Tactics Time Chess Newsletter: Magnificent Magnus

Published: Thu, 12/01/16

Newsletter Issue Magnificent Magnus

Tactics Time

Magnificent Magnus

It's a beautiful way of ending the championship ~ Judit Polgar


T

his position comes from the game Magnus Carlsen vs Sergey Karjakin, World Chess Championship, Rapid Playoffs, Round 4, New York, played yesterday, November 30, 2016.

In the position on the right it is White to move.

Answer below.

   The 2016 World Chess Championship came to an end yesterday in a brilliant fashion.

   The match started on November 11, 2016 and was 12 games long.

   The first seven games were drawn, before the challenger, Sergey Karjakin, won the 8th game. Carlsen evened the score by winning the tenth game. All other games were drawn, leaving the match at a 6-6 tie, meaning that tie breaks were to decide the match.

   These tie breaks were held yesterday, and were very exciting!

   The time control was 25 minutes with 10 seconds increment per move. This lead to some very exciting games. The first two tie break games were tied, with Magnus winning the last two, giving him the World Championship. It was also Magnus's 26th birthday!

   I bought the $15 package to watch all the games and coverage on the official site, worldchess.com and really enjoyed it.  Judit Polgar was the main commentator, and I thought she was excellent.

   They had a lot of guests as well, which I enjoyed, including Josh Waitzkin, Maurice Ashley and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

   Even though there were a lot of draws, they were quite exciting (except for game 12, which was a dud).

   I enjoyed the post game interviews as well. Both players are very likeable and charming in their own ways.

   More coverage of the match if you are interested:

   Official site: https://worldchess.com/nyc2016/round-16/

   Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_2016

   New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/30/nyregion/magnus-carlsen-defends-title-in-world-chess-championship.html?_r=0

   All of the games: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=88069&crosstable=1

   Congrats to Magnus and kudos to Sergey on a great match!

   Here is the complete game:

[Event "Carlsen - Karjakin World Championship"]
[Site "0:01:33-0:00:33"]
[Date "2016.11.30"]
[EventDate "2016.11.11"]
[Round "13.4"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Magnus Carlsen"]
[Black "Sergey Karjakin"]
[ECO "B54"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "2"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3 e5 6.Nb3 Be7 7.c4 a5 8.Be3 a4 
9.Nc1 O-O 10.Nc3 Qa5 11.Qd2 Na6 12.Be2 Nc5 13.O-O Bd7 14.Rb1 Rfc8 15.b4 axb3 
16.axb3 Qd8 17.Nd3 Ne6 18.Nb4 Bc6 19.Rfd1 h5 20.Bf1 h4 21.Qf2 Nd7 
22.g3 Ra3 23.Bh3 Rca8 24.Nc2 R3a6 25.Nb4 Ra5 26.Nc2 b6 27.Rd2 Qc7 
28.Rbd1 Bf8 29.gxh4 Nf4 30.Bxf4 exf4 31.Bxd7 Qxd7 32.Nb4 Ra3 33.Nxc6 Qxc6 
34.Nb5 Rxb3 35.Nd4 Qxc4 36.Nxb3 Qxb3 37.Qe2 Be7 38.Kg2 Qe6 39.h5 Ra3 
40.Rd3 Ra2 41.R3d2 Ra3 42.Rd3 Ra7 43.Rd5 Rc7 44.Qd2 Qf6 45.Rf5 Qh4 
46.Rc1 Ra7 47.Qxf4 Ra2+ 48.Kh1 Qf2 49.Rc8+ Kh7 50.Qh6+  1-0

You can play through this game here: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1848607

   Answer:

   Magnus won the championship with the brilliant 50.Qh6+!!

   If 50...gxh6 51.Rxf7#
   If 50...Kxh6 51.Rh8#

Happy Tactics!

Your Friend,