Caruana, who was made to scratch and claw over seven punishing hours for a draw in Game 1, showed excellent preparation today (move-by-move recap) and had Carlsen on the back foot from the jump. The champion got nothing from the opening with white as the American challenger played with speed and confidence throughout, denying Carlsen any winning chances. In the end Carlsen had to hold a pawn-down rook endgame, perhaps fortunate that Caruana agreed to a draw instead of grinding away another 50 or so moves in retribution for Carlsen’s taxing endgame yesterday. Now both players can look ahead to the rest day and get a start on their preparations for Monday’s Game 3.
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 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.
That’s all for now. Thanks for following along with us as always!
Updated
Carlsen: “I am not happy about this, but it’s better than losing”
“This was not very good,” Carlsen says, per Tarjei Svensen. “I was surprised in the opening. I thought I had chances to a small advantages. I mis-calculated something. Then I had to beg for a draw, but that went without problems.”
He adds: “I am not happy about this, but it’s better than losing.”
More Carlsen: “He played a completely new move that actually doesn’t look natural to me. I have to look at it later. We’ll see if it was a surprise in this game or if he found something new.”
Updated
Game 2 ends in a draw after 49 moves!
It’s official! The final sequence veers into known theoretical draw territory (43. fxe4 fxe4 44. h3 Ra5 45. Rb7 Rg5+ 46. Kf1 Rg6 47. Rb4 Rg5 48. Rb7 Rg6 49. Rb4 48. Rb7 Rg6 49. Rb4) and it ends in a peaceful result after 49 moves and roughly three and a quarter hours.
Updated
Lots of action over the last few minutes. The sequence of moves goes: 33. Kg2 e5 34. Rb4 f5 35. Rb6 Ke6 36. d7+ Kxd7 37. Rb5 Ke6 38. Rb6+ Kf7 39. Rb5 Kf6 40. Rb6+ Kg5 41. Rb5 Kf4 42. Rb4+ e4 43. fxe4 fxe4.
Surely we’re headed for a draw now.
Updated
A sudden flurry of moves over the last few minutes: 27. c4 Ke8 28. a6 b6 29. c5 Kd7 30. cxb6 axb6 31. a7 Ra8 32. Rxb6 Rxa7. That relieves the immediate time pressure facing Carlsen and seems to force a theoretical draw. Here’s a look at the board.
On they go: 25. ... Bxf3, 26. gxf3 Kf8. Carlsen now under 20 minutes with 14 moves to make before 50 minutes of time are added after move 40.
Indeed, Carlsen goes with 23. ... Bc6. Grandmaster Susan Polgar calls it “a very dangerous moment for Carlsen”. On they go: 23. ... Bc6 24. Qd6 Qxd6 25. exd6.
Caruana answers with 22. ... Bd7, followed by Carlsen with 23. a5. Look for Caruana to come back with something to simplify the position here (perhaps Bc6?). Here’s what the board looks like.
After Carlsen offered his opponent a pawn (21. Rb1), Caruana refuses to take it, opting for 21. ... Rb8 instead. Carlsen comes back with 22. Qd3 and it seems like we’re on the simplification road toward a draw.
Carlsen, nearly hour behind Caruana by now, goes with 21. Rb1. Grandmaster Susan Polgar likes the move.
20...Qc7 Now white needs to maintain pressure on the b7 pawn and keeps the Bishop back on c8. Forget about the e5 pawn for now. So 21. Rb1 is a good option. Otherwise, once Black is fully developed, white will face problems. 😅 pic.twitter.com/HZuvnpUquu
— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) November 10, 2018
Carlsen initiates a rook exchange (19. Rxd8+ Qxd8). Carlsen follows by taking a Caruana bishop (20. fxe5) and Caruana comes back with the aggressive 20. ... Qc7. If nothing else is clear as Caruana ponders his 20th move, it’s that he’s clearly outprepared the champion on the day.
Caruana finally counters by taking Carlsen’s dark-squared bishop (17. ... Nxf4). The players then trade knights (18. exf4 Bxe5) and after 18 moves it seems this game is headed toward a draw, if not quite there yet. Carlsen, who frankly looks a bit more concerned than we’re accustomed to seeing, more than 50 minutes behind Caruana on the clock, although his position is more far more level than was Caruana’s yesterday when the shoe was on the other foot.
Updated
Another incredibly long wait for Carlsen to make his move. Finally the champion initiates a pawn exchange with 16. cxd5, and Caruana answers with 16. ... Nxd5. This time Carlsen waits only a few seconds before bringing out his bishop with 17. Bf3.
There was a chance Carlsen could have intensified the game by going with a sacrifice (Nxf7), but he resisted the urge, perhaps due to the time deficit which continues to mount. But instead of the gutsy move it seems Carlsen is content to trade pieces with his eye on a draw. He’s got less than 40 minutes to make his next 22 moves until the time control. It’s not a crisis point yet, but Caruana is playing with such speed and confidence
And Carlsen finally makes a move, plunging his knight into the center with 15. Ne5. That gives him 56min 4sec on the clock. Caruana takes about six minutes and moves his bishop to attack the knight (15. ... Bd6). Here’s a look at the board.
Both players make their 14th move: Carlsen (14. a4) then Caruana (14. ... Ne7). The champion is now a whopping 45 minutes behind the challenger on the clock, leaving him 56 minutes to make his next 26 moves. An inspired start for Caruana.
Heine Nielsen after 14 moves: "Today Magnus was surprised in the opening. Yesterday it was a success for Magnus, today it was a success for Caruana. But Magnus won't have any problems. Looks pretty equal and drawish." #CarlsenCaruana
— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) November 10, 2018
Carlsen finally castles to end another long wait (12. O-O) and Caruana responds by taking a pawn (12. ... Nxc3). Carlsen takes one back 13. bxc3 and the challenger answers with 13. ... h6.
12 O-O Nxc3 13. bxc3 h6 Of course Caruana did not fall for the elementary trap. 🤣 Hey, but this is educational for the novice players at home 😃 pic.twitter.com/iqWAlIurzM
— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) November 10, 2018
Carlsen, with 1hr 10min on the clock, is more than a half hour behind Caruana (1hr 42min 07sec). An email from reader Abhijato Sensarma:
I know that Carlsen is the best player in the world under a time constraint, but is that state on his clock the position be really wants to be in with the white pieces? He wants to think everything through because you need to press the advantage when you have the first move, and I get that, but is he really going himself a favour by being behind? His opponents have succumbed to the pressure of time in the past. He won’t, in all likelihood, but if he really does not leave anything to being risked, what about the time? Perhaps it will have no bearing in the match, and perhaps he will carry on perfectly. Or maybe an upset is on the cards tonight; the challenger looks prepared. Your thoughts?
It looks to me like he’s exhausted his preparation. Which is surprising.
And finally Carlsen answers with 11. Be2. Caruana counters with 11. ... Ne4 and Carlsen is back on the clock again, already more than 24 minutes behind the challenger on time.
Carlsen has clearly been caught off guard by Caruana’s 10th move (10. ... Rd8). According to the database Carlsen has never faced it before. The champion has been pondering his move for well over 10 minutes. Here’s what we’re looking at.
Magnus Carlsen's intensive stare after Fabiano Caruana's 10...Rd8 threatens to melt the glass panel between the players and the spectators. https://t.co/H6Niy9gYmu pic.twitter.com/drtQhgpEWz
— Olimpiu G. Urcan (@olimpiuurcan) November 10, 2018
Updated
On they go: 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Qc2 Nc6 9. a3 Qa5 10. Rd1 Rd8. Caruana is moving far more quickly than yesterday, most likely still in his preparations. It’s Carlsen, after leading on time from wire to wire yesterday, who is down 10 minutes on the clock early. A much bigger crowd at the College than yesterday’s first game.
it is absolutely packed in here. They have a full house with a crowd waiting to get in. Tickets were sold in blocks of time, so they will move out one audience and bring in another. The whole facility is bustling with people. It's a big difference from day 1.
— David Hill (@davehill77) November 10, 2018
Game 2 is under way!
Carlsen playing with the white pieces today opens with 1. d4, and Caruana responds with 1. ... Nf6. The opening continues with a queen’s gambit declined (2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O). Carlsen clearly avoiding Petroff’s Defence, which is a Caruana strength.
Preamble
Hello and welcome back for Game 2 of of the World Chess Championship. Feels like we only just said goodbye after yesterday’s seven-hour, 115-move draw, where Norway’s Magnus Carlsen nearly become the first defending champion to win Game 1 of a world title match as black in 37 years, only to blunder (40. ... Bxc3) and let challenger Fabiano Caruana of the United States off the hook.
For those of you just coming aboard, Carlsen is defending the title he’s held for the past five years against the Brooklyn-bred Caruana, who is looking to become the first American to win the world title since Bobby Fischer in 1972. The best-of-12-games match is taking place at the College in Holborn over the next three weeks, 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 the table by winning the candidates tournament in March. 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.
We’re about 15 minutes from today’s first move, so not much longer now. In the meantime here’s my interview with Caruana ahead of this month’s championship.
Bryan will be here shortly. Here’s a look at Sean Ingle’s report off yesterday’s first match.
Updated
