Karjakin Applies Pressure in Fifth Draw of World Champs

New York City, the commercial center of the US bustled around the Fulton Market in expectation of Game 5 of the World Chess Championship. The match remained tied after four incredibly tense games where the World Champion, Magnus Carlsen, failed to break the defenses of the challenger, Sergey Karjakin. Before the game, GM Sam Shankland, US Olympiad gold medalist said, “If he (Karjakin) gets a nice edge, until then we’ll start talking. Until, then he’s just suffering one game after another. He’s not going to defend them all forever.” The question on everyone’s mind was: Would Karjakin rebound or would his defenses break? Karjakin with Black was up to the challenge. In contrast to the previous two games, Karjakin looked like he was much more in form today, ready to defend anything that Carlsen threw at him. In the middle of the game GM Lev Albert commented prophetically, “It certainly goes better for Karjakin because he saved two very bad games.” GM Albert thought that in contrast to popular opinion, Karjakin’s ability to save games 3 and 4 put psychological pressure on Carlsen. At the very least the rest day provided Karjakin the chance to recover from this immense pressure.

[pgn] [Event "Carlsen-Karjakin World Chess Championsh"] [Site "chess24.com"] [Date "2016.11.17"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2853"] [BlackElo "2772"] [PlyCount "102"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "Norway"] [BlackTeam "Russia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"] [BlackTeamCountry "RUS"] [WhiteClock "0:25:40"] [BlackClock "0:11:32"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 {An Italian game, Giuoco Piano, which fits Carlsen's slow grinding style. He will slowly put pressure on Karjakin.} 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. a4 {This is a modern move order to avoid many of the throughly explored lines.} d6 7. c3 a6 8. b4 {Carlsen strikes on the queenside with plans to strike in the middle as well.} Ba7 9. Re1 Ne7 {With this move Karjakin redirects the knight to the kingside defense.} 10. Nbd2 Ng6 11. d4 { A strike in the middle! From her Carlsen will maintain a slight advantage for quite a few moves. On the other hand there is really no big danger for Karjakin.} c6 12. h3 exd4 13. cxd4 Nxe4 {Karjakin trades off a pair of minor pieces and relieves some pressure in the position.} 14. Bxf7+ {Also possible was} (14. Nxe4 d5 15. Bd3 dxe4 16. Bxe4 Be6 17. b5 axb5 18. axb5 Bd5 {With a roughly equal position.}) 14... Rxf7 15. Nxe4 d5 16. Nc5 h6 17. Ra3 Bf5 18. Ne5 Nxe5 19. dxe5 Qh4 {Karjakin thought for at least 20 minutes on this move. It is the move that is suggested in the position but there is a lot of danger for both sides.} 20. Rf3 Bxc5 21. bxc5 Re8 22. Rf4 Qe7 23. Qd4 Ref8 24. Rf3 Be4 25. Rxf7 Qxf7 26. f3 Bf5 27. Kh2 Be6 28. Re2 Qg6 29. Be3 Rf7 30. Rf2 Qb1 31. Rb2 Qf5 32. a5 Kf8 33. Qc3 Ke8 34. Rb4 g5 35. Rb2 Kd8 36. Rf2 Kc8 37. Qd4 Qg6 38. g4 {This move fixes Black's g-pawn and makes it a perminent target.} h5 39. Qd2 Rg7 40. Kg3 Rg8 41. Kg2 {The slip! Now the tables turn and Karjakin has a chance for an advantage.} hxg4 42. hxg4 d4 {This a strong pawn sacrifice that activates the Black's light squared bishop.} 43. Qxd4 Bd5 {Karjakin missed the following line:} (43... Rh8 44. Qd2 Qh6 45. Kf1 Qh1+ 46. Ke2 Qa1 $15) 44. e6 { Carlsen gives back the pawn for equality.} Qxe6 45. Kg3 Qe7 46. Rh2 Qf7 47. f4 gxf4+ 48. Qxf4 Qe7 49. Rh5 Rf8 50. Rh7 Rxf4 51. Rxe7 Re4 {The rooks will trade and an opposite Bishop ending would allow the kings to live in peace.} 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

In a back and forth game 5, the players eventually agreed to a draw on move 51. This was a much shorter game than the previous two and a sign that Karjakin has rebounded. Carlsen looked visibly distraught and tired in the press conference saying, “I thought I was better and then screwed up. I was lucky not to lose.” Karjakin’s demeanor and comments seemed to be the opposite of the World Champion. When asked how worried he was about his play Karjakin replied, “I’m not worried; I’m just playing.”

There is less expectation for Karjakin to win the World Championship. In contrast, all of the pressure is on Carlsen as he prepares to play two Black games in a row. Stay tuned for the Game 6 action tomorrow, Friday 11/18. Dylan J Quercia is a chess coach and author (see his previous uschess.org article here on Tips for Beginners) and will be writing about rounds five-seven of the World Chess Championship. Find out more about him at https://coachqchess.squarespace.com/