Newsblog WCC Carlsen-Karjakin, 2016-11-16

World Chess Championship News - 2016-11-16

Game 4 - Notes by Dorian Rogozenco

18.27 / 12.27 pm: Daniel King also did a short video analysis (see a longer one here). Have a look:

16.11 / 10.11: The match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin is an event in New York. Which is shown by an interview of Norwegian chess journalist Kaja Marie Snare with young New Yorkers.

15.47 / 9.47 am: Hear the players respond to the questions: The press conference snippets

15.29 / 9.29 am: Here are some impressions from yesterday's game:

11.52 / 5.52 am: Our special service for you: Simon Williams's video analysis from playchess.com about game 5. Click here to watch.

9.25 / 3.25 am: Remarkably enough, the 26-year-old challenger didn‘t crack under pressure and didn’t show the lack of match experience Kasparov displayed vs. Karpov in the beginning of their first match, which was later aborted.

After Karjakin's 15.Qf3, the World Champion looked nervous, examining the area around his knight on f6 all the time and took his time before making sure he can reply …15.Na5. After 16.Ba2 de4 17.de4 Nc4 Karjakin went for 18.Bx6 instead of the safe 18.Ng4, but Carlsen showed Scandinavian sang-froid and countered with …18.Qc6. Maybe Karjakin underestimated this reply? The path to equilibrium narrowed down considerably, Carlsen’s pieces were ready to strike in no time like his favorite soccer team Real Madrid in the era of Carlo Ancelotti (compare to the fourth goal of the 4-0 vs. Bayern). 
After 18...Qc6, the online engine displayed a remarkably laconic '0.00' – you’re in a plane 30.000 ft above the ground and suddenly the air pressure drops. With a soft voice like the one of HAL 9000 the comp gives an eval of 0.00 – everything is under control, no need to worry. 
The audience wondered if Karjakin is going to retreat the bishop (19.Bc1), but to the surprise of most spectators the Russian put his head deeper into the lion’s mouth and played 19.Bxc4. So you decide to trade the bishop and now the air pressure in the airplane cabin drops even faster. The door disappears into the clouds - no 0.00 anymore, says HAL 9000. 'I’m sorry having to report a new evaluation, Dave. It’s not my fault.' Karjakin managed to hold the draw, and we’ll soon be publishing our commentary to show how he did it. So stay tuned.

8.17 Hamburg time / 2.18 New York City time: Sergey Karjakin is officially Sergey Houdini Karjakin now. 

Everyone was expecting the World Champion to finish the challenger off sooner or later. Bishop pair, better coordination, initiative, half open b-file, we all witnessed that. No one does it better. These are the grounds where the lion find's his zebras usually. Karjakin put his head into the lion's mouth, and we expected the beast to snap. Didn't happen. Coming up next: Karjakin puts his hand into the mouth of a crocodile, holding a big, juicy steak in his palm. 

It says it all, doesn't it? #CarlsenKarjakin pic.twitter.com/lKiHHeYYhT

— Olimpiu G. Urcan (@OlimpiuUrcan) November 16, 2016

Karjakin's performance in the last two games is remarkable. He doesn't lose his spirit in situations other top players might find unbearable. It's like Mission Impossible II, like The Great Escape, like I did it again. What's next? Is Karjakin going to swim with sharks? Will he be roofing the Shanghai Tower? 

>> Check out more pictures of Tippi Hedren with her pet lion here. <<

Sitting in front of a lion for hours is obviously not a challenge anymore for the Russian. If he needs a thrill, he might as well play 1...g5 after Carlsen's next 1.e4. 

BREAKING: Putin just appointed Karjakin RUS Minister of Defense R4 #CarlsenKarjakin

— Bobby Fiske (@BobbyFiske) November 16, 2016

Any more ideas for showing courage? Because it's a short distance match, any mistake might be fatal. In our prediction poll Mikhail Golubev stated that heavyweight fights like this one tend to be boring, because both players want to play it safe. Obviously, Karjakin has his own definition of safety. Reminds us of Ali vs. Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire 1974. Taking super-hard punches by Foreman continuosly, waiting for Foreman to be exhausted.  

Honestly impressive defense. Not every day that Carlsen fails to win 2 clearly better positions in a row #CarlsenKarjakin

— Fabiano Caruana (@FabianoCaruana) November 16, 2016

+ + +

2.10 / 20.10: Carlsen tries hard to keep winning chances but he might even try too hard.

01.30 / 19.30: Judit Polgar: "I have the feeling that if there is a win in the position, Magnus will find it. But I myself don't see it."

World Chess Championship 2016 Newsblogs:

• November 15th, Game No. 4, notes by Dorian Rogozenco
• November 14th, Game No.3, notes by Yasser Seirawan
• November 13th, Rest Day
• November 12th, Game No.2, notes by Ruslan Ponomariov
• November 11th, Game No.1, notes by Ruslan Ponomariov