Carlsen and Caruana Play Fifth Draw to Perfection

The Carlsen-Caruana match (November 9-29) continued to provide thrills and tension in round five, as both players fought to a draw in an incredibly well played game by both sides.

At first, commentators and #TeamFabi fans like me were optimistic as Fabiano seemed to catch Magnus unawares in a sharp line of the Rossolimo Sicilian, with the pawn sacrifice 6.b4.

After a stunningly well calculated defense, Magnus threatened to gain the upper hand, till he made a small slip with the natural move ....Kb6 instead of the engine preferred....b5.

...Kb6 was not as strong as it first appeared, because it allowed White to play the resourceful Bd2! With a check on e3 in reserve, White was finally able to include the forlorn b1 knight in the festivities. There were some funny variations, like the one I pointed out repeatedly on the Today In Chess broadcast with 29....e4 and 30. Ne1 checkmate.

Instead of this #TeamFabi fantasy variation, the two top players in the World continued to approach perfect chess, leading to an inevitable draw.

[pgn][Event "Carlsen-Caruana FIDE World Chess Champs"] [Date "2018.11.15"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B31"] [WhiteElo "2832"] [BlackElo "2835"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "United States"] [BlackTeam "Norway"] [WhiteTeamCountry "USA"] [BlackTeamCountry "NOR"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 e5 6. b4 Nxb4 7. Bb2 a6 8. a3 axb5 9. axb4 Rxa1 10. Bxa1 d6 11. bxc5 Ne7 12. Qe2 b4 13. Qc4 Qa5 14. cxd6 Be6 15. Qc7 Qxc7 16. dxc7 Nc6 17. c3 Kd7 18. cxb4 Ra8 19. Bc3 Kxc7 20. d3 Kb6 21. Bd2 Rd8 22. Be3+ Kb5 23. Nc3+ Kxb4 24. Nd5+ Bxd5 25. exd5 Rxd5 26. Rb1+ Kc3 27. Rxb7 Nd8 28. Rc7+ Kxd3 29. Kf1 h5 30. h3 Ke4 31. Ng5+ Kf5 32. Nxf7 Nxf7 33. Rxf7+ Bf6 34. g4+ 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

IM Eric Rosen is continuing to take over our twitter and instagram feeds.