Seven Hours Night

Magnus Carlsen – Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin
World Chess Championship match game 3; New York, November 14, 2016
Spanish Game C67

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. 0-0 Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 0-0 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re2!? “10. Re2!? (was it Giri who first mentioned this in New In Chess a while back?) followed by 11. Re1 is a very subtle idea”, Grandmaster Nigel David Short said – or maybe his British humor isn’t the same as ours. 10. Re1 Re8 11. c3 Rxe1 12. Qxe1 Nf5 dated back to Steinitz – Zukertort, New York 1886, World Chess Championship match game 4. 10. ... b6 11. Re1 Re8!? The novelty comes from Karjakin. If 11. ... Nb7 there might follow 12. Na3 d5 13. c3 Nd6 14. Nc2 a5 15. Ne3 Nf5 16. Ng4 Bg5 17. Bd3 Bxc1 18. Rxc1 Nd6 19. h3 Re8 20. Qf3 Bxg4 21. Qxg4 g6 22. Re5 with a slight edge for White, Kasimdzhanov – Melkumyan, 35th SchachBundesliga, Berlin 2016. 12. Bf4 Rxe1 13. Qxe1. Yes, the Black Knight is not ideally placed, but isn’t so misplaced as to produce tangible benefits for White. 13. ... Qe7. The Pawn is evidently taboo: 13. ... Bxd4?? 14. Bxd6 Bxb2 (or 14. ... cxd6 15. Qe4) 15. Bxc7! Qf8 16. Nd2 Bxa1 17. Qxa1 with a quite trivial win. 14. Nc3. “This looks rather tactical. Either White has Bf4xd6 and Nc3-b5 quickly, or he has nothing”, Short says. 14. ... Bb7 15. Qxe7 Bxe7 16. a4 a6 17. g3 g5. “It is fascinating how computer-like some of these moves are. 17. ... g5 is a bit anti-positional, but justified”. (Short). 18. Bxd6 Bxd6 19. Bg2 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 f5 21. Nd5 Kf7 22. Ne3 Kf6 23. Nc4 Bf8 24. Re1 Rd8!? Karjakin’s defiant challenge for a draw. 25. f4! “In both games with White Magnus Carlsen has played f2-f4, fixing his Pawn on the ‘wrong’ colour. This one makes sense”. (Short). 25. ... gxf4! After long thought. It appears to be the simplest way to keep balance. 26. gxf4 b5 27. axb5 axb5 28. Ne3 c6 29. Kf3 Ra8 30. Rg1

30. ... Ra2? This may be very questionable as the f5-Pawn will prove to be weaker than the c2-Pawn. Maybe Karjakin was being a bit too optimistic. 30. ... Bh6 was called for. 31. b3 c5. As a consequence of his previous move, Karjakin goes for a Pawn sacrifice for active play. 32. Rg8 Kf7 33. Rg2 cxd4 34. Nxf5 d3 35. cxd3 Ra1. 35. ... Ra3 36. Rb2 does not make too much difference. Black has to play a (not necessarily lost) Pawn down endgame, and hope at most for a draw. 36. Nd4 b4 37. Rg5. “After 37. Rg5 it’s a weird position. So hard for either side to connect with the other. Lots of dancing now, but no kissing”, Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson said. And maybe it’s better, for both of them. 37. ... Rb1 38. Rf5+ Ke8 39. Rb5. “Carlsen’s chance of winning is at least as good as Karjakin’s chance of drawing now. And it’s going to be a long game”. (Rowson). 39. ... Rf1+ 40. Ke4 Re1+ 41. Kf5 Rd1 42. Re5+. “He did not go 42. Rb8+???? Oh my God”, Grandmaster Teimour Radjabov says. 42. ... Kf7 43. Rd5 Rxd3 44. Rxd7+. Best seems 44. Ke4! first. 44. ... Ke8 45. Rd5 Rh3 46. Re5+ Kf7 47. Re2 Bg7 48. Nc6 Rh5+. Clearly not 48. ... Rxb3?? 49. Nd8+ Kf8 50. Ne6+ Kf7 51. Ng5+ Kg8 52. Re8+ Bf8 53. Kf6 h6 54. Ne6 winning immediately. 49. Kg4 Rc5 50. Nd8+ Kg6 51. Ne6 h5+ 52. Kf3 Rc3+ 53. Ke4 Bf6 54. Re3 h4 55. h3 Rc1 56. Nf8+ Kf7 57. Nd7 Ke6 58. Nb6 Rd1 59. f5+ Kf7 60. Nc4 Rd4+. After an eternity, and at serious risk of losing on time — Black had only a few seconds left on the clock. 61. Kf3 Bg5 62. Re4 Rd3+ 63. Kg4 Rg3+ 64. Kh5 Be7 65. Ne5+ Kf6 66. Ng4+ Kf7. “Karjakin looks very happy to me”. (Radjabov). 67. Re6! The only move for claiming the win! 67. ... Rxh3 68. Ne5+ Kg7 69. Rxe7+ Kf6 70. Nc6. White ought to play first 70. Re8! Kxf5 71. Nc6 with a win in sight. 70. ... Kxf5. And here 70. ... Rc3! 71. Re6+ Kxf5 72. Nd4+ Kf4 73. Kxh4 Rd3 74. Ne2+ Kf3 75. Nc1 Rd1 76. Rc6 Ke3 appears to lead to a draw. 71. Na5 Rh1 72. Rb7. The last chance for claiming a win was 72. Rf7+! – Carlsen probably miscalculated something. 72. ... Ra1! Escape from Alcatraz! Who knows, maybe Carlsen was expecting 72. ... h3? 73. Kh4 Kf4 74. Rf7+! Ke3 75. Kg3 with a win. 73. Rb5+ Kf4 74. Rxb4+ Kg3 75. Rg4+ Kf2 76. Nc4 h3 77. Rh4 Kg3 78. Rg4+ Kf2 ½ : ½. Karjakin’s good fortune, Carlsen’s bad luck. It’s a kind of compensation.

Carlsen vs. Karjakin. Photo: Hans Arne Vedlog/Dagbladet.