The FIDE World Chess Championship match between the current world champion and Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen and his Russian challenger Sergey Karjakin begins on Friday in Manhattan, New York. Karjakin had bested an elite group of grandmasters in the March 2016 Candidates tournament. They included his countryman Peter Svidler; America’s finest, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura; India’s Anand; Armenia’s Levon Aronian; the Netherlands’ Anish Giri and Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov.
A week ago, Carlsen boosted his chances of emerging victorious at the world championship match by defeating renowned blitz player Nakamura, in the final of an online invitational tournament hosted by Chess.com. It was a three-hour blitz match and 25 games were contested. Carlsen won the encounter handsomely by a 14.5-10.5 margin. Carlsen noted he viewed the match against Nakamura as extra preparation for his imminent world championship clash. Carlsen has had more victories than Karjakin during their previous encounters, and this fact makes the latter a decided underdog. Both contenders were teenage grandmasters, but Karjakin achieved the prestigious title earlier than the world champion. This makes the impending battle more imposing to chess onlookers, because the players, assuredly, are the most prolific on display. The first player to reach 6½ points in the 12-game series wins the match. Players receive a point for a win, half a point for a draw and zero for a loss.
The November 2016 FIDE chess rating list has been published. Carlsen remains at number one, but Caruana has claimed the number two spot. What is noteworthy is that India’s Pentala Harikrishna has joined the elite top ten group for the first time in his professional career. The results of the Russian Championship, the Isle of Man tournament and the Tal Memorial were all computed and have affected the November top ten ranking. Here are the ten highest rated active chess players in the world today:
- Magnus Carlsen, 2853, Norway
- Fabiano Caruana, 2823, USA
- Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 2811, France
- Vladimir Kramnik, 2810, Russia
- Levon Aronian, 2795, Armenia
- Wesley So, 2794, USA
Viswanathan Anand, 2779, India- Hikaru Nakamura, 2779, USA
- Sergey Karjakin, 2772, Russia
- Pentala Harikrishna, 2768, India
Chess game
Here are three games between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin. The two players clash for the world chess championship title in a 12-game series starting on Friday in New York.
Event: 2015 World Blitz Championship
White: Magnus Carlsen
Black: Sergey Karjakin
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bb5 a6 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Ne5 Qc7 11. Nd3 c4 12. Bxd6 Qxd6 13. Nc5 e5 14. b3 cxb3 15. axb3 Re8 16. O-O Ng4 17. g3 Qh6 18. h4 Ra7 19. Kg2 Rae7 20. Nf3 e4 21. Nh2 Nxh2 22. Kxh2 g5 23. Rh1 gxh4 24. Kg1 h3 25. Nxa6 Ra7 26. Nc5 Rxa1 27. Qxa1 Bg4 28. Kh2 Qf6 29. Qb2 Qf3 30. Rg1 Ra8 31. c4 Kg7 32. cxd5 cxd5 33. b4 Rb8 34. Na6 Rb6 35. Nc7 Rxb4 36. Qa2 Ra4 37. Qb2 Ra5 38. Ne8+ Kg6 39. Nc7 h5 40. Qc2 Kh7 41. Qb2 Qf6 42. Rc1 Qf3 43. Rg1 Qf5 44. Rc1 Ra7 45. Ne8 Qf3 46. Rg1 Ra6 47. Qc2 Re6 0-1.
Event: 2013 Tata Steel
White: Magnus Carlsen
Black: Sergey Karjakin
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 c6 4.O-O Bg4 5.c4 e6 6.d3 Nbd7 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Qc2 Be7 9.Nc3 Bxf3 10.Bxf3 d4 11.Ne4 O-O 12.Nxf6+ Nxf6 13.Bd2 a5 14.a3 Nd5 15.Rab1 Qd7 16.Rfc1 Rfe8 17.Qc4 Nc7 18.h4 a4 19.Bb4 Nb5 20.Kg2 h6 21.Bc5 g6 22.Qb4 Bf6 23.Qd2 Kg7 24.Rc4 Ra6 25.Qd1 b6 26.Bb4 c5 27.Bd2 Nc7 28.Rcc1 Nd5 29.Qh1 Be7 30.Kg1 Rd8 31.Rc2 Qe6 32.Qg2 Ra7 33.Re1 Rad7 34.Kh2 Rc8 35.Qh3 Qxh3+ 36.Kxh3 h5 37.Rb1 Ra8 38.Kg2 Ra6 39.b3 axb3 40.Rxb3 Bf6 41.Rc4 Rd6 42.Kf1 Kf8 43.a4 Nc3 44.Bf4 Re6 45.e3 Nxa4 46.Bd5 Re7 47.Bd6 b5 48.Bxe7+ Bxe7 49.Rxb5 Nb6 50.e4 Nxc4 51.Rb8+ Kg7 52.Bxc4 Ra7 53.f4 Bd6 54.Re8 Rb7 55.Ra8 Be7 56.Kg2 Rb1 57.e5 Re1 58.Kf2 Rb1 59.Re8 Bf8 60.Rc8 Be7 61.Ra8 Rb2+ 62.Kf3 Rb1 b63.Bd5 Re1 64.Kf2 Rd1 65.Re8 Bf8 66.Bc4 Rb1 67.g4 hxg4 68.h5 Rh1 69.hxg6 fxg6 70.Re6 Kh6 71.Bd5 Rh2+ 72.Kg3 Rh3+ 73.Kxg4 Rxd3 74.f5 Re3 75.Rxg6+ Kh7 76.Bg8+ Kh8 77.Kf4 Rc3 78.f6 d3 79.Ke3 c4 80.Be6 Kh7 81.Bf5 Rc2 82.Rg2+ Kh6 83.Rxc2 dxc2 v84.Bxc2 Kg5 85.Kd4 Ba3 86.Kxc4 Bb2 87.Kd5 Kf4 88.f7 Ba3 89.e6 Kg5 90.Kc6 Kf6 91.Kd7 Kg7 92.e7 1-0.
Event: 2016 Bilbao
White: Magnus Carlsen
Black: Sergey Karjakin
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2 g6 5. O-O Bg7 6. Bb5+ Nc6 7. d4 Qb6 8. Ba4 cxd4 9. cxd4 O-O 10. d5 Nb8 11. Nc3 Bg4 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 Nbd7 14. Rb1 Rfc8 15. Bc2 Ne5 16. Qe2 Nfd7 17. Bg5 h6 18. Bh4 g5 19. Bg3 Qa6 20. Qd1 Rc4 21. Kh1 Rac8 22. f4 gxf4 23. Bxf4 Qb6 24. Qh5 Nf6 25. Qf5 Qd8 26. Bb3 Rd4 27. Bxe5 dxe5 28. Rbd1 Qd7 29. Qf3 Rb4 30. Rd2 Rf8 31. g4 a5 32. Rg2 Nh7 33. h4 Rb6 34. g5 Kh8 35. Rfg1 f5 36. Qh3 Rb4 37. gxh6 Bxh6 38. Qg3 Nf6 39. Qg6 Ng4 40. Rxg4 1-0.
