Newsflash: Caruana Pressures Carlsen in Round Two Draw

American challenger Fabiano Caruana pressured Magnus Carlsen in round two of their much-anticipated World Championship match, which Grandmaster Ian Rogers set the scene for in his first exclusive report for CLO. Despite winning the opening battle after catching Magnus by surprise with 10...Rad8, Fabiano was never close to winning the game, as Carlsen's piece activity compensated for his positional weaknesses. Magnus found a way to convert to a pawn down but easily holdable rook ending, and a draw was agreed after 49 moves and less than four hours.

[pgn]

[Event "Carlsen-Caruana FIDE World Chess Championship"]
[Date "2018.11.10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]
[WhiteClock "1:01:06"]
[BlackClock "1:38:36"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Qc2
Nc6 9. a3 Qa5 10. Rd1 Rd8 11. Be2 Ne4 12. O-O Nxc3 13. bxc3 h6 14. a4 Ne7 15.
Ne5 Bd6 16. cxd5 Nxd5 17. Bf3 Nxf4 18. exf4 Bxe5 19. Rxd8+ Qxd8 20. fxe5 Qc7
21. Rb1 Rb8 22. Qd3 Bd7 23. a5 Bc6 24. Qd6 Qxd6 25. exd6 Bxf3 26. gxf3 Kf8 27.
c4 Ke8 28. a6 b6 29. c5 Kd7 30. cxb6 axb6 31. a7 Ra8 32. Rxb6 Rxa7 33. Kg2 e5
34. Rb4 f5 35. Rb6 Ke6 36. d7+ Kxd7 37. Rb5 Ke6 38. Rb6+ Kf7 39. Rb5 Kf6 40.
Rb6+ Kg5 41. Rb5 Kf4 42. Rb4+ e4 43. fxe4 fxe4 44. h3 Ra5 45. Rb7 Rg5+ 46. Kf1
Rg6 47. Rb4 Rg5 48. Rb7 Rg6 49. Rb4 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

For the second game in a row, the player with the Black pieces pushed in a pawn-up rook endgame. https://twitter.com/GregShahade/status/1061321165552173062 Look for thoughts on this game in Grandmaster Ian Rogers' next report. Also now on site: IM Eric Rosen. https://twitter.com/IM_Rosen/status/1061288672736305152 Eric will be taking over the @USChess twitter feed starting in round three, which begins on Monday at 10 AM ET.