Good evening to all readers! The seventh round of the World Chess Championship 2018 being held at The College, London again ended in a draw. Carlsen could hence not make appropriate use of his 'two Whites' with both of them ending in a draw with Carlsen having to suffer quiet a bit in his first White game in Game 6.
Carlsen started with 1. d4, similiar to game 1. I had predicted that Carlsen should ideally go for the 2.c4 e6 3. Nc3 move order if he wants to play 1. d4 as Caruana has prepared the Queen's Gambit Declined extensively for the Match, as can be seen from the 'Videogate incident' detailed in the Round 4 report. Carlsen followed Game 2 however{wherein he had also played 1. d4 and diverged only on the 10th move playing 10. Nd2 instead of 10. Rd1 ( as appeared in that game).} Caruana was however, well prepared and retreated his Queen back to d8 with 10... Qd8!?in order to avoid uncomfortable positions with Nb3 next move. This is a relatively new idea played previously only in 6 games. However, considering the speed with which Caruana played this, it is extremely possible that it was all a part of his preparations. Grandmaster Peter Svidler, another top top player also considers that this may be an important move for the evaluation of the whole line which gives further merit to Caruana's opening preparations( especially with Black) in this match.
Caruana played 10...Qd8 here following 11. Nb3 with 11... Bb6 which had earlier been played only 6 times and not played by any top player. This gives further credit to the World Championship Contender's preparations. His seconds have surely done a great job in this World Championship Match thus far. Credits: Sagar Shah
Caruana followed this up with quickly developing his pieces after Carlsen did not find the most critical alternative. Another time when Carlsen was faced with Caruana's preparations, he did not challenge Caruana with the most critical option but self-admittedly tried to play the 'safer option'. This makes it very difficult for Carlsen to try and gain anything constructive with the White pieces. Caruana equalized completely. This was followed by exchanging many pieces and a dry position. Just when the position seemed to be heading straight towards a draw, Caruana became a little careless and could have got into a bit of trouble. The position however was so good that once understanding that the situation could go out of hand, he pulled up the brakes, played accurately and held the draw comfortably.
Two members of Team Caruana: from left to right : Caruana with his coach Rustam Kasimdhzhanov, a former World Chess Champion, 2004 and Grandmaster Christian Chirilla, who is also working as a second for Caruana. Their preparations so far for the World Championship Matches seemed to have worked considerably. Credits: Mike Klein
Caruana has now been able to draw both his consecutive Black games. He now has 3 White games and 2 Black games left for the rest of the match. He has thus far not gotten into much trouble with the Black pieces in absolutely any of the games which is amazing, considering this to be his first title for the World Chess Championship title. He was also pressing with the Black pieces which makes his Black preparation play out considerably according to his strategy. He also got an advantage with the White pieces in Game 3 yet could not pose much problems in any games, and got into quiet some trouble in Game 1 itself.
This game further highlighted quiet some weaknesses in Carlsen's opening strategies for this World Championship Match: Carlsen is allowing to let Caruana get his Black preparations into the game considerably( 10...Rd8!? in Game 2, 6...Nc6!N in game 6, 10...Qd8!? in Game 7). As noted earlier, one of Carlsen's principle strategies for the earlier World Championship Matches( against V. Anand in 2013 and 2014) and against Sergey Karjakin in 2016 was to limit opponent's preparations considerably( which he especially managed to do in the 2016 match as agreed by Karjakin). He has considerably failed to do that in this World Chess Championship however. Also, another top top player and a regular feature at top events Alexander Grischuk called Carlsen's White preparation 'childish'. He emphasised on the need to look at options at move 1 or move 2 of one's analysis for them to be fruitful while Carlsen has been surprised in the early part of Caruana's preparations thus far( 10....Rd8!?, 6...Nc6! and 10...Qd8!? all serving as good examples). He also cited this being a common mistake of not looking at earlier deviations as carefully as they should be looked at. He further lamented Carlsen not being able to find even one novel or relatively rare idea with the White pieces. French No.1 Maxime Vachier- Lagrave, a part of ' Team Magnus' in the 2016 Match had already called Magnus' White opening choices 'innocous' and this looks to be further criticism of his overall White strategy. This can partly be because both the players were focusing more on their Black games yet not finding much ideas with White( especially for Magnus) sounds pretty absurd to me.
Carlsen further said that he thought there were many safe examples yet what he did was way too soft- these mistakes are understandable yet rarely forgivable especially in a tournament as important as the World Chess Championship Match. Alex Colovic wrote that Carlsen's ways of playing his moves are 'way too soft' and that Caruana is showing impeccable calculations and preparations. This may partly be because Carlsen would be the favourite in the event of tiebreakers, yet it is only one game needed to tilt the balance in either man's favour.
Carlsen's White preparations thus far have not proven to be effective with most of Caruana's preparations coming on the board. He looks a little unhappy with the course of the match( and not being able to use two Whites) yet wants to cope up. Credits: Nikolai Dunaevsky
He said in the Press Conference that 'he's not loving it, yet is not in any sort of panic mode, however. The match is still equal, and with Black it was going okay. He was not happy with his play yesterday, yet suggested that it was not a big deal. This last line however reflects from smacks of unprofessionalism to me- Carlsen being satisfied with a draw with White wherein he earlier used to be unhappy with a draw with Black against any top player. He has Black today, with this being the second consecutive day. As I had noted in my previous articles, Carlsen's stamina looks to be a problem. It is important to know that Carlsen was playing White in the second day before a rest day thus far. Playing Black however on a second consecutive day looks to be extremely tricky and difficult for the World Champion. I am sure that Caruana would be pressing extensively today as tomorrow is a rest day and a win today would give him a considerable advantage for the rest of the game as it would be a win with only 4 rounds left. It looks like Magnus may be in a spot of bother if Caruana gets his preparation clicked, yet 'when the going gets tough, then the tough gets going'. Anish Giri, another person tipped to challenge for the World Championship in the coming years believed this to be a good result for Caruana who can now press on for the win with the White pieces! You can watch all the games here: https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2018-wcc
Stay Tuned.
Thanks!
Carlsen started with 1. d4, similiar to game 1. I had predicted that Carlsen should ideally go for the 2.c4 e6 3. Nc3 move order if he wants to play 1. d4 as Caruana has prepared the Queen's Gambit Declined extensively for the Match, as can be seen from the 'Videogate incident' detailed in the Round 4 report. Carlsen followed Game 2 however{wherein he had also played 1. d4 and diverged only on the 10th move playing 10. Nd2 instead of 10. Rd1 ( as appeared in that game).} Caruana was however, well prepared and retreated his Queen back to d8 with 10... Qd8!?in order to avoid uncomfortable positions with Nb3 next move. This is a relatively new idea played previously only in 6 games. However, considering the speed with which Caruana played this, it is extremely possible that it was all a part of his preparations. Grandmaster Peter Svidler, another top top player also considers that this may be an important move for the evaluation of the whole line which gives further merit to Caruana's opening preparations( especially with Black) in this match.
Caruana played 10...Qd8 here following 11. Nb3 with 11... Bb6 which had earlier been played only 6 times and not played by any top player. This gives further credit to the World Championship Contender's preparations. His seconds have surely done a great job in this World Championship Match thus far. Credits: Sagar Shah
Caruana followed this up with quickly developing his pieces after Carlsen did not find the most critical alternative. Another time when Carlsen was faced with Caruana's preparations, he did not challenge Caruana with the most critical option but self-admittedly tried to play the 'safer option'. This makes it very difficult for Carlsen to try and gain anything constructive with the White pieces. Caruana equalized completely. This was followed by exchanging many pieces and a dry position. Just when the position seemed to be heading straight towards a draw, Caruana became a little careless and could have got into a bit of trouble. The position however was so good that once understanding that the situation could go out of hand, he pulled up the brakes, played accurately and held the draw comfortably.
Two members of Team Caruana: from left to right : Caruana with his coach Rustam Kasimdhzhanov, a former World Chess Champion, 2004 and Grandmaster Christian Chirilla, who is also working as a second for Caruana. Their preparations so far for the World Championship Matches seemed to have worked considerably. Credits: Mike Klein
Caruana has now been able to draw both his consecutive Black games. He now has 3 White games and 2 Black games left for the rest of the match. He has thus far not gotten into much trouble with the Black pieces in absolutely any of the games which is amazing, considering this to be his first title for the World Chess Championship title. He was also pressing with the Black pieces which makes his Black preparation play out considerably according to his strategy. He also got an advantage with the White pieces in Game 3 yet could not pose much problems in any games, and got into quiet some trouble in Game 1 itself.
This game further highlighted quiet some weaknesses in Carlsen's opening strategies for this World Championship Match: Carlsen is allowing to let Caruana get his Black preparations into the game considerably( 10...Rd8!? in Game 2, 6...Nc6!N in game 6, 10...Qd8!? in Game 7). As noted earlier, one of Carlsen's principle strategies for the earlier World Championship Matches( against V. Anand in 2013 and 2014) and against Sergey Karjakin in 2016 was to limit opponent's preparations considerably( which he especially managed to do in the 2016 match as agreed by Karjakin). He has considerably failed to do that in this World Chess Championship however. Also, another top top player and a regular feature at top events Alexander Grischuk called Carlsen's White preparation 'childish'. He emphasised on the need to look at options at move 1 or move 2 of one's analysis for them to be fruitful while Carlsen has been surprised in the early part of Caruana's preparations thus far( 10....Rd8!?, 6...Nc6! and 10...Qd8!? all serving as good examples). He also cited this being a common mistake of not looking at earlier deviations as carefully as they should be looked at. He further lamented Carlsen not being able to find even one novel or relatively rare idea with the White pieces. French No.1 Maxime Vachier- Lagrave, a part of ' Team Magnus' in the 2016 Match had already called Magnus' White opening choices 'innocous' and this looks to be further criticism of his overall White strategy. This can partly be because both the players were focusing more on their Black games yet not finding much ideas with White( especially for Magnus) sounds pretty absurd to me.
Carlsen further said that he thought there were many safe examples yet what he did was way too soft- these mistakes are understandable yet rarely forgivable especially in a tournament as important as the World Chess Championship Match. Alex Colovic wrote that Carlsen's ways of playing his moves are 'way too soft' and that Caruana is showing impeccable calculations and preparations. This may partly be because Carlsen would be the favourite in the event of tiebreakers, yet it is only one game needed to tilt the balance in either man's favour.
Carlsen's White preparations thus far have not proven to be effective with most of Caruana's preparations coming on the board. He looks a little unhappy with the course of the match( and not being able to use two Whites) yet wants to cope up. Credits: Nikolai Dunaevsky
He said in the Press Conference that 'he's not loving it, yet is not in any sort of panic mode, however. The match is still equal, and with Black it was going okay. He was not happy with his play yesterday, yet suggested that it was not a big deal. This last line however reflects from smacks of unprofessionalism to me- Carlsen being satisfied with a draw with White wherein he earlier used to be unhappy with a draw with Black against any top player. He has Black today, with this being the second consecutive day. As I had noted in my previous articles, Carlsen's stamina looks to be a problem. It is important to know that Carlsen was playing White in the second day before a rest day thus far. Playing Black however on a second consecutive day looks to be extremely tricky and difficult for the World Champion. I am sure that Caruana would be pressing extensively today as tomorrow is a rest day and a win today would give him a considerable advantage for the rest of the game as it would be a win with only 4 rounds left. It looks like Magnus may be in a spot of bother if Caruana gets his preparation clicked, yet 'when the going gets tough, then the tough gets going'. Anish Giri, another person tipped to challenge for the World Championship in the coming years believed this to be a good result for Caruana who can now press on for the win with the White pieces! You can watch all the games here: https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2018-wcc
Stay Tuned.
Thanks!
Comments
Post a Comment