Thursday, November 24, 2016

Carlsen-Karjakin game 10: Carlsen win (5.0-5.0)

He's back!

Carlsen wins with white, and the match is back to even.

You could just sort of tell, I think, that Carlsen wanted this game, badly.

On move 19, Karjakin offered an exchange of bishops, and re-took with his f-pawn, to open up the possible lanes for an attack.

But Carlsen quickly exchanged off the queens, and by move 30 the game had entered what became an extraordinarily complex endgame. Both sides had a pair of rooks and a knight, and all 16 pawns were still on the board.

But one of those pawns was doubled: Karjakin's f-pawn, offered back on move 19, became the focus of the entire game.

Carlsen maneuvered and maneuvered, patiently and carefully, taking his sweet, sweet time, as he is so willing to do.

Karjakin defended superbly, for 50 more moves, as the game stretched past the second time control, and entered its seventh hour.

And then, in a blink, it was over.

So now there are just 2 games to go in the match. Both sides have demonstrated they can win.

To me, it seems like anyone's match.

But I think Carlsen may have recovered his form with this win.

We'll see soon enough!

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