The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality

Magnus Carlsen – Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin
World Chess Championship match game 1; New York, November 11, 2016
Trompowsky Attack D00

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. e3 c5 4. Bxf6 gxf6 5. dxc5 Nc6!? Apparently aiming for unbalanced positions. For 5. ... e6 6. Nf3 Nd7 7. c4 dxc4 8. c6 see Carlsen – Kramnik, 8th Memorial Tal, Moscow 2013. 6. Bb5!? A new idea. It is probably not a great idea, but it is not bad too. What Carlsen seems to say is “Let’s play chess” or, to say it with Linus Torvalds, “Talk is cheap. Show me the code”. 6. ... e6 7. c4 dxc4 8. Nd2 Bxc5 9. Ngf3 0-0 10. 0-0 Na5. Artificial (but good). 11. Rc1 Be7 12. Qc2. If 12. Nxc4 then 12. ... a6! seems to equalize. 12. ... Bd7 13. Bxd7 Qxd7 14. Qc3 Qd5. Karjakin rightly plays for the greatest possible simplification, even at the cost of paying a symbolic price in position. 15. Nxc4. “The endgame is vaguely reminiscent of Ribli – Karpov, [20th IBM International Chess Tournament], Amsterdam 1980”, Grandmaster Nigel David Short said. 15. ... Nxc4 16. Qxc4 Qxc4 17. Rxc4 Rfc8 18. Rfc1 Rxc4 19. Rxc4 Rd8

20. g3. “I consider 20. g4!? to fix the Black Pawns, but perhaps it is premature. Anyway, he has chosen more modestly”, Short said. 20. ... Rd7 21. Kf1 f5 22. Ke2 Bf6 23. b3 Kf8 24. h3. White has a very slight dynamical edge, but it is unlikely that he may make significant progress. 24. ... h6. Not 24. ... h5 on account of 25. h4 and Black should worry about the White Knight coming to f4 (Ne1-g2-f4). 25. Ne1 Ke7 26. Nd3 Kd8 27. f4. “I am bereft of sensible suggestions for Magnus Carlsen. I didn’t like 27. f4 if truth be told”, Short said. 27. ... h5 28. a4 Rd5. Of course Karjakin does not exchange the Rooks, 29. Nc5 b6 30. Na6 Be7 31. Nb8 a5 32. Nc6+ Ke8 33. Ne5. By now it is in fact a purely fictional battle. As an alternative Carlsen might have changed the Knight for the Bishop offering a draw at the same time. 33. ... Bc5! Finally fortressing. If not Christopher Columbus, who really discovered America? 34. Rc3 Ke7 35. Rd3 Rxd3 36. Kxd3 f6 37. Nc6+ Kd6 38. Nd4 Kd5 39. Nb5 Kc6 40. Nd4+ Kd6 41. Nb5+ Kd7 42. Nd4 Kd6 ½ : ½. Maybe they are not really in New York City. Don’t you ever think about it?

Magnus Carlsen vs. Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin
Photo: Europe Échecs (@EuropeEchecs)