Here’s Bryan’s report off today’s game, which you can replay below. Be sure to join us on Wednesday for minute-by-minute coverage of the tie-breaker.
Garry Kasparov has spoken. The longtime world No 1 believes Carlsen’s decision to offer a draw may undercut his status as favorite in Wednesday’s tie-breaker.
In light of this shocking draw offer from Magnus in a superior position with more time, I reconsider my evaluation of him being the favorite in rapids. Tiebreaks require tremendous nerves and he seems to be losing his.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) November 26, 2018
“I wasn’t necessarily going for the maximum,” says Carlsen, essentially admitting that he was content with a draw after move 20. “I just wanted a position that was completely safe, (but) where I could put some pressure. If a draw hadn’t been a satisfactory result, obviously I would have approached it differently.”
Says Caruana: “I was a bit surprised by the draw offer. I can never be better (than move 31). And I don’t really have any active ideas. If anything, black is better. At least I thought I was over the worst of it. I thought it was much more dangerous a few moves ago.”
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Carlsen will play with the white pieces in the first game of Wednesday’s rapid play-off after the drawing of lots is conducted. Here’s a look at the format:
• Best of four rapid games with 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds after each move.
• If still tied, they will play up to five mini-matches of two blitz games (five minutes for each player with a three-second increment).
• If all five mini-matches are drawn, one sudden-death ‘Armegeddon’ match will be played where White receives five minutes and Black receives four minutes. Both players will receive a three-second increment after the 60th move. In the case of a draw, Black will be declared the winner.
Game 12 is a draw after 31 moves!
Carlsen offers a draw after 30. ... g6 31. Rd1 Ra8 and Caruana accepts. Wow! An absolute shocker given Carlsen’s position and advantage on time! It’s a peaceful result after 31 moves and three hours and the world championship will be settled Wednesday in a tie-breaker.
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Caruana plays 30. Qb4 and he’s working with 15min 42sec after the increment. He’ll need to make his next 10 moves in that span to reach move 40, after which the players are given an additional 50 minutes. But it won’t be a walk in the park as he weathers a Carlsen attack where one false step could torpedo the whole enterprise.
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Caruana plays 29. Re1 in an apparent move to improve the position of the knight on f2. As we wait for Carlsen’s reponse, reader Abhijato Sensarma checks in via email with his take on Caruana’s 25. f4:
Well, I for one am never going to trust the supercomputer about a position’s advantage until it becomes very significant. The move is a reasonable one once you understand the purpose behind it, if not the technically perfect one, which might turn out to be the decisive reason why today’s finale is not a draw! I am secretly rooting for Caruana so that the next Championship can have personal undertones since Carlsen will undoubtedly be the Challenger then. Whatever happens, happens today. If Carslen wins (he does have an advantage, and known for creating something out of nothing), Caruana won’t mind since he would have lost in the tie break in all likeliness. He can come back stronger. This match might be the thriller which will inject urgency into the stagnant chess world once more!
If it is over today, I will have to relay a funny experience I had the other day. I looked at the my fellow classmates during a friendly football match. We were level at five all. “It looks drawish!” I said and my other chess-knowing friend started laughing, and the others were left dumbfounded. With any luck, maybe we’ll get the sixth goal in today!
Carlsen attacks white’s queen with 25. ... a5 and Caruana retreats (26. Qd2). Black still better after 26. ... e4 27. Be2 Be8 28. Kb1 Bf6. As time pressure mounts on Caruana, the position could be difficult to hold.
Caruana’s 25. f4 may have been a mistake. The supercomputer thinks so, anyway. Black’s advantage has spiked dramatically. Hungarian-born grandmaster Dénes Boros is far less harsh: “[It] was a decent move, as it gives fighting chances with the idea of blocking the g6 bishop.”
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Carlsen has twice as much time as Caruana after 24 moves. He will need to make 16 moves in the next half hour before the time control.
Surely Carlsen has the initiative after 22. ... Bg6 23. Rc2 f5. Dynamic game, this. Everything that observers underwhelmed by the record streak of draws could have hoped for.
22...Bg6. Carlsen’s idea is clear with f5. For example if 23. Rc2 f5 24. Ng5 Bxg5 25. hxg5 e4. Black is on the attack while Caruana has to be extremely careful as one slight inaccuracy can cost him the game. pic.twitter.com/ngCAf1TXUJ
— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) November 26, 2018
Carlsen responds with 21. ... Rac8 after a little more than 10 minutes. Black is ahead in development with more than a half-hour advantage in time. Caruana finds himself up against it here with no obvious plan. And after eight minutes the American castles on the queenside (22. O-O-O). The tension, the complications, the tactical potential ... it’s all coming to a head. “This is exciting,” Aronian says of Caruana’s choice. “This is something I didn’t expect at all.”
Considering that Caruana has exhibited generally superior skills in all facets of the match (opening prep, middle game transition, endgames) it would seem a bit odd if he loses this match. #WorldChampionship
— Hikaru Nakamura (@GMHikaru) November 26, 2018
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Carlsen castles after a 12-minute think (20. ... O-O) and Caruana counters with a surprise move (21. Rh2!?). “An amazing move by Fabiano,” Russian chess grandmaster Alexander Grischuk says. “The deepest move in the match so far!” The Norwegian supercomputer Sesse, running Stockfish, is less bullish, indicating Caruana’s steadily held advantage is lost and black is better.
'Incredibly creative but quite dumb' is Simen Agdestein's reaction to 21. Rh2 on the VG broadcast. The move is surely a declaration of violence. This is now looking like the most likely decisive brawl of the match... Is the pressure cooker about to go off? #CarlsenCaruana2018
— Jonathan Tisdall (@GMjtis) November 26, 2018
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“The position doesn’t look anything like a draw, which makes me very, very happy,” says world No 11 Levon Aronian. Carlsen has been on the clock for about 10 minutes, but he remains comfortably ahead on time.
Carlsen continues to enjoy a widening time advantage after 19. Ne4 Nd7 20. Bd3. Carlsen spends about six minutes weighing his 20th move before removing his jacket. He’s still on the clock. Says grandmaster Anish Giri: “White’s position is rather soft for the last game of a world championship, don’t you think?” Garry Kasparov says he believes the current position will yield a decisive result.
Based on the current position, @Kasparov63 thinks it's more likely the World
— US Chess (@USChess) November 26, 2018
Championship will be decided today. #TodayInChess #CarlsenCaruanahttps://t.co/O5nTGAmgjN pic.twitter.com/UbcEwXjy3f
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Caruana expends another five minutes before playing 18. f3. Says grandmaster grandmaster Judit Polgar in the commentary booth: “It’s very strange because we have special, unique things happening when Fabiano is pushing his pawns.” Carlsen takes just over a minute before answering with 18. ... Nf8.
Caruana play 18. f3 as I suggested earlier. But Carlsen immediately responded with 18...Nf8. I am sure this is very confusing for Caruana. Carlsen is cranking out moves at lightning speed. The idea of Nf8 is to go to d7 to help solidify the c5 square. pic.twitter.com/dDmEzgAFdp
— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) November 26, 2018
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After 25 minutes Caruana finally plays 17. g3. Carlsen immediately responds with 17. ... Be7.
17. g3 and Carlsen immediately responded w/ 17...Be7. This is a very uncomfortable situation for Caruana. Objectively speaking his position is fine. But Carlsen is playing so fast. This can psychologically effect Caruana because he does not know if this is still in Carlsen’s prep pic.twitter.com/RAZ3LH0gWB
— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) November 26, 2018
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Caruana has been thinking for more than 20 minutes after Carlsen played 16. Qc7. The American is nearly 40 minutes behind on time.
Caruana more than 30 minutes behind on the clock after 16 moves, and still thinking. It's still early, but the time usage is worth to pay attention to. #CarlsenCaruana pic.twitter.com/b1VqnJFGXL
— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) November 26, 2018
After eight minutes Caruana plays 15. Be3. Phew. No draw by repetition. Fabiano declares he’s here to play. Carlsen comes back with 15. ... a6 and Caruana answers with 16. Nc3. The American is 20 minutes behind on the clock already.
Could a draw by repetition be forthcoming? It’s a possibility after 13. Qa4 Bd7 14. Qb4 Bf5.
After 14 moves Fabiano is shook. He's repeating moves and now deep into the tank. #carlsencaruana
— David Hill (@davehill77) November 26, 2018
Please don't repeat.
— US Chess (@USChess) November 26, 2018
Please don't repeat.
Please don't repeat.#CarlsenCaruana pic.twitter.com/z9eSGPG7uc
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Caruana settles in for the first long think of the day after 9. c4 Ng6 10. Qa4 Bd7 11. Qb4 Bf5 12. h4 h5. He’s been weighing his response for six minutes (and counting). In fact Carlsen’s 12. ... h5 is a novelty, for humans anyway.
They continue with 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8. exd5. Carlsen is first to deviate from the Game 8 and Game 10 lines with 8. ... Ne7.
8...Ne7 is considered dubious since Yudasin-Kramnik in 1994. Obviously Carlsen has some ideas. #CarlsenCaruana #carlsencaruana2018
— Alex Colovic (@GMAlexColovic) November 26, 2018
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Game 12 is under way!
And we’re off with 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4. And with 4. ... Nf6 5. Nc3 e5, we’re into the Sveshnikov variation, same as the eighth game!
Preamble
Hello and welcome to London for today’s 12th game of the world chess championship between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. Play resumes today at the College in Holborn after with the best-of-12-games match deadlocked at 5½-all following 11 draws in as many contests. Sixteen days and no blood drawn: the longest streak of games to open a match without a decisive result in the recognized 132-year history of world championship play. But the tension will never be higher than today, where a decisive result would lift the winner over the 6½-point threshold and determine an outright winner in the €1m ($1.14m) showdown.
The players
Norway's Magnus Carlsen is defending the world chess championship against Fabiano Caruana of the United States. The best-of-12-games match is taking place at the College in Holborn between 9 and 28 November, with the winner earning a 60% share of the €1m ($1.14m) prize fund if the match ends in regulation (or 55% if it's decided by tie-break games).
Carlsen, 27, has been ranked No 1 for eight straight years and was considered the world’s best player even before he defeated Viswanathan Anand for the title in 2013. Caruana, 26, is ranked No 2, having earned his place at the table by winning the candidates tournament in March. No American-born player has won or even competed for the world title since Bobby Fischer in 1972.
It marks the first title match between the world's top two players since 1990, when Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov faced off for a fifth and final time.
The format
The match will consist of 12 classical games with each player awarded one point for a win and a half-point for a draw. Whoever reaches six and a half points first will be declared the champion.
The time control for each game is 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 1. Players cannot agree to a draw before Black's 30th move.
If the match is tied after 12 games, tie-breaks will be played on the final day in the following order:
• Best of four rapid games with 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds after each move.
• If still tied, they will play up to five mini-matches of two blitz games (five minutes for each player with a three-second increment).
• If all five mini-matches are drawn, one sudden-death 'Armegeddon' match will be played where White receives five minutes and Black receives four minutes. Both players will receive a three-second increment after the 60th move. In the case of a draw, Black will be declared the winner.
The schedule
Thu 8 Nov – Opening ceremony
Fri 9 Nov – Game 1
Sat 10 Nov – Game 2
Sun 11 Nov – Rest day
Mon 12 Nov – Game 3
Tue 13 Nov – Game 4
Wed 14 Nov – Rest day
Thu 15 Nov – Game 5
Fri 16 Nov – Game 6
Sat 17 Nov – Rest day
Sun 18 Nov – Game 7
Mon 19 Nov – Game 8
Tue 20 Nov – Rest day
Wed 21 Nov – Game 9
Thu 22 Nov – Game 10
Fri 23 Nov – Rest day
Sat 24 Nov – Game 11
Sun 25 Nov – Rest day
Mon 26 Nov – Game 12
Tue 27 Nov – Rest day
Wed 28 Nov – Tie-break games/Awards and closing
The games commence each day at 3pm in London.
If Carlsen can pull off a win with the black pieces, the 27-year-old from Norway will seal his third defense of the title he captured from Viswanathan Anand in 2013.
If Caruana can win as white, the 26-year-old challenger will not only become the second American-born player to capture the world championship after Bobby Fischer in 1972, he will inherit the No 1 ranking that Carlsen has held uninterrupted since July 2011.
If they draw for a 12th time, it will all come down to Wednesday’s tie-breaker, which consists of a series of games under shorter time controls.
A brief recap on how we got here: Game 1 was a grueling seven-hour, 115-move staredown, where Carlsen nearly become the first defending champion to win the opening game of a world championship as black in 37 years. The next four contests – Game 2, Game 3, Game 4 and Game 5 – were mostly safer, straightforward affairs that allowed Caruana to get his teeth in the match. The tension ramped up in Game 6 when Carlsen was outplayed by Caruana in the middlegame and pushed to the limit before saving a draw with incredibly precise defending. They played to another draw in Game 7, a result that left the champion lamenting his gun-shy play as white. In Game 8, Carlsen found himself down nearly an hour on the clock facing a dangerous position as black, until one false step by the American allowed him to hold. It was Caruana’s turn to suffer in Wednesday’s Game 9 until he was bailed out by a Carlsen inaccuracy. Then came Thursday’s Game 10, where Caruana found himself on the brink once more until Carlsen overextended himself and was made to grovel for a peaceful result. Saturday’s Game 11 fizzled out practically before liftoff, ending in a simple two-and-a-quarter-hour draw.
Eleven games. Eleven draws. Will the staredown finally end today? We’ll soon find out when Caruana makes the first move at the top of the hour.
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Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s his report from Saturday’s Game 11.
Carlsen, as white, played into Caruana’s Petroff with an opening line that paralleled their August meeting at the Sinquefield Cup, which ended in a draw. The American challenger and world No 2 was first to deviate, castling on the kingside (7. O-O) instead of the Nc6 he’d played in St Louis.
A briefly promising double-edge position took shape with (8. Qd2 Nd7 9. O-O-O Nf6 10. Bd3 c5), but Carlsen expended 23 minutes on his next two moves (11. Rhe1 Be6 12. Kb1 Qa5) and admitted he’d been thrown for a curve once more by Caruana’s exhaustively researched opening preparation and not for the first time during the fortnight. Eventually the champion offered up a queen exchange with 13. c4 and the ladies were off the board (13. ... Qxd2 14. Bxd2), abruptly stripping the tension from the affair.
“I wasn’t pleased from the opening and then after that I just wanted to play it safe,” Carlsen said. “I was trying to push a little bit, but it’s nothing real. In this match situation I thought there was no reason to go crazy.”
The action soon entered an opposite-colored bishop endgame which Caruana held with no problems before consenting to a 55-move draw after two hours and 13 minutes, the shortest game of the match so far.
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