WCC 2018 Rd 5-10: Wildness and Peace
The players are unleashing a maelstrom of fireworks. Top level brutality has produced some marvelous chess on show. But the result has left everyone gasping. The World Chess Championship 2018 has began with 10 straight draws.
This is now the highest number of draws to begin a WCC in history, crossing the eight draws between Garry Kasparov and Vishy Anand in 1995. Considering the high number of exciting games, this was a really unexpected result.
We are very near to the tiebreaks- just two draws to get there but the players rightly do not like to think about it right now since there are still a couple of games left.
So far it has been a very balanced and exciting match. The results are simply unable to reflect the excitement of this match. Whatever the final result, this match is one that is going to be remembered forever. We have witnessed everything: different openings, wild games, combative and fighting games, missed opportunities, flawless chess etc. Just one thing has been missing, and it has been missed dearly: A decisive result.
No, there was hardly any head-scratching from Magnus in game 5. He equalised easily with Black. Photo: Mike Klein/Chess.com(the main image in this blog is also taken from this link)
Round 5 was another Rossolimo, but this time Fabiano had something up the store, and employed the pawn sacrifice 6.b4!? The game seemed highly complex right out of the opening. But as it often happens, 'too' complex fizzles out quickly. It turned out that both the players had prepared it all. Magnus then got a slight advantage in the endgame (with Black!) but the game finished quite quickly.
Then came the tricky phase for Fabiano- 'the double Black'. A disadvantage? No, it didn't turn out to be that way. At least not in this match. 'Cause Black is the New White! With every game, this is becoming more evident.
Magnus got outplayed in the endgame, but escaped unscathed. Photo: Mike Klein/Chess.com
In Round 6, finally came the Petroff. An extremely hilarious opening took place, and the players played out a 'knight chapter'. Magnus had probably some slight edge in the endgame, but messed it up badly and was suddenly getting outplayed by Fabiano.
After winning a piece, Fabiano missed a highly improbable win, 68...Bh4!! worked out by some really strong supercomputers. Magnus managed to create a fortress and it looked holdable until Magnus gave his opponent an accidental chance. It wasn't to be exploited though, as Garry Kasparov put it, if Fabiano would have found the winning continuation, metal detectors would have been asked for immediately.
Fabiano was once again well prepared in the QGD in game 7. Photo: Mike Klein/Chess.com
Round 7 was much more quiet, where Fabiano's 10...Qd8!? equalized easily. There was not much Magnus could do, and a boring draw ensued. In another 5.Bf4 QGD, Fabiano once again demonstrated superior preparation. In a symmetrical position, the players reached a knight vs bishop ending and drew quickly.
Till this point it seemed like Fabiano was easily thwarting Magnus' preparation with the Black pieces.
Fabiano put a lot of unpleasant pressure on Magnus in game 8. Photo: Mike Klein/Chess.com
Magnus once again repeated the Sicillian (this time to the surprise of no one!) but Fabiano finally went for the most principled Open Sicillian. The Sveshnikov followed, and it looked like it was going to be an exciting day.
The players didn't disappoint. In almost the first match where White really got a serious edge, Magnus got tangled up in the vines of Fabiano's preparation. He was caught out, and Fabiano got a huge advantage by 20 moves.
Engines were claiming he had a big advantage. Different engines ranged their evaulation from +1 to +2.5!! The challenger was at one point nearly an hour up on the clock. Things looked bad for the champ.
However, on that very precise moment, Fabiano decided to think for 30 mins and played the natural and correct move. It was a agonizingly long thought, and he couldn't even follow it up correctly. With the very slow 24.h3? Magnus was right back into the game and the players agreed to a draw in an opposite colour bishop endgame.
Magnus wasn't impressed by his technique in Round 9. Photo: Mike Klein/Chess.com
Another English, the players repeated game 4 till a certain point until Magnus unleashed the first surprise. Fabiano went into a deep think, and by 17 moves he was 50 mins behind on the clock. After Game 1, it was the first time where Magnus has serious hopes of entertaining a win.
Fabiano took the interesting decision to simplify the position a bit and went into an opposite colour bishop middlegame. Although not good objectively, Fabiano felt that it is safe with such a big time gap.
That wasn't anticipated by Magnus, and he started having his first think. He reached a position with a slight, but solid advantage, exactly the type where he thrives and squeezes water out of a stone. It was not to be though, and the challenger. equalized easily courtesy some hurried decisions by the champ.
Magnus went for broke in Round 10, but finally extracted nothing. Photo: Mike Klein/Chess.com
In what was probably one of the most exciting game in this match, another Sicilian Sveshnikov appeared on the board. Fabiano was the first to deviate from Game 8 with 12.b4!? and from then on Magnus started spending time on each move.
The game went wild soon enough, with the champ initiating an attack against the challenger's king. And then he unleashed the.... spectacular 21...b5!! And one could "not see how the match will end in a draw." (Hikaru)
A few moves later, Magnus made a controversial decision, and it was clear he was going for broke. The engines were not impressed by his pawn sacrifice, but it seemed absolutely impossible to calculate those lines over the board, so Fabiano preferred to play it safe.
He didn't find the best way though, and he came in some slight pressure.. but finally Magnus erred and even reached a rook endgame pawn down. The challenger didn't feel like trying, agreeing a draw on the spot immediately.
It's been one heck of a match. Screams of decisive result are making the rounds, but I have been enjoying the process and high level of chess on display. These games are truly worthy of the stature of the World Championship.
It has been a match of Wildness and Peace.
