They That Wait

Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin – Magnus Carlsen
World Chess Championship match game 11; New York, November 26, 2016
Spanish Game C78

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3 0-0 9. Nc3 Be6. In the 2nd game Carlsen preferred 9. ... Na5 10. Ba2 Be6. 10. Nd5 Nd4 11. Nxd4 exd4 12. Nxf6+ Bxf6 13. Bxe6 fxe6 14. f4 c5 15. Qg4 Qd7 16. f5!? Karjakin’s cooked-up novelty. In Schröder – Schoppen, 19th Open, Hoogeveen 2015 was seen 16. Bd2 c4 17. Rae1 c3 which doesn’t seem to worry Black one little bit. 16. ... Rae8 17. Bd2 c4 18. h3!?

18. ... c3! “Feels like Black got a better version of what he is supposed to get from this variation. If 18. ... e5!? I put $ on Carlsen”, Grandmaster Anish Giri said, but Carlsen claims the initiative with unexpected straightforwardness. 19. bxc3 d5! “Fascinated by the positional physics behind Magnus’s decision to play 18. ... c3 & 19. ... d5. Strategy is about energy, not just mass”, Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson said. 20. Bg5! But Karjakin doesn’t lose his head and firmly keeps at least one foot on the ground. 20. ... Bxg5 21. Qxg5 dxe4 22. fxe6 Rxf1+ 23. Rxf1 Qxe6 24. cxd4 e3! Very Morphy-like. 25. Re1 h6 26. Qh5 e2 27. Qf3 a5 28. c3 Qa2 29. Qc6 Re6 30. Qc8+. Of course not 30. Qxb5?? because of 30. ... Qd2 31. Qb1 Qe3+! 32. Kh2 Qf2 33. Qb8+ Kh7 34. Qg3 Qf1 35. Qg4 Re7! 36. Qg3 Rf7 with a deadly Zugzwang. 30. ... Kh7 31. c4 Qd2 32. Qxe6 Qxe1+ 33. Kh2 Qf2 34. Qe4+ ½ : ½. That’s all: a textbook draw by perpetual check.

Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin vs. Magnus Carlsen
Photo: World Chess by Agon Limited