Other Things Being Equal

Fabiano Caruana – Magnus Carlsen

1st World Fischerandom Chess Championship; semifinal game 2; Høvikodden, October 27, 2019

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Position 744

In the return “slow rapid” game Carlsen immediately bounced back by winning a drawish Rook endgame. 1. d4 f5 2. Nd2 Nc6 3. c3 Bg6 4. f4 d5 5. g4 e6 6. Ne3 fxg4 7. Qxg4 Bxb1 8. Rxb1 Ne7 9. Bh4 Nfg6 10. Bxe7 Nxe7 11. f5 c6 12. 0-0 g5 13. f6 h5 14. f7 hxg4 15. fxg8=Q+ Nxg8 16. Nxg4 Bd6 17. Nf3 Nh6 18. Nxh6 Rxh6 19. Ne5 Kc7 20. Rf7+ Kb6 21. Rbf1 Bxe5 22. dxe5 Rah8 23. R1f2 g4 24. R7f6 Rh3 25. Rg2 Re3 26. Rxe6 a5 27. Kf2 Re4 28. Re7 Rh5 29. Ke1 Rh3 30. e6 a4 31. a3 Ka6 32. Re8 Kb5 33. e7 Rh7

34. Rg8? This only complicates uselessly a drawish position. 34. Kd2 Rh3!? 35. Kd1 is very close to a draw. 34. ... Rhxe7 35. R8xg4 Kc4 36. Rxe4+ dxe4 37. h4 e3 38. Rg4+ Kb3 39. Rb4+ Kc2 40. Rxa4 Kxb2 41. h5 Kxc3 42. h6 Rh7 43. Rh4 b5? Apparently this loss of time throws away the win, which can be achieved with the immediate 43. ... c5 — “Elementary, Watson”. 44. Kf1 c5 45. Rh5 c4 46. Kg2 Kd2 47. Kf3 c3 48. Rd5+ Kc1 49. Rd6? 49. Rh5! draws. 49. ... c2 50. Rb6 Kd2 51. Rd6+ Kc3 0 : 1. “I’ve been a little careless. I underestimated the danger at one point. It was a very unnecessary loss”, Caruana finally told NRK.