Winless Relief For Magnus Carlsen
After the first four games World Champion Magnus Carlsen roared to go for another game. The Russian was however, happy for a day off. As the two began their games once again Carlsen did appear to appreciate the break after the next two rounds. As the score stands still at loggerheads between the Champion and the Contender at three points each after six rounds of intense and tactical logjams.
Advantage Sergey Karjakin, at least briefly
For the first time in the championships the underdog contender seemed to be winning. The fifth game between the two was as exciting as it could ever get. This was also the first game, where a result seemed most likely but in favour of the Russian. This did not come as a surprise to many.
However, coming towards the end of the game, it produced the same result as the previous four.
Carlsen played with white pieces and carefully avoided the Berlin defence by opting for the Italian game. This added some sense of the unknown into the game, as the Norwegian continued expansion in the Queen side. But, Karjakin at his defending best was never in any real trouble. In the 20th move Karjakin opted to exchange his dark coloured Bishop for Carlsen’s Knight leaving the two with opposite coloured Bishops at their disposal. In all likely scenarios this too was headed for a draw.
But as the game progressed to another 20 moves, Carlsen seemed to have made an error of judgement. The champ moved his King to g2 blocking the way for his Rook, which became a huge point of advantage for the challenger. The Norwegian later confessed to having made that move as a blunder in the post-match.
The game that was moving towards a sure-shot draw suddenly became interesting once again and the viewers expected the first full result of the championship. And, the Russian used the opportunity to attack full-throttle. However, that was short-lived as Carlsen held his defense and the players agreed to draw after 51 moves.
Quick draw keeps Magnus Carlsen at bay
Five draws at a World Championship match is not unexpected. It is classic Grandmasters chess and shows the determination of both players to pick points at all costs. And, the two arrived at their sixth draw in six games, similar to the Viswanathan Anand vs Boris Gelfand from 2012 which went into tie-breaks for the decider.
The sixth game was, however, not as fierce as the previous three. But, it gave little hopes of heading towards a decisive result as the two reached midway in the Championship.
Those hopes were dashed as the Champ began a series of exchange and Karjakin followed suit between the 22nd and the 26th move. And, the two were virtually left with nothing substantial and weak pawn structures to carry the game forward. Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin agreed to a draw in the 32nd move of the game, in what became the shortest game by moves in the World Championship 2016.
Image Courtesy: The Guardian