Newsblog WCC Carlsen-Karjakin, 2016-11-15

11/15/2016 – Game four ended in a draw! As in game three Carlsen reached a good, almost winning position but failed to win. After more than six hours of play the game was drawn. Another disappointment for Carlsen and another example of Karjakin's defensive skills. After four games the score is 2-2 and Karjakin still has to find a way to put Carlsen under pressure while Carlsen has to find a way to win his good positions. More...

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World Chess Championship News - 2016-11-15

02.24 / 20.24: Draw! Karjakin again managed to save an inferior position.

Game 4 - Notes by Dorian Rogozenco

 

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

01.56 / 19.56: Carlsen seems to have no clear winning plan but keeps pushing - but without putting White under real pressure.

01.52 / 19.52: Carlsen has ten minutes left for the rest of the game, Karjakin has 40.

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."

01.21 / 19.21: Is the position really won for Black? Or did Carlsen spoil his chances again?

 

01.15 / 19.15: Although the engines claim a black advantage there is no sense of progress in the lines they display. Just a lot of piece shuffling. Likewise, the masters and grandmasters in the press room are unable to find any promising lines. Though Carlsen can win of course, right now it seems like Karjakin has a fortress of sorts.

01.00 / 19.00: After spending a lot of time to find the right response to 43.g4 Carlsen now plays quickly and seems to know how he wants to win the game.

00.19 / 18.19: Karjakin tries to force things in the endgame with 43.g4, a move the engines do not particularly like but which makes Carlsen think - he is probably trying to figure out which pawn structure offers the best chances to win.

00.03 / 18.03: Kajakin is once more holding on to dear life. Will he pull a Houdini once more?

23.48 / 17.38: The first time-control is reached. Carlsen has a clear endgame advantage and good chances to win. As he had yesterday.

23.36 / 17.36: In the VIP area are the doors of the private rooms for Team Carlsen and Team Karjakin.

23.24 / 17.24: Fabiano Caruana speculates about Karjakin's match strategy:

23.16 / 17.16: Judit Polgar: "When Karjakin gets a really horrible position he seems to pull himself together and say to himself: 'I will not lose.'"

23.00 / 17.00: After several exchanges an endgame is reached in which Carlsen hopes to make use of his bishops - which indeed look powerful.

22.36 / 16.36: Body language also seems to indicate that Carlsen is better.

22.23 / 16.07: Karjakin exchanges queens which leads to a better queenless middlegame for Black. In the first four games of the match Karjakin failed to get any advantage from the opening and in his second game with White he even ended up in a worse position right after the opening.

22.07 / 16.07: Thoughts by Fabiano Caruana:

21.51 / 15.51: Things seem to go well for Carlsen. According to the engines Karjakin did not find the best line after 18...Qc6 and after the game continuation 19.Bxc4 bxc4 the computers see a clear advantage for Black.

21.48 / 15.48: After 18...Qc6 Judit Polgar stated she would prefer to play with Black in this position "because I think I would have more chances to win with Black".

21.39 / 15.39: Carlsen quickly countered 18.Bxh6 with 18...Qc6 which set Karjakin thinking again.

Screenshot from the official transmission

21.35 / 15.35: Nigel Short on Twitter:

21.30 / 15.30: After thinking for some time Karjakin forces things by playing 18.Bxh6!? leading to a positon Judit Polgar considered to be "extremely critical position" and "extremely sharp".

21.26 / 15.26: While Karjakin calculates variations, Carlsen decided to lay down on the sofa to relax.

21.18 / 15.18: Things got suddenly tactical. Carlsen opened the position with 14...d5 which soon led to complications. The engines keep calm however and evaluate the position as equal.

21.06 / 15.06: After playing the first moves quickly Karjakin and Carlsen slow down and start to think.

Screenshot from the official transmission

20.25 / 14.25: Do Carlsen and Karjakin share the feelings Nigel Short voiced via Twitter?

20.21 / 14.21: The fourth game has started and already two different presentations are being announced for the Café area. One is a new mobile app that combines visual recognition of chess pieces for broadcasts (more an this later) and a 12-round blitz tournament for school children.

20.15 / 14.15: Both players blitzed out their first moves and seemed to be happy and prepared to bring an Anti-Marshall on the board.

20.04 / 14.04: The game started. As in game two Karjakin played 1.e4 and Carlsen countered with 1...e5 which quickly led to a Ruy Lopez.

19.30 /13.30: Game four of the World Championship match will begin in half an hour. Karjakin has White. Should he win it would be his first win with White against Carlsen in a game with classical time-control. From the previous 13 classical games in which Karjakin had White he drew 11 and lost 2.

 

2016wccgame4

 

16.37 / 10.37: You can never watch enough video analysis. Here's Daniel King's video. 

15.28 / 9.55: A draw is a draw is draw - but some are more exciting than others. Some games are like poetry, some are to fall in love with: This a was an interesting one, and Teimur Radjabov agrees: 

13.55 / 7.55: Karsten Müller was right in his prediction about Sergey Karjakins skills to perform wonders when defending. New in our opinion polls: the proud president of the Norwegian Chess Federation and Dorian Rogozenco.

12:48 / 6:48: Have a look at snippets from the press conference of game 3

11.57 / 5.57: Yannick Pelletier has redorded a round up show on playchess.com which you can watch here.

11.48 / 5.48: Have a look at impressions from game 3

10.51 a.m. Mumbai/ 6.21 a.m. Hamburg/ 00.21 a.m. New York: It was a mammoth fight between the 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: Draw! Karjakin defended stubbornly and saved the game. Tomorrow he will play with White.

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