World Championship 2016 - Games 1-2 Critical Moves

The first two games of the Carlsen-Karjakin 2016 World Championship were quiet draws, as both players were cautious starting the match.

We will look at a couple key positions and the critical moves selected there:

In game 1, Karjakin with black in move 11, had the option of obtaining the two bishops by playing a6, but instead played Be7 followed by Bd7 to exchange the white bishops and went on for slightly inferior, but easily drawn, bishop vs. knight endgame.

In game 2, Karjakin with white in move 18 played a drawish-looking move dxe5, exchanging the center pawns. Instead he could have kept the tension in the center with moves like Qd3, Rad1, Ne2 and Ng3.

Later, Carlsen in move 26, had the option to play c5 testing white with few complications that require accurate play, but instead played first Re6 exchanging all queen-side pawns and reaching a repetition quickly.

The following games 3 and 4 are also drawn, but much more exciting draws! In the next post, we will look at some of their more critical moves. Check the videos from the latest games.

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