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In their World Championship match 2018 in London Carlsen and Caruana drew all their twelve classical games but then Carlsen won the rapid tie-break 3:0. The classical game of the Norway Chess Tournament between Caruana and Carlsen also ended in a draw though Caruana missed a win in a complicated position with little time left on the clock.
With this Carlsen continued his streak of unbeaten games with classical time-control: he did not lose a single one of his last 68 games. But in the Armageddon game Caruana ended a streak of Carlsen: in the previous eight rounds of the Norway Chess Tournament Carlsen had to play six Armageddon games which he all won, but in his seventh and last Armageddon he lost against Caruana.
After an unorthodox opening Caruana had a slight advantage which he was able to increase and to convert to a full point.
Learning from the World Champions
With famous classical examples from the works of the giants, the author talks in detail about principles of chess and methods of play that we can use during every stage of the game.
Fabiano Caruana vs Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Three of the four other matches were also decided in Armageddon. Yu Yangyi scored the only win in classical chess and won with White against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
In their classical game Vishy Anand and Levon Aronian made an unspectacular draw which was followed by an interesting draw in the Armageddon. This draw with Black gave Aronian 1½ points and second place in the tournament — he had the same number of points as Yu Yangyi but the better tie-break.
Rocket Repertoire: The Four Knights
Like a fine wine, the Four Knights only improves with age, establishing itself as an extremely effective way of meeting 1...e5. On the outside this opening seems deceptively quiet, yet apparently natural moves can often lead to some devastating attacks.
The playing hall | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Wesley So and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave played an unspectacular draw in their classical encounter and then So won the Armageddon game, in which Vachier-Lagrave spoiled a big advantage.
Ding Liren and Alexander Grischuk also finished their classical game with a quick and unspectacular draw. In the Armageddon, however, Ding Liren failed to notice a tactical shot in the opening which gave Black an almost winning position. But in the end Grischuk was content with a draw as that was enough to win the Armageddon.
| # | Name | Country | Rating | Points |
| 1 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway | 2875 | 13½ |
| 2 | Levon Aronian | Armenia | 2752 | 10½ |
| Yu Yangyi | China | 2738 | 10½ | |
| 4 | Fabiano Caruana | USA | 2819 | 10 |
| Wesley So | USA | 2754 | 10 | |
| 6 | Ding Liren | China | 2754 | 8½ |
| 7 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | France | 2779 | 8 |
| Viswanathan Anand | India | 2767 | 8 | |
| 9 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | Azerbaijan | 2774 | 5½ |
| Alexander Grischuk | Russia | 2775 | 5½ |
