New York: It took nearly three weeks, 12 closely-fought games and a day of high-speed tie-breakers to decide the World Chess Championship, but at the end of play here, Wednesday, victory went to Magnus Carlsen, the Norwegian Grandmaster. However, the world will certainly remember, the fight of Russian challenger Sergey Karjakin, who went home defeated, but not disgraced.
It couldn’t have been a better way for Carlsen to celebrate his 26th birthday by retaining the title for the second successive time.
Spectators at the Fulton Market Building in Lower Manhattan here, many of them students of past championships, declared the match outstanding, with each player pressing minute advantages or finding inventive defences against whatever attack the other threw at him.
“It’s one of the most exciting championship matches in history,” said GM Lev Alburt who has followed championship matches since 1954. “If you’re a beginner, you can learn a lot, and if you’re a Grandmaster, you can still learn a lot.”
Everything got fast and furious Wednesday, as the solemn, deliberative pace of the first 12 games gave way to rapid action in which mistakes were inevitable.
The tie-breakers consisted of four games of high-speed chess, with each man given 25 minutes to complete his moves, plus an additional 10 seconds for every move made.
Karjakin, playing white, began the day like most others, with the Ruy Lopez opening. Both players started aggressively, with Carlsen advancing his pawns on the Queen side. But then the Norwegian was up to the task and the game ended in a draw. The second game with Carlsen playing white also ended in a stalemate.
Then in game three it was first blood for Carlsen. With Karjakin again playing white, Carlsen applied unrelenting pressure on both sides of the board, forcing Karjakin again to use his clock. This time the challenger did not have a response for Carlsen’s attack, and they entered the last game with the Russian needing a win just to stay alive and force the match into the blitz round.
Carlsen, playing white in game 4, never gave Karjakin a chance, opening a slight advantage and pressing it until the challenger had to fight not to lose. The Russian managed to do it, but it was not enough to prevent the ‘Mozart of Chess’ from retaining his crown.
“I’m very happy that at the end of the match I managed to find joy in playing,” said Carlsen after the match. “That’s the most important thing, probably more crucial than winning.”
Agencies
