FIDE WC Match 2016 - Game 5

Fifth draw, but for the first time, Magnus Carlsen had to defend against the Challenger, Sergey Karjakin. Another 5+ hour battle, that opened with the Giuoco Piano, one of the most difficult openings to be spelled by everyone! It's not an opening seen very often at the top level, but it's got its share of fashionable opportunities for both colors. The game was very tense with both players trying to keep the balance intact. Carlsen had to live a very worrying moment, when Karjakin found all the best moves, whereas the usually infallible Norwegian played a couple of "second choice" moves. But Magnus was able to show that he's as good as his opponent at defending difficult position! The impression was that a rather frustrated Carlsen, unable to crack the Russian resistance, tried and pushed a bit too much, finding himself in trouble. His comment at the press conference, where he appeared tired and unhappy, was "I messed up, and was lucky". This tweet by ICC commentator and great analyst GM Daniel King, sums up today's game pretty well:


 

Here is a 5-minute preview of the video with analysis of the game by GM Alex Yermolinsky.

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The winner of the GOTD TRIVIA is Laurence. HE wins a 12-month subscription to the Digital New in Chess Magazine!