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It was the competition of the two best chess players in the world: Magnus Carlsen, number one in the world, Fabiano Caruana, number two. It looks like a show. Carlsen believed before the duel that there would be many decisive games. But with his prediction, the world champion was completely wrong: the twelve regular matches ended in draws. This did not happen in the history of the world chess championships. Only the tie-break was to bring the decision.
Carlsen has therefore won his fourth World Cup competition and remains world champion of chess for at least two years. Caruana was good, but not good enough. However, Carlsen's idea was not convincing either. Except in the figures, the world champion seemed inhibited and played almost shyly.
At one of the press conferences, players were asked about the great chess player they would model. "My model is myself four years ago, I would like to play as I did at the time," replied Magnus Carlsen. What looked like a joke was meant seriously.
Carlsen had begun to fear the best players as a chess prodigy at the age of 13. At 20, he takes the lead in the world rankings. At 22, he became world champion. He is now 28 years old and ten years old in the world clbad. In London, he looked tired. "I have not played well in the last two years," he said at the closing press conference. "I have to work on my failures."
This had been shown several times in recent weeks, but the Norwegian could have taken the lead in the first game. With the black stones, the world champion had played his opponent too much in the Sicilian variant of Rossolimo, but Carlsen left several profit opportunities untapped. Caruana was released, in the end there was a draw. If Carlsen had won, the fight would have taken a completely different course.
It soon became clear that both players had problems with their white repertoire. Normally, whites have the best game with the advantage of playing, and blacks must fight for equalization. Not at this competition. Carlsen avoided opening discussions with the white stones. If possible, he was looking for a quick final with the exchange between ladies.
But the plan to cover Caruana did not succeed. Although the American fought in his white games with concrete variants for an opening advantage, his strategy was not retained. Carlsen was too well prepared in his Black repertoire and knew a good answer for every new attempt.
The mini-services have remained unused
In the second and seventh games, Carlsen opened at Queen's Gambit and got nothing out. In the fourth and ninth games, Carlsen opted for the English opening. Caruana reacted in a familiar position with the inverted colors of the Sicilian defense, unsurprisingly with the 6Lc5 fashionable train, but surprisingly, Carlsen did not have an effective recipe at hand.
In the ninth game, Carlsen forgave a slight advantage. In the sixth and eleventh games, Carlsen debuted with the king's builder. With a strange Springerzug (4.Nd3), he dreaded the main variants of the Russian defense in the sixth match, was at a disadvantage and had to fight long for the draw. With a negative figure, he could save himself in a fortress. The Norwegian supercomputer "Sesse" calculated an advantage for Caruana during the match, but it was barely visible for a human.
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Caruana opened exclusively with King Pawn, and Carlsen has always responded with Sicilian defense. Caruana tried the Rossolimo variety in her first three whites, but did not have a positive effect. He then evolved into variants eight, ten and twelve to the open variant, but he also met here with a perfectly prepared world champion who had prepared the Sveshnikov variant. These three games were the most interesting of all the competition.
In the eighth match, Caruana managed to reach a promising position, but neglected a fundamental move and immediately compensated Carlsen. The world champion then developed a dangerous initiative regarding Kingside in the tenth game, forcing Caruana to be very careful.
In Tiebreak a completely different picture
The twelfth and last regular match was very strange even for the experts. Carlsen was already engaged, after the eleventh match, to play the last match of the draw and to look for the decision in the deciding game. From the first moves, Carlsen made a silent draw bid by repeating positions. Caruana went away and wanted to keep playing. But the challenger did not find a good plan and found himself in an unfavorable position. However, Carlsen did not take advantage, leaving a very strong opportunity unused and instead offered a superior position in a draw. An offer that Caruana could not refuse.
It was followed by the decisive start, in which four games were initially scheduled with 25 minutes of base time and 10 seconds of time per train. And here is a completely different picture. Brilliant self-confidence Carlsen officially broke his opponent. In the first match, the opponent helped a bit, but after his victory by Carlsen, he was back, the great ease with which Carlsen had the habit of dominating.
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