Chess World Championship: Carlsen-Caruana

[DarthFed]

Looking ahead, bishop gets to g5, knight lands on h6 and king gets to e5 but white can sit pretty with his king on g6 and move his bishop back and forth. No way to win

 

[DarthFed]

Even if Magnus has played slightly inaccurate this game he is still escaping with a draw.

This is why I don't get when people automatically complain about there being too many draws. Draws all count the same but there is a huge difference between this and a boring draw straight out of the opening. The last couple games especially have been pretty exciting.

 

[Federberg]

agreed!

 

[Federberg]

I think a draw has been agreed

 

[Federberg]

Incredibly there was a mate missed by Fabi according to the Norwegian supercomputer on move 68... Clearly it would have taken inhuman calculation, but it's actually a beautiful sequence

 

[DarthFed]

Crazy. Can't blame any human for not seeing that!

 

[DarthFed]

Easy draw today barring anything crazy. I don't think either player will complain. Down to the last 5 games and Carlsen is fine if this ends in 12 draws. Caruana had a strong game 6 that he almost won and now an easy draw here again as black.

 

[DarthFed]

And draw agreed at move 40. Will be interested to see what Caruana has cooked up. I expect him to get aggressive tomorrow or game 10, he knows his only real chance is classical chess.

 

[Federberg]

You have to think that's the logical thing to transpire. Magnus inexplicably was the one to try to go for it last year and it almost cost him. He surely has to realise that even more than last year the advantage is his in quicker time controls

 

[DarthFed]

You have to think that's the logical thing to transpire. Magnus inexplicably was the one to try to go for it last year and it almost cost him. He surely has to realise that even more than last year the advantage is his in quicker time controls

That and this is a tougher opponent in general. Against Karjakin I sense that Magnus got annoyed that he wasn't winning easily as expected and he pushed too hard. Coming in with how Caruana was playing I don't think Magnus could expect to dominate and since Caruana is so much weaker in quick time controls he is fine with draw after draw.

 

[Federberg]

Well well... Fabi prosecuting a queenside strategy while Magnus looks to be dutching things up, and gaining space on the kingside. I remember a game a couple of years ago where Magnus played a dutch defense against Fabi and scored a nice win. Let's see how this goes

 

[Federberg]

hmmmm... Magnus's king could easily become exposed

 

[DarthFed]

Not liking Black's position here at all. Tough to bring that attack home and the queenside could become a big problem soon.

 

[DarthFed]

Be4 looks very straightforward here...kind of makes me think it can't be right

 

[DarthFed]

Magnus down to 34 minutes for 20 moves.

 

[DarthFed]

c5 from Caruana after a looong think, this is getting real interesting.

 

[DarthFed]

Bishop pair and an extra pawn but an open king and a pretty passive position. Is it me or has Caruana hated bishops this match? Fischer would be going crazy...errr crazier than normal I should say.

 

[DarthFed]

h3 seems weak there, Nc4 and Qh5 both looked good.

 

[DarthFed]

Qg6 coming and if anything this is equal with white possibly needing to be more careful. Big time error from Fabiano.

 

[DarthFed]

Fabiano thought a long time for Nc4 and most of that time was probably spent thinking "why the hell did I play h3"

Qg6 coming and then Nxd6, Qxd6