At last the Russian hero broke down under pressure.
Magnus Carlsen, with a brilliant play in games 3 and 4 of the Rapid playoffs, retains the World Championship Title in New York City. The whole match had been almost thematic: Carlsen trying to break down Karjakin's resistance, and the Russian playing an amazing defensive chess, keeping the Champion at bay.
After 12 games the two foes were tied 6/6, and today, after the first uneventful draw in the Rapid playoffs, the trend seemed to continue. But in the second game, Carlsen went for the kill, only missing by a move the victory. Probably that was the moment which triggered something in Magnus' head. In Game 3, with black, the Champion played aggressively, and Karjakin used all his time to resist. At the end, Karjakin could not oppose his proverbial defending skills to the storming attack and blundered in time trouble. Magnus had white in the fourth and decisive game. e4 again, as almost always in this match. Karjakin decided to try the Sicilian for the first time.
Magnus went for it, and played solid chess, but without frantically seeking for a draw.
Karjakin, again, used most of his time to find a way to penetrate Carlsen's well-built center, and ended up overdoing it. Magnus finished the game - and the match - with a memorable move:
Qh6+
What a way to celebrate his 26th birthday!
Congratulations to Magnus Carlsen for winning the match and thanks to Sergey Karjakin for putting up such an amazing defense.
The Super contest to win a LIFETIME membership has been won by ICC member zedudu.
We had TWO members predicting the exact final result of the Match: zedudu and slowbishop. zedudu won the draw and the LIFETIME membership. Congratulations!
Here is Game 4 of the Rapid playoffs, the decisive win by Carlsen.
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GAME | ANALYST | GOTD VIDEO |
---|---|---|
GAME 1 | GM Ronen Har-Zvi | |
GAME 2 | GM David Smerdon | |
GAME 3 | GM Larry Christiansen | |
GAME 4 | GM Lars Bo Hansen | |
GAME 5 | GM Alex Yermolinsky | |
GAME 6 | GM Ronen Har-Zvi | |
GAME 7 | GM Alex Yermolinsky | |
GAME 8 | GM Jon Speelman | |
GAME 9 | IM Voja Milanovic | |
GAME 10 | GM Ronen Har-Zvi | |
GAME 11 | GM John Fedorowicz | |
GAME 12 | GM Larry Christiansen | |
TIEBREAKS | GM Miguel Illescas |
The New in Chess magazine has sponsored our GOTD videos, offering a 1-year subscription to its digital magazine to a lucky ICC member for each game of the World Championship!
And here are the winners of the New in Chess Digital Magazine 12-month subscription:
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