Today was the last white game of the World Champion so many expected him to push for a win. Sadly it was the most boring game in the match. Carlsen’s opponent from 2016 Sergey Karjakin made the first move and he took everyone by surprise, didn’t even ask Carlsen and just played 1.b4.
Game 10 turned out to be one of the most entertaining so far in the match. Tom Hollander, the famous English actor, was the honored guest for the First Move today. Once again Carlsen has replied 1…c5. You have to give him credit for this, although many think it does not suit his style he is insisting with the Sicilian.
The news before the game was that Carlsen suffered an injury from soccer. His Doctor downplays Carlsen’s blackeye…didn’t think his injury sustained on the players’ day off would cause any problems when more serious play resumed Wednesday afternoon.
Daniel Weil, a partner at Pentagram, the world’s largest independently owned design studio, and designer of the chess board made the First Move today.
Game 8 finally offered excitement for the fans. For the first time, White had better preparation, better position and was almost winning with having more time on the clock than in the start of the game! And then Caruana has shown low confidence. Instead to make 3 good moves, which were looking not so hard to find he started to think a lot on simple moves, and then in a completely open position played h3?
Game 7 was seen as very important as this was the second white game in a row for the World Champion and it was expected he will find a way to have a better position from the opening and push for a win. But Carlsen again makes no progress with white against Caruana. He repeated the line from game 2 and then deviated with Nd2 instead Rd1. But instantly Caruana went Qd8 and just like Rd8 in game 2 again the World Champion was surprised.
The World Champion, Magnus Carlsen, and challenger Fabiano Caruana tied at 3-3 at halftime in the World Championship match in London. The match has started with Caruana playing white. He decided to go for Rossolimo line against Sicilian, something he was consistently repeating in all 3 white games without much success.
Game 6 ended in a DRAW. Carlsen played 1.e4 – Petroff Defense and Fabiano equalized pretty easily. Next, the thriller began. Magnus was playing below his potential, underestimated few moves and got himself into serious trouble. Around move 60 he had to put all his creativity into play and build a fortress saving the day. Although, Fabiano still had winning chances as computer found MATE-IN-30 in one instance. This game proves that even draws can be VERY exciting. Tomorrow is the rest day, the action will resume on Sunday! – Ed.
One of the best ways to improve at chess is by recognizing your own shortcomings and limitations. It is no secret that the analysis of your own games is a great source of improvement, a fountain of chess knowledge. Even though this praxis has been recommended for centuries by every world champion and other notorious players, to this day we can say it is not that popular.
Today finally we had some excitement in the opening after the move 4.b4. Caruana was hoping to surprise his opponent but Carlsen handled the situation very well and after 15 moves we went into the equal endgame. It will be interesting to find out until which move was the home preparation from Caruana. Then after 17. c3 white had some problems and black were pressing for a win. In the end, Caruana played good defense and drew the game.
Game four of the World Chess Championship match in London was drawn after only 34 moves. Magnus Carlsen was angry with allowing his challenger Fabiano Caruana such an easy draw with black. Carlsen switched to the English with white but seemed to be thinking even in a position that Caruana had previously had over the board and never seemed to seriously trouble his opponent.
Fabiano Caruana looking very solid today and neutralized the champ without much trouble. Magnus looking slightly fed up. Once again the home preparation of Caruana with black was better, despite that English opening came as a surprise from Carlsen.