Sergey Karjakin is the new Challenger!

The 2016 FIDE World Chess Candidates Tournament is a 14-round event, which determines the next Challenger to Magnus Carlsen's title, is taking place in Moscow from March 10–30. Eight players, including six of the World's top-ten rated grandmasters. The time control is 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move one. The guaranteed prize fund is US $420,000.

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Sergey Karjakin is the new Challenger!

Round fourteen report from Moscow by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal

Everyone was looking forward to that one duel – the battle which would decide who the Challenger of Magnus Carlsen would be. Sergey Karjakin and Fabiano Caruana were tied on the same points with 7.5/13. And the best part about the last round was that they were paired against each other. Amruta and I made our way to the Central Telegraph Building, and reached half an hour before the start of the game. Of course, we did not want to miss even a single moment. Around 2.45 p.m. players started to enter the tournament hall. Here's a video that shows the environment of the playing venue ten minutes before the start of the game.

Watch the players enter the playing venue,
and also find out who the volunteers thought would become the next Challenger

It was clear that between Karjakin and Caruana, the one who would win the game would become the champion. However, what exactly would happen in case of a draw? If Anand didn't win his game then Karjakin would be champion based on his greater number of wins (second tiebreak). However, if Vishy won his battle against Svidler and reached 8.0/14, then there would be a three-way tie for first, and in that case Caruana would be the champion, based on a superior head to head result (first tiebreak) against the other two. So you can see that Sergey and Fabiano not only had to focus on their own game but also on Anand vs Svidler. Amidst all the pressure and tension the games finally began at 3 p.m.

Handshake signalling the start of the most important game of the final round. The next handshake between them will decide who the challenger to Magnus Carlsen would be. Note the smile on the faces of both the players. The stakes are high, but camaraderie still exists!

The number of reporters and media coverage is just amazing!

And you can see some amazing equipments!

Sergey Karjakin could have begun the game with the safe 1.Nf3 but he decided to play the opening that he has the most experience in: 1.e4. Fabiano Caruana replied with the Sicilian Defence, a natural choice. If Fabiano had gone for a safer opening and reached an equal position, and realized that Vishy was drawing his game, there would be no way to win the title. By playing the Sicilian he sent out a clear message: he didn't really care what's going on on other boards, he wanted to win this game.

The imbalanced opening position was just what Caruana needed. White's superior development against Black's central pawn mass and the bishop pair. Black's main problem in this position is his king safety. But at this level if you want to play for a win, risk is inevitable.

Karjakin's 20.b3 was quite a double edged decision. On one hand he is securing the c4 square for his bishop, on the other he is weakening his dark squares. An idea like Qe5 followed by Bg7 and f5 would be extremely dangerous. But it takes time and is not so easy to execute. At the same time opening the a-file with a5-a4 is not advisable, as then the b4 pawn becomes weak and the queen is stuck to the c5 square. As you can see this position was extremely unbalanced and difficult to play for both sides. The computer evaluation also doesn't mean much because engines often suggest moves which humans could never think of. In such a situation you need to get the opinion of a strong chess player or trainer. I went outside the press room and found the perfect person to explain the position to me. He was none other than the famous trainer Mark Dvoretsky.

World famous trainer Mark Dvoretsky's opinion on Karjakin-Caruana after 21 moves

By the third hour of play all the other three games had ended – it looked like even the other players wanted to get over with it and focus on this all important game. Anand's game against Svidler had ended in a draw. This meant that Sergey could become the champion with just a draw. However, instead of letting such external factors affect him, Karjakin played the moves that were demanded by his position.

The pawn sacrifice with e4-e5 is not something that a person who requires just a draw would play. All that Karjakin wanted was to open the lines towards the black king. Objectively speaking this position is completely fine for Black. He is not even worse. However, with the impending time pressure, it is much more difficult to play Black's position than White's.

Fabiano's 36...Re5-e4 turned out to be the crucial blunder of the game. Karjakin spotted the tactical opportunity and immediately sacrificed his rook with Rxd5! As Sergey said after the game, "This was not such a difficult move to spot." The black king was just too exposed and on the 42nd move Caruana stretched out his hand in resignation. The entire playing hall erupted: Sergey Karjakin had done it, he had become the World Championship Challenger!

The electric atmosphere in the tournament hall after Karjakin's victory

Sergey Karjakin – Fabiano Caruana 1-0

Heartbroken. Spare a thought for Fabiano Caruana, who was so near to getting the match in his home country.

The nice thing to see was that Caruana could still maintain his smile at the press conference

"I pass the baton to you" – Vishy Anand congratulates Sergey Karjakin

Russians, Spanish, Indian, Dutch, German, you name it! Media from all over the world was present.

 Karjakin spoke about his mental approach to this tourament, what will be his first words
to his wife and son, and who his secret second was (spoiler: he is a strong Azerbaijani grandmaster).

World Cup 2015 and now the Candidates! Can anyone stop him?!!

Reactions of other grandmasters and colleagues on Karjakin's victory

Vladimir Potkin, Karjakin's second, speaks about his favourite game
and why playing in the Aeroflot Open was the right decision

It is always nice to get the views of the ACP President and strong grandmaster Emil Sutovsky

Daniil Dubov on why Karjakin has good chances in his match against Magnus Carlsen-
"He has lost to Magnus in the past but he doesn't fear him."

Olga Girya - "Sergey's move e5 was just wonderful!"

Other three games from round fourteen

It is obvious that Karjakin-Caruana was the most important game of the day. For the remaining three games we have notation, pictures, videos and summaries.

Peter Svidler – Viswanathan Anand 0.5-0.5

This was the second most important game of the day as its result could have had a big impact on Karjakin and Caruana's decisions in their game. Svidler, as usual, began with the English Opening. This time Anand opted for the more solid 6...Re8 rather than 6...e4. Svidler's manoeuvre with Ne1-c2-e3 looked a tad time consuming, and already after the opening Black had equalized. Anand had no real problems to hold the game and thus Vishy fiished third.

Vishy Anand on his experience of playing in the Candidates 2016

"Grunfeld is still my main opening, but the Slav worked very well!"

Anish Giri – Veselin Topalov 0.5-0.5

A typical Catalan where White had a tiny pull but Black slowly and steadily equalized. This was perhaps the dullest game of the day. It was the 14th draw in a row for Anish, while Topalov finishes at minus 5.

Anish explains the reason why he ended up with fourteen draws rather than fighting for the top spot

Topalov speaks about why he lacks motivaton and how he feels like Anatoly Karpov right now!

Hikaru Nakamura – Levon Aronian 0.5-0.5

Hikaru Nakamura went for the solid Qa4+ Variation in the Ragozin. The players followed a few of the old games until move 13, although it seemed as if the moves they were making were not prepared at home. Hikaru won a pawn but Levon had sufficient compensation. In the end al the pieces were exchanged and the players agreed to a draw.

Hikaru Nakamura on what he learnt from this Candidates

Final standings

The above cross table is automatically generated on the ChessBase software using the 56 games and their results. However, due to different tiebreak criteria used in the tournament, these are the official standings:

1. Sergey Karjakin
2. Fabiano Caruana
3. Viswanathan Anand
4. Anish Giri
5. Hikaru Nakamura
6. Levon Aronian
7. Peter Svidler
8. Veselin Topalov

Photos by Amruta Mokal of ChessBase India

Pairings and results

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