The 2016 World Chess Championship in New York City has been nothing short of a nail biter and will at least come down to determination in the final round scheduled to be played Monday at 1400 EST. Games 7 and 8 offered some tense moments in which Magnus missed opportunities to turn the tide of the tournament against his opponent. However, his over aggressiveness prevented him from capitalizing on these positions as he would normally be able to.
[pgn]
[Event “WCh 2016”]
[Site “New York USA”]
[Date “2016.11.18”]
[Round “6”]
[White “Karjakin, Sergey”]
[Black “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2772”]
[BlackElo “2853”]
[ECO “C88”]
[Opening “Ruy Lopez”]
[Variation “closed, 7…O-O”]
[WhiteFideId “14109603”]
[BlackFideId “1503014”]
[EventDate “2016.11.11”]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3
Bb7 9. d3 d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxe5 Nd4 12. Nc3 Nb4 13. Bf4 Nxb3 14. axb3 c5 15.
Ne4 f6 16. Nf3 f5 17. Neg5 Bxg5 18. Nxg5 h6 19. Ne6 Qd5 20. f3 Rfe8 21. Re5 Qd6
22. c3 Rxe6 23. Rxe6 Qxe6 24. cxb4 cxb4 25. Rc1 Rc8 26. Rxc8+ Qxc8 27. Qe1 Qd7
28. Kh2 a5 29. Qe3 Bd5 30. Qb6 Bxb3 31. Qxa5 Qxd3 32. Qxb4 Be6 1/2-1/2
[Event “WCh 2016”]
[Site “New York USA”]
[Date “2016.11.20”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Karjakin, Sergey”]
[Black “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2772”]
[BlackElo “2853”]
[ECO “D10”]
[Opening “QGD Slav defence”]
[WhiteFideId “14109603”]
[BlackFideId “1503014”]
[EventDate “2016.11.11”]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Bd3 dxc4 6. Bxc4 e6 7. Nf3 c5 8. O-O b5
9. Be2 Bb7 10. dxc5 Nc6 11. Nd2 Bxc5 12. Nde4 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 Be7 14. b3 Nb4 15.
Bf3 O-O 16. Ba3 Rc8 17. Nf6+ Bxf6 18. Bxb7 Bxa1 19. Bxb4 Bf6 20. Bxf8 Qxd1 21.
Rxd1 Rxf8 22. Bxa6 b4 23. Rc1 g6 24. Rc2 Ra8 25. Bd3 Rd8 26. Be2 Kf8 27. Kf1 Ra8
28. Bc4 Rc8 29. Ke2 Ke7 30. f4 h6 31. Kf3 Rc7 32. g4 g5 33. Ke4 Rc8 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]
But everything changed in Game 8 when that over aggressiveness finally backfired and awarded a powerful win to challenger Sergey Karjakin.
[pgn]
[Event “WCh 2016”]
[Site “New York USA”]
[Date “2016.11.21”]
[Round “8”]
[White “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Black “Karjakin, Sergey”]
[Result “0-1”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2853”]
[BlackElo “2772”]
[ECO “D05”]
[Opening “Queen’s pawn game, Rubinstein (Colle-Zukertort) variation”]
[WhiteFideId “1503014”]
[BlackFideId “14109603”]
[EventDate “2016.11.11”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 e6 4. Bd3 c5 5. b3 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Bb2 b6 8. dxc5
Bxc5 9. Nbd2 Bb7 10. Qe2 Nbd7 11. c4 dxc4 12. Nxc4 Qe7 13. a3 a5 14. Nd4 Rfd8
15. Rfd1 Rac8 16. Rac1 Nf8 17. Qe1 Ng6 18. Bf1 Ng4 19. Nb5 Bc6 20. a4 Bd5 21.
Bd4 Bxc4 22. Rxc4 Bxd4 23. Rdxd4 Rxc4 24. bxc4 Nf6 25. Qd2 Rb8 26. g3 Ne5 27.
Bg2 h6 28. f4 Ned7 29. Na7 Qa3 30. Nc6 Rf8 31. h3 Nc5 32. Kh2 Nxa4 33. Rd8 g6
34. Qd4 Kg7 35. c5 Rxd8 36. Nxd8 Nxc5 37. Qd6 Qd3 38. Nxe6+ fxe6 39. Qe7+ Kg8
40. Qxf6 a4 41. e4 Qd7 42. Qxg6+ Qg7 43. Qe8+ Qf8 44. Qc6 Qd8 45. f5 a3 46. fxe6
Kg7 47. e7 Qxe7 48. Qxb6 Nd3 49. Qa5 Qc5 50. Qa6 Ne5 51. Qe6 h5 52. h4 a2 0-1
[/pgn]
Some believed that Magnus would be unable to recover from the loss but managed to pull out a win shortly thereafter in Game 10 to even things up.
[pgn]
[Event “WCh 2016”]
[Site “New York USA”]
[Date “2016.11.24”]
[Round “10”]
[White “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Black “Karjakin, Sergey”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2853”]
[BlackElo “2772”]
[ECO “C65”]
[Opening “Ruy Lopez”]
[Variation “Berlin defence”]
[WhiteFideId “1503014”]
[BlackFideId “14109603”]
[EventDate “2016.11.11”]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 Be7 8. O-O
d6 9. Nbd2 Nh5 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. Nc4 Nf4 12. Ne3 Qf6 13. g3 Nh3+ 14. Kh1 Ne7 15.
Bc4 c6 16. Bb3 Ng6 17. Qe2 a5 18. a4 Be6 19. Bxe6 fxe6 20. Nd2 d5 21. Qh5 Ng5
22. h4 Nf3 23. Nxf3 Qxf3+ 24. Qxf3 Rxf3 25. Kg2 Rf7 26. Rfe1 h5 27. Nf1 Kf8 28.
Nd2 Ke7 29. Re2 Kd6 30. Nf3 Raf8 31. Ng5 Re7 32. Rae1 Rfe8 33. Nf3 Nh8 34. d4
exd4 35. Nxd4 g6 36. Re3 Nf7 37. e5+ Kd7 38. Rf3 Nh6 39. Rf6 Rg7 40. b4 axb4 41.
cxb4 Ng8 42. Rf3 Nh6 43. a5 Nf5 44. Nb3 Kc7 45. Nc5 Kb8 46. Rb1 Ka7 47. Rd3 Rc7
48. Ra3 Nd4 49. Rd1 Nf5 50. Kh3 Nh6 51. f3 Rf7 52. Rd4 Nf5 53. Rd2 Rh7 54. Rb3
Ree7 55. Rdd3 Rh8 56. Rb1 Rhh7 57. b5 cxb5 58. Rxb5 d4 59. Rb6 Rc7 60. Nxe6 Rc3
61. Nf4 Rhc7 62. Nd5 Rxd3 63. Nxc7 Kb8 64. Nb5 Kc8 65. Rxg6 Rxf3 66. Kg2 Rb3 67.
Nd6+ Nxd6 68. Rxd6 Re3 69. e6 Kc7 70. Rxd4 Rxe6 71. Rd5 Rh6 72. Kf3 Kb8 73. Kf4
Ka7 74. Kg5 Rh8 75. Kf6 1-0
[/pgn]
The tournament remains tied and goes into Monday’s final round with the very real possibility of a rapid or blitz playoff being needed to decide the overall winner.
[pgn]
[Event “WCh 2016”]
[Site “New York USA”]
[Date “2016.11.26”]
[Round “11”]
[White “Karjakin, Sergey”]
[Black “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2772”]
[BlackElo “2853”]
[ECO “C84”]
[Opening “Ruy Lopez”]
[Variation “closed defence”]
[WhiteFideId “14109603”]
[BlackFideId “1503014”]
[EventDate “2016.11.11”]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3 O-O
9. Nc3 Be6 10. Nd5 Nd4 11. Nxd4 exd4 12. Nxf6+ Bxf6 13. Bxe6 fxe6 14. f4 c5 15.
Qg4 Qd7 16. f5 Rae8 17. Bd2 c4 18. h3 c3 19. bxc3 d5 20. Bg5 Bxg5 21. Qxg5 dxe4
22. fxe6 Rxf1+ 23. Rxf1 Qxe6 24. cxd4 e3 25. Re1 h6 26. Qh5 e2 27. Qf3 a5 28. c3
Qa2 29. Qc6 Re6 30. Qc8+ Kh7 31. c4 Qd2 32. Qxe6 Qxe1+ 33. Kh2 Qf2 34. Qe4+ 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]