Good evening everyone!
A very good second game and it is being a very exciting World Championship to follow already! The second game ended in another draw yet the game was extremely exciting just like the first one. Many websites again showed their surprise at Magnus not playing 1. e4 for the first game and instead opting for 1. d4. I had predicted(incorrectly again!) that Magnus would play 1. e4 to know which system Caruana has in mind to play and to set up small problems against it just like he was able to do v/s Karjakin in New York 2016. This time however, Magnus began with 1. d4.
It was followed by 1...Nf6. A lot of the websites predicted that this was to play the ever-solid Nimzo-Indian Defense, However this can quiet possibly just be for a transposition to the QGD also according to me. In the 4th move already, I got reminded of Mr.Garry Kasparov's words ' The QGD is an opening for the World Championship Matches'. I had expected Caruana to play the Ragozin/Vienna and put Carlsen under serious test in the openings yet he chose the QGD. This was done in order to get off Magnus' preparations as Caruana was playing Ragozin and the Vienna regularly before the match and not playing QGD for quiet some time. Also, Magnus himself is an ardent Ragozin player and can hence tackle the Ragozin quiet well!
Opening surprises such as these are something Caruana would wish to continue with. Calm, focused and upright- that's Caruana for you! Credits: Chess.com
Caruana hence played the QGD not letting Magnus use a lot of his own preparations- as is Carlsen's match strategy so frequently in World Championship Matches!
I could expect Magnus to go for the 5. Bg5 line or even for 5. cd5 ed5 6. Bg5 to surprise other top players who are hell-bent on theory (especially Karjakin against whom he chose the Colle-Zukertort System) yet he chose 5. Bf4 which he is frequently chosing recently. Caruana replied with 6...c5! a good move as Caruana had earlier played 6...Nbd7 and this way Caruana prevents Carlsen's opening preparations yet again! The game continued with 7.dc5 Bc5 8.e3 Nc6 9.Qc2 Qa5 10.Rd1 (all well-know theory until now) and now Caruana continued with 10...Rd8!? Curiously, earlier this year(around April/May) I thought that this move is not as good because of 11. Nd2. 10... Be7 is the main line in the position. However, I think that Caruana would have prepared 11.Nd2 Nh5!? 12.Bg5 Be7 while 12.Nb3 would be met by 12...Qb6 as Bg5 can always be met with ...Be7 hitting the Bishop with the gain of a tempo. I think Caruana would have either 11...Nh5 or 11...d4 in his preparations yet definitely not 11...dc4( as numerous sites mentioned including Alex Colovic. His article can be found here: https://www.alexcolovic.com/. I saw his preview of this World Championship and the previous one also and was quiet impressed by the psychological battles he mentioned. After being surprised in the opening, Carlsen played the 'simpler' Be2 while Caruana played 11...Ne4! in order to equalize completely and even gain the initiative at some point. Carlsen went wrong and when I had gone to bed( the games start at 20:30 IST) I thought that only Caruana can be the one playing for a win.
is something Carlsen would aim his seconds can help him out with- to not struggle against Caruana's preparation without any prior computer-assistance. Credits: Chess.com
That did happen yet the position was never out of reach and Carlsen managed a draw. The thing I would like to mention however is that it is very often that sustained pressure is the key in grinding water out of stone. That can be seen when one looks at numerous Carlsen victories from the period 2011-2015. Therefore, many websites saying that it was understandable for Caruana not to pressure Carlsen as much was not very clear to me. Even if we see the earlier World Championships, many mistakes have been made in holdable positions by players of the highest calibre who ended up with an unfavourable result. The psychological warfare and opening choices made a great impact on me and I was very impressed by Caruana's preparation in Game 2. Magnus did admit that he was not surprised at Caruana not going towards the theoritical lines yet him not chosing the most critical reply(11.Nd2) does seem to put doubt on this statement.
I think this is turning out to be one of the most interesting World Chess Championships of recent times and both teams would be armed to the teeth today and it will definitely be a very interesting 3rd game and maybe( and as I think) also a decisive result!
Also, Ding Liren's unbeaten streak came to an end at the behest of a wonderfully played game by Maxime-Vachier Lagrave! Seeing the game in real time, I had a feeling that MVL would win( after merely 15 moves from the beginning) and I can smell some blood even today!
A very good second game and it is being a very exciting World Championship to follow already! The second game ended in another draw yet the game was extremely exciting just like the first one. Many websites again showed their surprise at Magnus not playing 1. e4 for the first game and instead opting for 1. d4. I had predicted(incorrectly again!) that Magnus would play 1. e4 to know which system Caruana has in mind to play and to set up small problems against it just like he was able to do v/s Karjakin in New York 2016. This time however, Magnus began with 1. d4.
It was followed by 1...Nf6. A lot of the websites predicted that this was to play the ever-solid Nimzo-Indian Defense, However this can quiet possibly just be for a transposition to the QGD also according to me. In the 4th move already, I got reminded of Mr.Garry Kasparov's words ' The QGD is an opening for the World Championship Matches'. I had expected Caruana to play the Ragozin/Vienna and put Carlsen under serious test in the openings yet he chose the QGD. This was done in order to get off Magnus' preparations as Caruana was playing Ragozin and the Vienna regularly before the match and not playing QGD for quiet some time. Also, Magnus himself is an ardent Ragozin player and can hence tackle the Ragozin quiet well!
Opening surprises such as these are something Caruana would wish to continue with. Calm, focused and upright- that's Caruana for you! Credits: Chess.com
Caruana hence played the QGD not letting Magnus use a lot of his own preparations- as is Carlsen's match strategy so frequently in World Championship Matches!
I could expect Magnus to go for the 5. Bg5 line or even for 5. cd5 ed5 6. Bg5 to surprise other top players who are hell-bent on theory (especially Karjakin against whom he chose the Colle-Zukertort System) yet he chose 5. Bf4 which he is frequently chosing recently. Caruana replied with 6...c5! a good move as Caruana had earlier played 6...Nbd7 and this way Caruana prevents Carlsen's opening preparations yet again! The game continued with 7.dc5 Bc5 8.e3 Nc6 9.Qc2 Qa5 10.Rd1 (all well-know theory until now) and now Caruana continued with 10...Rd8!? Curiously, earlier this year(around April/May) I thought that this move is not as good because of 11. Nd2. 10... Be7 is the main line in the position. However, I think that Caruana would have prepared 11.Nd2 Nh5!? 12.Bg5 Be7 while 12.Nb3 would be met by 12...Qb6 as Bg5 can always be met with ...Be7 hitting the Bishop with the gain of a tempo. I think Caruana would have either 11...Nh5 or 11...d4 in his preparations yet definitely not 11...dc4( as numerous sites mentioned including Alex Colovic. His article can be found here: https://www.alexcolovic.com/. I saw his preview of this World Championship and the previous one also and was quiet impressed by the psychological battles he mentioned. After being surprised in the opening, Carlsen played the 'simpler' Be2 while Caruana played 11...Ne4! in order to equalize completely and even gain the initiative at some point. Carlsen went wrong and when I had gone to bed( the games start at 20:30 IST) I thought that only Caruana can be the one playing for a win.
is something Carlsen would aim his seconds can help him out with- to not struggle against Caruana's preparation without any prior computer-assistance. Credits: Chess.com
That did happen yet the position was never out of reach and Carlsen managed a draw. The thing I would like to mention however is that it is very often that sustained pressure is the key in grinding water out of stone. That can be seen when one looks at numerous Carlsen victories from the period 2011-2015. Therefore, many websites saying that it was understandable for Caruana not to pressure Carlsen as much was not very clear to me. Even if we see the earlier World Championships, many mistakes have been made in holdable positions by players of the highest calibre who ended up with an unfavourable result. The psychological warfare and opening choices made a great impact on me and I was very impressed by Caruana's preparation in Game 2. Magnus did admit that he was not surprised at Caruana not going towards the theoritical lines yet him not chosing the most critical reply(11.Nd2) does seem to put doubt on this statement.
I think this is turning out to be one of the most interesting World Chess Championships of recent times and both teams would be armed to the teeth today and it will definitely be a very interesting 3rd game and maybe( and as I think) also a decisive result!
Also, Ding Liren's unbeaten streak came to an end at the behest of a wonderfully played game by Maxime-Vachier Lagrave! Seeing the game in real time, I had a feeling that MVL would win( after merely 15 moves from the beginning) and I can smell some blood even today!
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