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10.51 a.m. Mumbai/ 6.21 a.m. Hamburg/ 00.21 a.m. New York: It was a mammoth fight between world's leading expert on chess technique and the master of chess defence. Game three annotations and key points on the ChessBase India website by IM Sagar Shah.
2:40 / 8:40 pm: Draw! Karjakin defended stubbornly and saved the game. Tomorrow he will have White.
1:40 / 7:40 pm: Carlsen still has a small advantage and will press for a long time...no end in sight.
1:10 / 7:10 pm:
1:05/ 7:05 pm: Carlsen seems to be unhappy about the latest developments.
Carlsen seems to realize that 48...Rh5 may have saved the game.
0:59 / 6:59 pm: According to the search function "similar endgames" in ChessBase 12 or 13, the game Sjugirov-Sasikiriran, Aeroflot Open 2012, comes closest to the current position in Carlsen - Karjakin.
Sjugirov - Sasikiran, position after 46...Nd5. Of course, the colors are reversed to the game Carlsen-Karjakin.
0:45 / 6:45 pm: Judit Polgar attests Karjakin's good practical chances to hold the game. The coordination of the white pieces is a bit disturbed.
0:26 / 6:26 pm:
The Café in the venue is full of players and fans who enjoy the atmosphere, follow and discuss the games and play.
0:06 / 6:06 pm: In the three WCC matches Carlsen has played so far, he took the lead by winning with the white pieces. In 2013 he won game five, in 2014 he already won in game two. Will he succeed this time?
23:53 / 5:53 pm:
Andrew Murray-Watson from AGON (left) talks with German chess journalist Stefan Löffler.
Murray-Watson claims that in the first 48 hours after the start of the match their widget, not including affiliates, had around 500,000 unique visits.
23:46 / 5.46 pm: After having played his 40th move Carlsen looks very confident.
Magnus takes the lead - after 40 moves he is a pawn up and has the better position.
23:29 / 5.29 pm: Carlsen is now a pawn up and should have high winning chances. Karjakin must have misplayed his position in the last hour.
23:07 / 5.07 pm: Carlsen's long-time second Ian Nepomniachtchi anticipates Carlsen's Rg8!
23:02 / 5.02 pm: Carlsen is threatening Rg5, Karjakins counters very actively with 31...c5!? The game becomes more and more interesting! Is ...c5 a brave decision by Karjakin or is he over-enthusiastic?
22:43 / 4.43 pm:
In spite of the lack of action on the board, many spectators still enjoy themselves in the café area.
22:57 / 4.57 pm: Similarities to the 1st game are quite obvious: Carlsen again has the knight vs. the bishop, and he again fixes his pawn on f4.
The position of the 1st game after Karjakin's 26...Kd8
22:37 / 4.37 pm: Judit Polgar is critical of Karjakin's decision to keep the bishop on the board. She would have gone for the pure rook endgame, which she thinks is the safer alternative for Black. She believes that Karjakin will have problems to activate his pieces after Carlsen's f4.
22:23 / 4.23 pm: Karjakin declines the exchange of the minor pieces, Carlsen is trying to make progress with 25.f4.
22:05 / 4.05 pm:
A new version of Magnus Carlsen's mobile app was announced during game three. After the presentation, several TV networks invited the CEO of PlayMagnus (right) to a quick chat.
22:01 / 4.01 pm: According to Judit Polgar, the official commentator of the match, Karjakin has to take care of two things in his position: the e-file and the f5 square. With 20...f5 and 21...Kf7 he does just that and after two hours of play, the position now looks pretty equal and drawish.
21:39 / 3:39 pm:
21:33 / 3:33 pm: After Carlsen exchanged on d6, Karjakin seems relieved. His weak light squares do not seem to bother him too much.
21:30 / 3.30 pm:
Carlsen's sister is in New York, at the venue. She was recognized very quickly and was soon asked for selfies and autographs.
21:13 / 3:13 pm: Judit Polgar likes Carlsen's position and expects a long and hard defensive task for Karjakin. With his last move 17.g3 the World Champion hints at a possible Bh3!?
20:39 / 2:39 pm: Karjakin has already spent nearly half an hour while Carlsen is still blitzing out his moves.
20:19 / 2:19 pm: 10.Re2 seems to catch Karjakin by surprise as he went into deep thought after this move. The move has indeed appeared rarely so far, Rustam Kazimdzhanov played it against Hrant Melkumyan in the german Bundesliga last year and Spanish GM Vallejo Pons repeated it the Iranian youngster Tabatabaei. Both games ended in a draw.
20:13 / 2:13 pm: The 5.Re1 line does not appear to be the critical test of the Berlin, we can be curious what Magnus has prepared.
20:04 / 2:04 pm: Carlsen goes for 1.e4 this time, Karjakin unsurprisingly chooses the ultra-solid Berlin Defense.
19:36 / 1:36 pm: 25 minutes until the game starts. The venue is considerably emptier today, which is to be expected as it is a Monday. Probably more press than actual spectators at the moment, though this may change later.
19.10 / 13.10 am: Numbers: Game two was the 23rd game with classical time control Carlsen and Karjakin played against each other. In ten of these 23 games, Carlsen had White. Six times he opened with 1.d4 (six draws), two times he chose 1.Nf3 (one win, one loss), one time he played 1.c4 (draw), and one time he opted for 1.e4 - at the Grand Slam Masters Final in Bilbao in July 2016, the last time Carlsen won against Karjakin.
18.08 / 12.16 am: CBS Network has covered the World Chess Championship in their morning show - a noteworthy contribution.
16:16 / 10:16 AM: Today will be Magnus Carlsen's second white. In the press conference after game one, disappointed with the lackadaisical position he had obtained, he promised something different. Any guesses what that would be?
16:09 / 10:09 AM: There was to be a book launch today at the Fulton Market, which has now been moved to Thursday, Nov. 17. Invitations were sent out to the press describing the forthcoming book by former NYT columnist Dylan Loeb McClain, "FUEL is releasing this table top book profiling the rarest and most beautiful chess sets throughout history." Thursday we will be there and bring the news.
14.55 / 8.38 am: Too many rest days at the match? Jon Ludvig Hammer and Nigel Short seem to think so:
But who is John Oliver? Wikipedia has the biography, YouTube shows him in action.
12.38 / 6.38 am: Too little excitement in the first two games? At any rate, Nigel Short confessed to looking for distractions while following game two:
It is at moments like this when watching a game that I am grateful that I have plenty of wine in the house #CarlsenKarjakin
— Nigel Short (@nigelshortchess) November 12, 2016
13.31 / 7.31 am: By the way: the first official World Championship began in New York, 130 years ago. The match between Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort took place from 11th January to 29th March 1886, and the first five games were played in the Manhattan Chess Club. Zukertort did well in New York and went 4-1 ahead. But then the match moved to St. Louis and New Orleans and Zukertort suffered a reversal of fortune. In the end, Steinitz won 12.5-7.5 to become the first official World Chess Champion.
Wilhelm Steinitz
10.46 / 4.46 am: Daniel King just finished his game 2 summary on Playchess. Watch it once again here.
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