As in a novel, the party is always null… It’s now been three weeks and twelve fights on the 64 squares that the two best players on the planet, the world champion Norwegian Magnus Carlsen and his challenger, the american Fabiano Caruana and try in vain to destabilize. After twelve parties, often fought to the last pawn, but always ending with the sharing of the point.
Last minute : Carlsen wins the first fast part on 4!
Carlsen – Caruana: 1. c4 e5 2. Cc3 Cf6 3. g3 Bb4 4. e4 O-O 5. Cge2 c6 6. Fg2 a6 7. O-O b5 8. d4 d6 9. a3 Bxc3 10. Cxc3 bxc4 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. Ca4 Be6 13. Dxd8 Txd8 14. Fe3 Nbd7 15. f3 Tab8 16. Tac1 Tb3 17. Tfe1 Ec8 18. Ff1 Cd6 19. Tcd1 Cb5 20. Cc5 Txb2 21. Cxe6 fxe6 22. Fxc4 Cd4 23. Bxd4 exd4 24. Fxe6+ Kf8 25. Txd4 Ke7 26. Txd7+ Txd7 27. Fxd7 Rxd7 28. Td1+ Ke6 29. f4 c5 30. Td5 Tc2 31. h4 c4 32. f5+ Kf6 33. Tc5 h5 34. Rf1 Tc3 35. Rg2 Txa3 36. Txc4 D5 37. Tc7 Rxe4 38. Te7+ Rxf5 39. Txg7 Rf6 40. Tg5 a5 41. Txh5 a4 42. Ta5 Ta1 43. Rf3 a3 44. Ta6+ Kg7 45. Rg2 Ta2+ 46. Rh3 Ta1 47. h5 Kh7 48. g4 Kg7 49. Rh4 a2 50. Rg5 Kf7 51. h6 Tb1 52. Ta7+ Kg8 53. Txa2 Tb5+ 54. Rg6 Tb6+ 55. Rh5 1-0
today, the two young masters will therefore need to be separated into parts fast and ultra-fast, the famous cadence blitz – up to a decisive Armageddon where white must win to win the match.
» READ ALSO – Follow the part 6 of the world chess championship 2018
Twelve parties from the beginning of the competition, on November 9, and as much of the void: this is the first time in the history of the world championship that duels at slow speed (approximately 2 hours for 40 moves by each player) ends without any victory, sign of the tiny gap between Carlsen and Caruana, respectively number one and two in the world.
therefore, the tie-break, or parts of a tie-break. Concretely, the two young masters will compete in four matches in the so-called semi-fast, with a time more limited (25 minutes + 10 seconds per player).
» READ ALSO – the world chess Championship: the American Fabiano Caruana challenge Magnus Carlsen
In case of a tie, two extra innings will be played in blitz, quick format with only five minutes to the clock for each player at the start. Five mini-rapid games will be played if the tie persists up to the final Armageddon in which the null will be enough for black to win the title of world champion.
Considered one of the best players in history, Magnus Carlsen, the 27-year-old will attempt to win a 4th world title straight – and enter a little more in the legend of the discipline. Fabiano Caruana will him to offer the United States their first world championship since the legendary Bobby Fischer, who had defeated in 1972, the Russian Boris Spassky in the «match of the century», breaking, in the midst of the cold War, 24 years of hegemony of the soviet union.
Carlsen favorite fast parts?
Monday, November 26, for the 12th party classic, the American 26-year-old with the white has not managed to take the advantage and then left a free hand to Carlsen to develop his game.
Under pressure, resulting in a significant delay to the clock, Caruana was trying to reorganize his defense during the Scandinavian tightened his grip. «The Blacks are on the attack, and Caruana must be very careful because a slight inaccuracy can cost him the game», commented on Twitter Susan Polgar, former world champion of chess.
But while he would normally try to convert this promising position, Carlsen has surprised observers, many on the web, by proposing the null to the 31st of a sudden, after about three hours of game play. «I came out rather well (…) but this was not so easy to take advantage,» explained the world champion to the press, the licensor does not have wanted to «take risks» by attacking too directly on his opponent.
Caruana has obviously accepted without hesitation the sharing of the point, only too happy to get out of this situation to say the least, uncomfortable. But the American will have to raise his level of play on Wednesday in the face of Carlsen, shining in the formats fast or semi-fast, as he had shown at the previous edition of the world championship, in 2016 to New York, by defeating Russian Sergey Karjakin in the tie-break.
An opinion not necessarily shared by all the specialists, including the Russian Kasparov in person n°1 in the world for twenty years: «In the light of this offer of nullity shocking to Magnus while he was in a better position and with more time, I reconsider my assessment that he is the favorite in the fast parts».
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