World Chess Championship News - 2016-11-24

Game No 10 - Notes by Wesley So

02.32 / 20.32: Karjakin resigns! Carlsen equalized the match. This loss might be a heavy blow for Karjakin who could have drawn in about 20 moves. With two games to play the score is now 5-5.

9.00 Mumbai/ 4.30 Hamburg/ 22.30 New York: ChessBase India tries a novel idea of analyzing the tenth game with the new Tactical Analysis feature of ChessBase 14. Check it out here. 

02.27 / 20.27: Carlsen solved his biggest problems and reached a rook endgame that looks like a relatively easy technical win. Judit Polgar: "It is impossible that Carlsen does not win."

02.17 / 20.17: A rook endgame is on the board and this endgame is probably won - but Carlsen still might go wrong.

02.10 / 20.10: Karjakin shows tenacious defense again and with 63...Kb8 poses Carlsen unexpected problems. Moreover, Carlsen's clock is ticking down and he suddenly has to find precise moves to secure the win.

02.02 / 20.02: It's an endgame but suddenly tactics flare up and Karjakin might have hopes that Carlsen goes astray in the complications.

01.54 / 19.54: Susan Polgar sums it up:

This is in Carlsen's hands now to even up the match. Karjakin screwed up badly twice on move 20-21 by not finding the draw #CarlsenKarjakin

— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) November 25, 2016

01.45 / 19.45: Carlsen's pawn push 57.b5 netted him a pawn and Carlsen reaches the second time-control after 60 moves a pawn up. He is now close to equalizing the match.

Carlsen and Karjakin after reaching the second time-control

01.38 / 19.38: After moving about with his rooks for some time Carlsen finally gets active and advances his b-pawn with 57.b5, breaking open Black's king position. The engines now see Karjakin in serious trouble.

01.03 / 19.03: Does Carlsen have a way to break through Karjakin's defenses? Opinions are divided:

Carlsen should not have said that he does not believe in fortresses. We got another one I guess. #CarlsenKarjakin #defender

— Elshan Moradiabadi (@eli_1985_mor) November 25, 2016

49Kh3
Beginning to think Magnus's chances are quite good. Clear idea of f3 and g4 and Black cannot afford rook on h-file.#CarlsenKarjakin

— Jonathan Rowson (@Jonathan_Rowson) November 25, 2016

00.41 / 18.41: It's similar to game four: Carlsen is better but has to find a way to win.

00.14 / 18.14: Judit Polgar: "Of course, White is better in this endgame and Black might have to suffer for hours but the position is not lost yet."

23.56 / 17.56: This game is crucial for the match. If Karjakin manages to hold a worse position again he is not only leading with 5.5-4.5 but would also have a clear psychological advantage in the last two games. However, if Carlsen wins this game he might have a psychological advantage in the last two games, much more so because Karjakin missed a couple of chances in game ten.

23.39 / 17.39: The endgame is better for White but Carlsen takes his time - and now is behind Karjakin on the clock.

Karjakin on the defense again

23.20 / 17.20: Carlsen now has a clearly better endgame.

This is the critical moment of the match. If Carlsen cannot win this dream ending he will not win the match #CarlsenKarjakin

— Daniel Gormally (@elgransenor1) November 24, 2016

23.05 / 17.05: The tension is rising and Carlsen and Karjakin both played moves that Judit Polgar and Ian Nepomniachtchi found hard to comprehend.

Position after 26.Rfe1

Judit Polgar and Ian Nepomniachtchi were wondering what would White now do after 26...Raf8? After the natural 27.Re2 Black has 27...Nf4+ with the idea 28.gxf4 gxf4 threatening 29...f3+. But instead Karjakin played 26...h5 and was worse.

22:56 / 16.56: Now an endgame is on the board which made Judit Polgar exclaim: "Oh my God, what a beautiful position for White. It's going to be an awful difficult for Sergey... This is Magnus' favorite type of position." Ian Nepomniachtchi predicted "endless torture" for Black.

22.47 / 16.47: After missing (?) the possible (?) draw Karjakin seems to drift into an endgame that Judit Polgar things to be "long and painful" for Black. "This is Magnus' chance."

22.42 / 16.42: What happened? Experts wonder:

Don't know what is most shocking, 19 Bxe6 or 20...d5. Both hard to understand given the match and time situation. Tension! #CarlsenKarjakin

— Lars Bo Hansen (@GMLars) November 24, 2016

Surprise in NY about Karjakin's 20...d5. Did he overlook the forced draw with Nxf2... Game on now! #worldchess2016 #CarlsenKarjakin

— Lawrence Trent (@LawrenceTrentIM) November 24, 2016

Karjakin is way too experienced to avoid a repetition with the current match situation,this was simply a tactical oversight #CarlsenKarjakin

— Cristian Chirila (@CristianChirila) November 24, 2016

22.35 / 16.35: Either Karjakin did not want the perpetual or he did not see it - or he saw more than the commentators. At any rate, after Carlsen's 20.Nd2 he quickly played 20...d5 avoiding the possible perpetual.

22.22 / 16.22: Will the game suddenly end in a draw? By exchanging on e6 on move 19 Carlsen opened the f-file for Black and Judit Polgar and Ian Nepomniachtchi discovered drawing lines in the analysis room.

Position after 19.Bxe6 fxe6.

One drawing line given by Judit Polgar is 20.Nd2 Nxf2+ 21.Kg2 Nh4+ 22.Kg1 Nh3+ 23.Kh1 and now Black can force a repetition of moves with 23...Nf2+ 24.Kg1 Nh3+.

22.04 / 16.04: How important will the clock be in this game?

Sergei fans among my crew are rather concerned about his time management today. Can't be a good sign. #CarlsenKarjakin

— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) November 24, 2016

I predict that Karjakin will have a brain freeze, choke and hand Carlsen a win in time trouble #CarlsenKarjakin

— Daniel Gormally (@elgransenor1) November 24, 2016

22.02 / 16.02: "No pressure, no diamonds." Thomas Carlyle

21.48 / 15.48: After 16 moves Carlsen is more than 25 minutes ahead on the clock. While Karjakin used a lot of time for his last moves, Carlsen played quickly and appears confident.

21.34 / 15.34: After Carlsen's 15.Bc4 it was Karjakin's turn to go into the tank and he spent more than 20 minutes on his next move.

21.26 / 15.26: “Well, it’s pressure, there’s no doubt. I was nervous and that’s a good thing. That means you care. You can try and use that energy as best you can to heighten your focus and then get into the right situation and it worked out great for me this week.”

Golf player Tiger Woods after winning the 2008 US Open

21.13 / 15.13: If Carlsen just wanted to have a playable, strategically complex game with White in game ten, his opening was a success.

Although not very frightening, it's strategically complex now. All about small subtleties. #CarlsenKarjakin

— Vidit Gujrathi (@viditchess) November 24, 2016

21.00 / 15.00: "Chess gives children so much emotionally and socially." Said Judit Polgar while discussing with Spanish chess journalist Leontxo Garcia why chess is an attractive and inspiring game.

20.55 / 14.55: After 12...Qf6 by Karjakin Carlsen went into the tank and thought for more than 25 minutes before playing 13.g3. Carlsen's long think made Judit Polgar comment: "Usually not a good sign."

Focused: World Champion Magnus Carlsen

20.42 / 14.42: Some observers liked Carlsen's opening choice...

I like this as an opening choice. Fits the bill. Hope it is actually good as well. #CarlsenKarjakin

— Jonathan Tisdall (@GMjtis) November 24, 2016

Liking Carlsen's opening play here! Now 12...f5 13.g3 Nh3+ 14.Kg2 fe 15.de is a fighting position. #CarlsenKarjakin

— Erwin l'Ami (@erwinlami) November 24, 2016

... and some did not:

#CarlsenKarjakin well... I like Black's position, but even more with f5 idea.. This opening prep is not very scary.

— Paco Vallejo (@Chessidharta) November 24, 2016

Everyone is praising Carlsen's opening choice. Looks harmless and more like a bluff. Not impressed! #CarlsenKarjakin

— Vidit Gujrathi (@viditchess) November 24, 2016

20.37 / 14.37: Nobody knows what the future will bring but maybe that's why people like predictions. Sam Shankland dared a "bold" one:

Bold Prediction: 1-0 today. #worldchess2016

— Sam Shankland (@GMShanky) November 24, 2016

20.13 / 14.13: After playing the first nine moves quickly, Carlsen and Karjakin slowed down and took more time for their moves.

Still preparation?

20.03 / 14.03: It's a Ruy Lopez again. After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 Karjakin invited Carlsen to a Berlin but the World Champion politely and quickly declined with 4.d3.

19.50/ 13.50: Game ten will begin in ten minutes. Will Carlsen bounce back and show a strong finish as he has done so often in tournaments in the past? But how? And what opening did he and his team prepare for such a situation?

17.09 / 11.09 am: Did the players consider 46.Qh8+ and then 47.Qd4 instead of 46.Qd4? .

16.22 / 10.22 am: Magnus Carlsen about game 8 and what happened afterwards.

15.43 / 9.43 am: Impressions from game 9.

18.30 Mumbai/ 14.00 Hamburg/ 8.00 New York: IM Sagar Shah analyzes the ninth game on ChessBase India newspage and points out the various critical and key positions from the game.

Which Archangel was it? Gabriel, the Messenger? Raphael, the Pilgrim or Michael, Vanquisher of the devil? Uriel, Light and Fire of God? Defeat threatened to strike down the Champion this time. The drama was in the air. Some expected the game to peter out in a quick draw, following the russian rule that after a defeat, being shaky it's good to reach normality again. The Black position started boldly with an ambitious line of the Ruy Lopez - the Archangelsk. Black was ready to play actively while giving away a pawn for superior coordination and activity. No big deal these times, seventy years after the baptism of the Volga Gambit in the magazine 'Shakhmaty v SSSR'. Watching the game, Fabiano Caruana initially expected a short game with a peaceful result. But have a look and follow his annotations, which again provides ample food for thought.

12.36 / 6.36 am: Our snippets from the press conference part 2, here questions from the audience.

12.34 / 6.34 am: Our snippets from the press conference, here analysis from the players.

11.38 / 5.38 am: Daniel King did a round up show on playchess.com of game 9. Click here to watch it for free.

Nov. 24, 7.25 Hamburg / Nov. 24, 1.25 am New York: What a fight! Complaining about the many draws misses the point. In game nine the Champion had Black and was on the verge of another defeat and being down 3.5-5.5 in the match with only three games to go. The theme of the game: The Archangel. Not enough drama?

The spectators saw Carlsen in real danger. One of them was Teimur Radjabov:

There is a good chance Carlsen will be 0-2 after today #carlsenkarjakin

— Teymur Rajabov (@rajachess) 23. November 2016

Of course, Karjakin could have played better in the second half of the game (but for this "Coulda. Shoulda. Woulda." see Yasser Seirawan's notes to game 3) but it's easy to find improvements with an engine running. However, at the board in New York Karjakin was all alone. He was +1 ahead, had a good position, enough time. Combining optimism and caution he reaches for the title that seems to be close and ready to be grabbed. But he is still fighting against the best player on the planet.

"Well, it could have been much worse." #CarlsenKarjakin #vgsjakk pic.twitter.com/LND9xRGPim

— Olimpiu G. Urcan (@OlimpiuUrcan) November 23, 2016

1.40 / 7.40 pm: Draw! After more than five and a half hours of play.

1.13 / 7.13 pm: 

I'm pretty sure even I would hold this position as Black against Karjakin, so I'm calling it a draw. Good night.#CarlsenKarjakin

— Jonathan Rowson (@Jonathan_Rowson) November 24, 2016

1.10 / 7.10 pm: Carlsen succeeded in placing his pieces quite well while Karjakin has not made any progress - a draw seems inevitable.

0.45 / 6.45 pm: Carlsen seems to be relieved, the game could have gone much worse.

0.32 / 6.32 pm: 

Stakes still high - very safe & not harmless edge - SK can torture, MC must show defensive skills to keep the match alive. #CarlsenKarjakin

— Jonathan Tisdall (@GMjtis) November 23, 2016

0.29 / 6.29 pm: According to Polgar, Magnus has to decide whether to bring his king to the queenside or leave it on the kingside. It's a long way to go, but he should draw it in the end.

0.12 / 6.12 pm: Magnus is a bit lucky that the position holds.

0.12 / 6.12 pm: 

Black holds after Nf5 now. And it's much easier for the human than g5. #carlsenkarjakin

— Teymur Rajabov (@rajachess) November 23, 2016

0.02 / 6.02 pm: The 40th move have been reached. Karjakin sacrificed his light squared bishop on f7 but has a strong attack and may win his material back. A huge chance for the challenger to increase the standing on 2-0, but Carlsen may hoild with precise play.

23.52 / 5.52 pm: Karjakin takes his time on this important decision - he goes down to the five minutes mark but still shows no sign of nervousness.

23.50 / 5.50 pm: "In this game Sergey played better than Magnus" (Judit Polgar)

23.45 / 5.45 pm: Body language: Karjakin highly concentrated and bend forward, Carlsen seems to be deeply dissatisfied, almost nauseated with his position. Definitely a big moment in the match!

23.40 / 5.40 pm: 

Karjakin calculating the almost winning continuation 39.Qb3! followed by 40.Bxf7!

23.35 / 5.35 pm: Radjabov already sees it executed:

Karjakin,senses the moment,plays very good game,Magnus self-destructs and we are going to have 2-0 in Sergey's favor! Nice game by white!

— Teymur Rajabov (@rajachess) November 23, 2016

23.33 / 5.33 pm: After Carlsen's 38...Ne7 L'Ami spots a tactic:

Wow 39.Qb3! Nf5 40.Bxf7! (40...Kg7 41.Rh3!) is huge now. #CarlsenKarjakin

— Erwin l'Ami (@erwinlami) November 23, 2016

+ + + 

World Chess Championship 2016 Newsblogs:

• November 23, Game No. 9, notes by Fabiano Caruana
• November 22, Rest Day
• November 21, Game No. 8, notes by Fabiano Caruana
• November 20, Game No. 7, notes by Tiger Hillarp Persson
• November 19, Rest Day
• November 18, Game No. 6, notes by Tiger Hillarp Persson
• November 17, Game No. 5, notes by John Nunn
• November 16, Rest Day
• November 15, Game No. 4, notes by Dorian Rogozenco
• November 14, Game No. 3, notes by Yasser Seirawan
• November 13, Rest Day
• November 12, Game No. 2, notes by Ruslan Ponomariov
• November 11, Game No. 1, notes by Ruslan Ponomariov