Tension Mounts in Carlsen-Caruana after Third Draw

Caruana-Carlsen, Photo IM Eric Rosen

The wildly anticipated Carlsen-Caruana match (November 9-29, London) saw another Rossolimo Sicilian today. In game one, Carlsen played brilliantly as Black to achieve a fantastic position and nearly win. This time around, Caruana got the opening advantage but did not maintain it. In fact Carlsen was slightly better in the endgame, but Fabiano was able to deftly hold.

[pgn] [Event "Carlsen-Caruana FIDE World Chess Champio"] [Date "2018.11.12"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B31"] [WhiteElo "2832"] [BlackElo "2835"] [PlyCount "97"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "United States"] [BlackTeam "Norway"] [WhiteTeamCountry "USA"] [BlackTeamCountry "NOR"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. O-O Qc7 7. Re1 e5 8. a3 Nf6 9. b4 O-O 10. Nbd2 Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Nxf3 cxb4 13. axb4 a5 14. bxa5 Rxa5 15. Bd2 Raa8 16. Qb1 Nd7 17. Qb4 Rfe8 18. Bc3 b5 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. Ra1 Rxa1+ 21. Bxa1 Qa7 22. Bc3 Qa2 23. Qb2 Qxb2 24. Bxb2 f6 25. Kf1 Kf7 26. Ke2 Nc5 27. Bc3 Ne6 28. g3 Bf8 29. Nd2 Ng5 30. h4 Ne6 31. Nb3 h5 32. Bd2 Bd6 33. c3 c5 34. Be3 Ke7 35. Kd1 Kd7 36. Kc2 f5 37. Kd1 fxe4 38. dxe4 c4 39. Nd2 Nc5 40. Bxc5 Bxc5 41. Ke2 Kc6 42. Nf1 b4 43. cxb4 Bxb4 44. Ne3 Kc5 45. f4 exf4 46. gxf4 Ba5 47. f5 gxf5 48. Nxc4 Kxc4 49. exf5 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

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