Chess World Championship: Carlsen-Caruana

[Federberg]

I agree it's most likely a draw, but just look at how Magnus is slowly accumulating an advantage. He can be seriously impressive sometimes...

 

[DarthFed]

I agree it's most likely a draw, but just look at how Magnus is slowly accumulating an advantage. He can be seriously impressive sometimes...

No question about that. I'm guessing Bc3 and trading rooks were slight inaccuracies from Fabi. Don't want to make too many vs Magnus, that's for sure.

 

[DarthFed]

Also I wonder if Magnus may be thinking that keeping Caruana out here defending a slightly worse position could pay benefits tomorrow.

Those are the type of psychological decisions in match play that are different than tournaments. The main one is the tiebreaks for this one because that'd be such a mismatch. If Magnus is first to win a game his chances of winning this match are significantly higher than Caruana's if he is the first to win a game. That is why I favor him to win the match.

 

[DarthFed]

Carlsen definitely has the more playable position here. Bf5 by Caruana had to have been a slight mistake. Should still be a draw but this is a more lively game than yesterday.

 

[DarthFed]

Just checked and the engines are saying it's totally balanced (0.00 evaluation) but I still see white being able to pressure black a bit more than vice versa. This looks like more of a grinding opportunity for Carlsen than yesterday.

 

[DarthFed]

So much for that, draw agreed after 34 moves.

Down to an 8 game match. I'd say both have reasons to be happy. Carlsen again is fine if this ends in a 6-6 tie as he'd be the overwhelming favorite in tiebreak games and from Caruana's perspective if he was a little nervous coming into the match he can probably be a bit more relaxed especially since Carlsen didn't win game 1.

 

[DarthFed]

Alright I think some major fireworks are coming up in this game. 6.b4 has to be major prep

 

[Federberg]

looks like Magnus has been able to sidestep most of it so far, but still looks like a slightly unbalanced end game for now

 

[Federberg]

Magnus has the bishop pair so should be quite the contest, despite his soon to be very lonely queenside pawn

 

[DarthFed]

Great defense from Carlsen. Kd7 especially. Looks like he should still be able to draw this without much difficulty.

 

[DarthFed]

A long think from Caruana to play Bc3 followed by d3 which seemed like the obvious continuation. I wonder what else he was considering.

 

[DarthFed]

Progs are actually giving Magnus the slight edge even though he's down a pawn. The two bishops and white's undeveloped knight is healthy compensation.

 

[DarthFed]

Ended up a fairly straightforward draw and that's much to Carlsen's credit. Now he gets two straight whites. If he wins either of them and takes a lead through game 7 it's over IMO. I don't see him losing twice in the last 5 games.

 

[DarthFed]

This is a Petrov on crack! Good potential for a decisive result here though it still looks fairly balanced. And with these machine like players that still means a probable draw

 

[DarthFed]

19 of the first 28 moves have been knight moves. I hope amateurs aren't watching this and thinking they can pull this off

 

[Federberg]

This really looks like a Magnus type position here. Still think Fabi will find a way to draw, but he needs to be careful

 

[tennisville]

19 of the first 28 moves have been knight moves. I hope amateurs aren't watching this and thinking they can pull this off

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I think these 2 games for White will be crucial for Magnus to take the lead

 

[Federberg]

right now it feels like Magnus has a plan, not sure if Fabi has one, he's burning up a bit more time. It would be just like Magnus to win because of time pressure and not actually playing superior chess!

 

[DarthFed]

I think they've played this pretty well except for maybe h5 by Caruana. That seemed a bit too aggressive considering there is no attack there and could open his position up a bit. Still a very balanced game. I do feel like Magnus has been the slightly better player so far but just by a hair. Mainly he has been the one achieving the small edges aside from game 1 where he has a big edge and game 2 where Fabi had an edge.

 

[DarthFed]

Does look like time may become an issue. Right now the only complications from Black's position is due to the h5 push earlier. Sure it isn't a huge inaccuracy but it still sucks when you're playing and you realize a seemingly innocent move you made awhile back is a bad one.