From Donald Duff in New York
Defending champion Magnus Carlsen opted for a sneak attack in game one against challenger Serjey Karjakin last night, but the Russian refused to budge, and the game ended in a draw after 42 moves of round one, of their scheduled 12-match World Chess Championship series, here at the Fulton Market Building in New York.
Playing white after Thursday night’s draw, Carlsen opted for the Trompovsky attack which saw him playing bishop to g5, after opening up with d4, to which Karjakin replied with Nf6.
After capturing white’s knight on move four, Karjakin was left with double pawns on the f file, but Carlsen was unable to exploit this particular advantage, and the two players agreed to a draw after 42 moves.
“It was good to get the championships going. I felt that I had some advantage but I don’t think I played it too precisely.”
Karjakin noted that he too did not play precisely, “Today was sort of a new experience for me.”
He admitted that the opening did catch him a bit off guard. “Maybe I wasn’t too precise in the opening,” he said.
The match attracted its fair share of spectators, who paid $75.00 to see the two players battle it out in an enclosed booth, which afforded them the opportunity to view the players through the one way vision glass panels.
Although this is Carlsen’s second defence of the title he won from Vishy Anand, it was Karjakin who appeared a picture of calm while the defending champ seemed a bit agitated at times. Carlsen’s attacking nature was evident for much of the game and he constantly produced moves which compelled Karjakin to play accurately.
After the Queens were exchanged, the game meandered into a Rook and Bishop against Rook and Knight end game, and here again, it was Carlsen who was the more aggressive player. At times, it seemed as though Karjakin was being too passive, but he managed to neutralise all of Carlsen’s threats towards the end, before the two players agreed to share the point.
Carlsen said afterwards that he wasn’t too happy with the result but it was a decent start to the match, while Karjakin said a draw with the black pieces was satisfactory.
Speaking of the end game, Carlsen said it was similar to the Catalan endgame.
“It is quite similar to the Catalan endgame, but there is a key difference in this game, in that the black pawn is on d7, so I don t have a square for the Rook to infiltrate, so while it is still pleasant for White, it is much less dangerous than it is for Black, in those cases.”
The players are contesting a prize fund of US$1.1M, with the winner getting 60 per cent, and the loser 40 per cent. The winner will be the first person to score six and one half points.
Game One of the World Chess Championship:
White: Magnus Carlsen
Black: Sergey Karjakin
d4 Nf6, Bg5 d5, e3 c5, Bxf6, gxf6, dxc5 Nc6, Bb5 e6, c4, dxc4, Nd2 Bxc5,Ngf3 0-0, 0-0,Na5,Rc1 Be7, Qc2 Bd7 Bxd7 Qxd7, Qc3 Qd5 Nxc4 Nxc4 Qxc4 Qxc4 Rxc4 Rfc8 Rfc1 Rxc4 Rxc4 Rd8 g3 Rd7 kf1 f5 Kc2 Bf6 b3 Kf8 h3 h6 Ne1 Ke7 Nd3 Kd8 f4 h5 g4 d5 Nc5 b6 Na6 Be7 Nb8 a5 Nc6+ ke8 Nc5 Bc5 Rc3 ke7 Rd3 Rxd3 Kxd3 f6 Nc6+ Kd6 Nd4 Kd5 Nb5 Kc6 Nd4+ Kd6 Nb5+ Kd7 Nd4 Kd6
