passed d-pawn and the bishop pair, which was compensated by Black's healthy pieces and White's very ugly kingside pawn structure.
Here, Carlsen made a bad but understandable decision to reroute his knight to f5. Short of time, he played 38...Ne7, and now Karjakin thought for around 25 minutes, using almost all his remaining time. He had two options: 39.Bxf7+ and 39.Qb3. The latter move was best, and probably what he would have played with less time on the clock. Instead, he had enough time to delve and (I conjecture) spot some subtle resources for Carlsen that he didn't manage to overcome to his own satisfaction at the board, and so he chose 39.Bxf7+. As it turns out 39.Qb3 would have won, or at the very least have given him very serious winning chances, while his 39.Bxf7+ allowed Carlsen to reach a drawn ending.
A narrow escape for the champion, who was also in trouble in game 5 after missing real opportunities in games 3 and 4. Not all is lost for him, of course: he still has White in games 10 (tomorrow/today = Thursday) and 12, and only needs one win to force a rapid playoff. Only three games remain, but there have been at least three world championship matches where a player won in the final game to save his title, so it can be done. (The three are Lasker-Schlechter in 1910, Kasparov-Karpov from Seville in 1987, and then Kramnik-Leko in Brissago in 2004.)
The game, with my notes, is here.
Neither Lasker-Schlechter nor Anand-Gelfand managed to finish with all draws, and now Carlsen-Karjakin won't either. Sergey Karjakin opened the scoring with a win, and now leads 4.5-3.5 with four games remaining (assuming the match goes its full length and doesn't go to tiebreaks).
Magnus Carlsen had White and played the Zukertort System of all things, trying as always both to surprise Karjakin and to reach a position with play. He may have surprised Karjakin, but when it came to creating chances he was less successful. If anything, it was Karjakin who had a little opportunity on move 19, and maybe Karjakin's decision to forego this chance, as well as some other opportunities in the match, dulled Carlsen's sense of danger.
Carlsen kept taking risks, avoiding options on moves 24, 28, and 31 that would in each case have led to a speedy draw. Carlsen finally went too far with a blunder on move 35. Both players were in time trouble though, and Karjakin blundered right back on move 37, restoring equality.
After the time control Carlsen could have drawn more than one way, but unfortunately for him he recovered his appetite and once again started playing for more. In fact this was more dangerous for him than for Karjakin, but even after a sloppy 49th move the position remained defensible. On move 51, however, he erred again, and after two precise moves by the challenger the game was over.
Will Carlsen stage a successful comeback, or will Karjakin's lifelong ambition be realized? We'll see starting on Wednesday, as Tuesday is a rest day. Meanwhile, here is today's game, with my annotations.
Sergey Karjakin wasn't having much success as White in the Ruy Lopez, so today he tried something different and played 1.d4. The game started as a Slav that quickly transposed into a Queen's Gambit Accepted, and while the opening was different the result was the same as in all the other games of the match so far: a draw. Maybe Karjakin had a chance for a small edge early on with 11.Qxd8+; after his 11.Nd2 it was Carlsen who was a little better. That didn't last very long, but even so, after 16...Rc8 Carlsen invited Karjakin to win a pawn at the cost of allowing an essentially drawn (just about dead drawn) ending. The game ended after 33 moves, and tomorrow (Monday) it will be Carlsen's turn to see if he can make something of the White pieces.
Here's today's game, with my notes.
That makes six out of six. It's good for building the tension!
Game six was, like game 4, a Closed Ruy, but after 8...0-0 9.h3 Bb7 10.d3 Carlsen went for a Marshall approach this time with 10...d5. His 14th move was a novelty, and while there are a couple of spots where Karjakin might seek improvements in the future, Carlsen had no trouble at all as the game actually went. After three very long and tough games, this one was very short, finishing in just 32 moves, and gave the players half a rest day before the official one on Saturday. (The game, with my notes, is here.)
The match is half over, and in keeping with rules that have been standard for several matches the color order now switches: Karjakin will have White in the odd-numbered games, starting with game 7, today (Sunday).
There isn't anything about the Magnus film in this interview with Henrik Carlsen (Magnus's father), but the interview may itself be of interest.
HT: Stuart Wallace