2016 World Chess Championship: Game #11
Game 11: Another fighting draw! Carlsen-Karjakin will go the distance.
Another Ruy Lopez…. the theoretical theme of the match!
This match has had its share of twists and turns and the penultimate round was no different. A Ruy Lopez repeated from Game #2, the game took on a type of classical feel with all the pawns on the board. The first pawn was exchanged on move 19, but notice the huddled mess of pawns engaging in hand-to-hand combat after 18…c3!? and 23…Qxe6. Magnus Carlsen almost ushered in a black pawn to the end zone, but Sergey Karjakin had defensive resources to stave off the impending queen.
GM Wesley So called the action for ChessBase.
Video by ChessBase
Video by Daniel King.
When you have a slow grinder and a skilled defender fighting, how much aggression do you really expect in the ring? The out of book scuffle will start on Wednesday when botch players will be forced to take risk. But, irrespective of what happens in the Rapid or Blitz’s, I will consider Sergey or Magnus as Co-champions.
Let’s not overlook that Carlsen’s fans have used unmatched descriptions to define the prowess of Magnus. Granted that he is one of the best players currently, but the idea that he’s right up there with the great players, like Fisher, Capablanca, Kasparov, et al. is arguably premature. IMO, a player should defend his WC title for at least 5 years before he or she can be considered as one the greatest or the greatest. And to win the championship by playing rapids (glorified blitz) or blitz just takes away the esteem out of the competition. That’s why I consider the classical contest as the best to truly produce a world champion. Since the classical play ended in a 2- way tie, after 12 rounds, then they should be denoted as co-champions.