Fish and chips

Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin – Magnus Carlsen
World Chess Championship match game 2; New York, November 12, 2016
Spanish Game C78

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6. Into the arms of Paul Charles Morphy. 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3 0-0 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Ba2 Be6 11. d4. It should be noted that Karjakin played one time, at least, in Carlsen’s shoes; for 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. b4 Nc6 13. Bd2 d5 see Domínguez Pérez – Karjakin, 4th SportAccord World Mind Games, Rapid Event, 北京 (Beijīng) 2013. 11. ... Bxa2 12. Rxa2 Re8. Carlsen’s turning point, just in time to anticipate any analytical surprises by Karjakin’s team. Let’s mention as very likely ground of analysis: 12. ... Nc6 13. d5 Nb8 14. Qe2 Nbd7 15. Rd1 Qc8 16. Nh4 g6 17. g3 Ne8 18. Ng2 Ng7 19. Bh6 Nf6 20. Ne3 Qh3 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. b4 h5 23. a4 a5! 24. Rb1 axb4 25. Rxb4 bxa4 26. Raxa4 Ng4 27. Nf1? h4! 28. f3 hxg3 29. hxg3 Nf6 30. Qg2 Qh6 31. Qh2 Qg5 32. Qd2 Qh5 33. g4? Qh8! 34. Nb5 Nh7 35. Qh2 Rfb8! 36. c4 Qd8 37. Ne3 Bg5 38. Qe2 Bf4 39. Ng2 Bg3 40. Qe3 Ng5 41. Kf1 Qh8 0 : 1 Topalov – Carlsen, Grand Chess Tour Paris Rapid, Paris 2016. 13. Ra1 Nc4 14. Re1 Rc8 15. h3 h6. Déjà vu: Anderssen vs. Morphy. 16. b3 Nb6 17. Bb2. “Sergey Karjakin has a typical Spanish pull. Not very much, but Black is not equal either”, Grandmaster Nigel David Short said. 17. ... Bf8

18. dxe5. “Exchanging on e5 was a somewhat flaccid continuation by Sergey”, Short argued. Alas, I am not able to give any suggestion but say that Karjakin reminded me of someone I knew, who would have surely played 18. d5. 18. ... dxe5 19. a4 c6 20. Qxd8 Rcxd8 21. axb5 axb5 22. Ne2. “There are sometimes little miscalculations in World Championship matches, Could it be Sergey overlooked 22. Ra6 Nfd7!=. Who knows?”, wonders Short. 22. ... Bb4 23. Bc3 Bxc3 24. Nxc3 Nbd7. I don’t know what’s gonna happen but no one will win today. 25. Ra6 Rc8 26. b4 Re6. Stockfish’s line 26. ... c5 27. Nxb5 cxb4 28. Nd6 Re6= substantially transposes into the game. 27. Rb1! Very eloquent Spanish move-not-move! 27. ... c5 28. Rxe6 fxe6 29. Nxb5 cxb4 30. Rxb4 Rxc2. Shall we play to death by boredom? 31. Nd6 Rc1+ 32. Kh2 Rc2 33. Kg1 ½ : ½.

Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin vs. Magnus Carlsen
Photo: Chess-News.ru