Good evening everyone!
The third game is going to begin in roughly 3.5 hours from now! Magnus is Black and Caruana would try to take full advantage of that! Caruana is also younger and as Magnus himself admitted in an excellent interview https://en.chessbase.com/post/carlsen-insights-from-norwegian-vg-interview. Carlsen is very well-known to be a player who says what he feels and tries to say as freely as possible, something I very greatly admire. Important to understand is that Carlsen is probably not having the stamina he had two-three years earlier, when he was dominating World Chess with blistering force. In the interview however, he admitted his shortcomings in this area of stamina.
A brief look at the World Championship Matches is sufficient to notice a trend in Carlsen's games: In WCC 2013, Carlsen used Caro-Kann as a surprise for the 2nd game and then returned to his trusted Berlin Wall. In the 1st game of the 2014 WCC Match, he used the Grunfeld to blunt out Mr. Anand's 1.d4 and also played a relatively new idea with the White pieces in the Anti-Berlin. Trompowsky was also used as a surprise for the 1st game of the 2016 Match while then sticking to the regular Italian and Ruy Lopez Openings. Seeing this trend, it could have been interesting to expect Magnus to play something off-beat in the 1st Black game. This also suggests that Carlsen may never again return to the Sveshnikov Variation for the match. As I have seen the previous many World Championships being played, I can tell one important area at which Carlsen's match strategy differs: Usually players played the same openings with minor improvements or different move orders while Carlsen can sometimes change and play a completely different opening system. This is a novel way- I do not really recall a player changing his/her repertoire so easily with very good results. This also has to do with Carlsen being a very universal player and being able to play according to the demands of the position. This also makes me reminsce an extremely important principle- ' To survive at the top, one has to be more and more creative and original'. I read a principle along these lines in Mr. Steve Job's biography by Walter Isaacson as well as in some other sources.
I do believe that today Caruana does believe he has striking chances and chances to take over the Initiative. I am quiet sure Carlsen is not going to play the Siccilian again until later in the match(especially against a player as well-prepared as Fabi!).1.e4 e5 is a possibility- to play 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6!?(reducing further prep. in the Berlins and Anti-Berlins) 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bb7!? as has been played by Magnus with good results. Caruana has faced it in the US Championships earlier this year. An interesting deviation could be the Spanish Exchange as was played some times by Caruana's trainer R. Kasimdhzhanov in his World Championship KO 2004 victory.
Also possible is for Fabi to go with 1.d4 to see Carlsen's hand in this opening. I still believe that Slav is the choice from Magnus to limit Caruana'a preparations considerably. An important observation is also to be made: Carlsen played the theoritical Berlin Wall against Vishy Anand repeatedly in WCC 2013 and also played in WCC 2014. Hence Carlsen does not always mind avoiding theory as is popularly believed. Recently, I also had the thought of Carlsen playing French to surprise Fabi just like he did v/s Karjakin in Wijk Aan Zee 2011. He has in the past also surprised Fabi with the French and reached a very healthy pawn up( Bilbao 2012). Also, Caruana would definitely not expect it. Caruana however has an excellent record v/s the French this year(winning multiple games in the US Championships 2018) which makes playing it a little more dangerous. The more I think about it however, the more I think that Carlsen has reasons to go for the French. I also do however believe that Carlsen would prioritise 1.e4 e5 as his mainstay repertoire for the match although avoiding it completely may also not be totally wrong hence making a lot of Caruana's preparations fruitless as Karjakin admitted was in his case in 2016.
https://chess24.com/en/read/news/a-psychologist-analyses-carlsen-karjakin may be an important source which Caruana may have used to help himself cope emotionally and mentally prepare himself for the match.https://chess24.com/en/read/news/carlsen-karjakin-tiebreaks-magnus-still-the-champ also shows Karjakin confessing most of his preparations not coming to fruition in the match and some of his problems during the match. An interesting read.
I do believe that Berlin Walls are unlikely to be expected today and 1.e4 will probably be met with 1...e5 although I do want to see Carlsen play the French. The Moller( as played by Carlsen v/s Karjakin in Norway Chess this year) is also a realistic possibility yet it looks unlikely to me for Carlsen to challenge Fabi so openly in such a vastly theoritical opening.
It would promise to be an exciting match and I do see a decisive result coming out of today's game.
Thanks!
The third game is going to begin in roughly 3.5 hours from now! Magnus is Black and Caruana would try to take full advantage of that! Caruana is also younger and as Magnus himself admitted in an excellent interview https://en.chessbase.com/post/carlsen-insights-from-norwegian-vg-interview. Carlsen is very well-known to be a player who says what he feels and tries to say as freely as possible, something I very greatly admire. Important to understand is that Carlsen is probably not having the stamina he had two-three years earlier, when he was dominating World Chess with blistering force. In the interview however, he admitted his shortcomings in this area of stamina.
A brief look at the World Championship Matches is sufficient to notice a trend in Carlsen's games: In WCC 2013, Carlsen used Caro-Kann as a surprise for the 2nd game and then returned to his trusted Berlin Wall. In the 1st game of the 2014 WCC Match, he used the Grunfeld to blunt out Mr. Anand's 1.d4 and also played a relatively new idea with the White pieces in the Anti-Berlin. Trompowsky was also used as a surprise for the 1st game of the 2016 Match while then sticking to the regular Italian and Ruy Lopez Openings. Seeing this trend, it could have been interesting to expect Magnus to play something off-beat in the 1st Black game. This also suggests that Carlsen may never again return to the Sveshnikov Variation for the match. As I have seen the previous many World Championships being played, I can tell one important area at which Carlsen's match strategy differs: Usually players played the same openings with minor improvements or different move orders while Carlsen can sometimes change and play a completely different opening system. This is a novel way- I do not really recall a player changing his/her repertoire so easily with very good results. This also has to do with Carlsen being a very universal player and being able to play according to the demands of the position. This also makes me reminsce an extremely important principle- ' To survive at the top, one has to be more and more creative and original'. I read a principle along these lines in Mr. Steve Job's biography by Walter Isaacson as well as in some other sources.
I do believe that today Caruana does believe he has striking chances and chances to take over the Initiative. I am quiet sure Carlsen is not going to play the Siccilian again until later in the match(especially against a player as well-prepared as Fabi!).1.e4 e5 is a possibility- to play 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6!?(reducing further prep. in the Berlins and Anti-Berlins) 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bb7!? as has been played by Magnus with good results. Caruana has faced it in the US Championships earlier this year. An interesting deviation could be the Spanish Exchange as was played some times by Caruana's trainer R. Kasimdhzhanov in his World Championship KO 2004 victory.
Also possible is for Fabi to go with 1.d4 to see Carlsen's hand in this opening. I still believe that Slav is the choice from Magnus to limit Caruana'a preparations considerably. An important observation is also to be made: Carlsen played the theoritical Berlin Wall against Vishy Anand repeatedly in WCC 2013 and also played in WCC 2014. Hence Carlsen does not always mind avoiding theory as is popularly believed. Recently, I also had the thought of Carlsen playing French to surprise Fabi just like he did v/s Karjakin in Wijk Aan Zee 2011. He has in the past also surprised Fabi with the French and reached a very healthy pawn up( Bilbao 2012). Also, Caruana would definitely not expect it. Caruana however has an excellent record v/s the French this year(winning multiple games in the US Championships 2018) which makes playing it a little more dangerous. The more I think about it however, the more I think that Carlsen has reasons to go for the French. I also do however believe that Carlsen would prioritise 1.e4 e5 as his mainstay repertoire for the match although avoiding it completely may also not be totally wrong hence making a lot of Caruana's preparations fruitless as Karjakin admitted was in his case in 2016.
https://chess24.com/en/read/news/a-psychologist-analyses-carlsen-karjakin may be an important source which Caruana may have used to help himself cope emotionally and mentally prepare himself for the match.https://chess24.com/en/read/news/carlsen-karjakin-tiebreaks-magnus-still-the-champ also shows Karjakin confessing most of his preparations not coming to fruition in the match and some of his problems during the match. An interesting read.
I do believe that Berlin Walls are unlikely to be expected today and 1.e4 will probably be met with 1...e5 although I do want to see Carlsen play the French. The Moller( as played by Carlsen v/s Karjakin in Norway Chess this year) is also a realistic possibility yet it looks unlikely to me for Carlsen to challenge Fabi so openly in such a vastly theoritical opening.
It would promise to be an exciting match and I do see a decisive result coming out of today's game.
Thanks!
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