Chess match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin
The World Chess Championship 2016 was a chess match between the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen and the challenger Sergey Karjakin to determine the World Chess Champion. Carlsen had been world champion since 2013, while Karjakin qualified as challenger by winning the 2016 Candidates Tournament. The best-of-12 match, organized by FIDE and its commercial partner Agon, was played in New York City between 10 and 30 November 2016.
The match opened with seven consecutive draws before Karjakin won the eighth game. Carlsen evened the score by winning the tenth game. All other games were drawn, leaving the match at a 6–6 tie, so tie breaks decided the match. After two draws to begin the rapid chess tie break, Carlsen won the remaining two games to win the match and retain his title.
Candidates Tournament.
The Candidates Tournament to determine the challenger was held on 11–30 March 2016 in Moscow, Russia, with FIDE's commercial partner Agon as the official organizer, with support from the Russian Chess Federation. The tournament was an 8-player double round-robin, with five different qualification paths possible: the loser of the World Chess Championship 2014 match, the top two finishers in the Chess World Cup 2015, the top two finishers in the FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15, next two highest rated players (average FIDE rating on the 12 monthly lists from January to December 2015, with at least 30 games played) who played in Chess World Cup 2015 or FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15, and one player nominated by Agon (the organizers).
Results by round.
Pairings and results
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Summary.
Going into the final round, Caruana and Karjakin were tied for the lead, half a point ahead of Anand, and played each other in the final round. Due to the tie breaks situation, the only possible tournament winners were Caruana and Karjakin, with the winner of their final game also the winner of the tournament. A draw would cause the tournament result to depend on Anand's game against Svidler; if Anand won then Caruana would win, but otherwise Karjakin would win. Karjakin had the further advantage of white in the final game. Caruana played for a win in the final round, but overpressed, and at the critical moment, Karjakin calculated correctly and won the game and tournament. In retrospect, Karjakin's draw with black in his other game against Caruana, which Chessbase called a "brilliant defensive effort", was critical. Karjakin's victory qualified him as the official challenger.
Championship match.
The Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin was held from 10 to 30 November 2016 in New York City, United States, under the auspices of FIDE.
Previous head-to-head record.
Prior to the match, as of 10 November 2016, Carlsen and Karjakin had played each other 21 times (at long time controls) with Carlsen leading 4 wins to 1 with 16 draws. Their most recent encounter was at the July 2016 Bilbao Chess Masters double round-robin tournament, where Carlsen won one game while the other was drawn.
Lead up to match.
After his victory in the Candidates Tournament 2016, Karjakin was scheduled to play in the Norway Chess event in April with a head-to-head game against Carlsen on tap, but cancelled his appearance, citing fatigue from the Candidates victory. He then surprised Carlsen by agreeing to play in the double round-robin Bilbao tournament in July. The games at the Bilbao tournament were played at a slightly faster initial rate (40 moves in 90 minutes) than that used in the World Chess Championship (40 moves in 100 minutes). Carlsen defeated Karjakin in their first game in the Bilbao tournament, while the second was drawn. He credited the faster time control in making it difficult for Karjakin to deal with pressure.
Organization and location.
The match was held under the auspices of FIDE, the world chess federation, with the organisation rights belonging to Agon, its commercial partner. It took place between 11 and 30 November in the renovated Fulton Market Building (formerly Fulton Fish Market) in the South Street Seaport in New York City, with the two contestants competing for a prize fund of at least 1 million euros (US$1.1m). The chief arbiter was Takis Nikolopoulos from Greece.
Match regulations.
According to the match regulations put forward by FIDE, the players could not draw a game by agreement before Black's 30th move, but they could claim a draw by threefold repetition. The time control was set at:
Seconds.
Magnus Carlsen's team for the match consisted of Peter Heine Nielsen (main coach), Jon Ludvig Hammer (regular sparring-partner), Espen Agdestein (manager). Additional support was from the analytic team which included Laurent Fressinet, Nils Grandelius, Jan Gustafsson, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Samuel Shankland took part in some training camps, and Magnus also played training games against Richárd Rapport.
Sergey Karjakin's team for the match included Vladimir Potkin, Alexander Motylev, Yury Dokhoian, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and some undisclosed Russian grandmasters.
Opening press conference.
The opening press conference was held on November 10. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was unable to attend following sanctions from the US Government over his ties with the Syrian regime, but communicated by Skype instead with vice president Gelfer the official FIDE representative (rather than deputy president Makropoulos). Agon's CEO Ilya Merenzon attended, and the two major sponsors (EG Capital Advisors and PhosAgro) had representatives, with both players and the chief arbiter rounding out the principals.
Broadcast.
The video feed on the official website was only available after paying a fee. Live commentary was provided by Agon and Chess24. Prior to the match AGON tried to deny other websites to show moves of the match. AGON went to court over this but lost their case.
Schedule and results.
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The games commenced each day at 14:00 local time in New York City.
Classical games.
Game 1: Carlsen–Karjakin, ½–½.
Carlsen opened with 1.d4, and then chose to play the Trompowsky Attack (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5), an uncommon opening at the elite level, though one which Carlsen has employed before. A temporary pawn sacrifice by White led to mass exchanges and an endgame in which White had the better pawn structure and so slightly better chances. However Black's position was solid and Karjakin defended robustly. After 42 moves the game was drawn.
Carlsen's opening choice was recalled multiple times in interviews and the post-game press conference, in part due to its uncommon reputation, but also because its name resonated with Donald Trump and the recent United States presidential election three days prior. Carlsen said that if he had known how many questions he would face over his opening choice, he would have played something else. Karjakin noted the media appeared more surprised about Carlsen's opening choice than he himself was, and indicated that perhaps move 27 was Carlsen's last chance to make something of the game.
 ;templatestyles src="Block indent/styles.css"/ ;1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. e3 c5 4. Bxf6 gxf6 5. dxc5 Nc6 6. Bb5 e6 7. c4 dxc4 8. Nd2 Bxc5 9. Ngf3 0-0 10. 0-0 Na5 11. Rc1 Be7 12. Qc2 Bd7 13. Bxd7 Qxd7 14. Qc3 Qd5 15. Nxc4 Nxc4 16. Qxc4 Qxc4 17. Rxc4 Rfc8 18. Rfc1 Rxc4 19. Rxc4 (diagram) Rd8 20. g3 Rd7 21. Kf1 f5 22. Ke2 Bf6 23. b3 Kf8 24. h3 h6 25. Ne1 Ke7 26. Nd3 Kd8 27. f4 h5 28. a4 Rd5 29. Nc5 b6 30. Na6 Be7 31. Nb8 a5 32. Nc6+ Ke8 33. Ne5 Bc5 34. Rc3 Ke7 35. Rd3 Rxd3 36. Kxd3 f6 37. Nc6+ Kd6 38. Nd4 Kd5 39. Nb5 Kc6 40. Nd4+ Kd6 41. Nb5+ Kd7 42. Nd4 Kd6 ½–½
Game 2: Karjakin–Carlsen, ½–½.
In game 2, Karjakin opened with 1.e4, which he had played in 9 of 12 prior encounters with Carlsen. Carlsen responded to Karjakin's Ruy Lopez with a classical line rather than the Berlin Defense. Karjakin then avoided the principal variation with 6.d3. Karjakin exchanged central pawns on move 18 (see diagram), and Carlsen said afterwards that Black was too solid in the center for White to regroup his Nc3 to g3.
After the game, Carlsen said that in a long match not every game is going to involve fireworks. The game had higher attendance than the opener, with one reason being that many schools used their free tickets on the weekend.
 ;templatestyles src="Block indent/styles.css"/ ;1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3 0-0 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Ba2 Be6 11. d4 Bxa2 12. Rxa2 Re8 13. Ra1 Nc4 14. Re1 Rc8 15. h3 h6 16. b3 Nb6 17. Bb2 Bf8 (diagram) 18. dxe5 dxe5 19. a4 c6 20. Qxd8 Rcxd8 21. axb5 axb5 22. Ne2 Bb4 23. Bc3 Bxc3 24. Nxc3 Nbd7 25. Ra6 Rc8 26. b4 Re6 27. Rb1 c5 28. Rxe6 fxe6 29. Nxb5 cxb4 30. Rxb4 Rxc2 31. Nd6 Rc1+ 32. Kh2 Rc2 33. Kg1 ½–½
Game 3: Carlsen–Karjakin, ½–½.
This game saw the Berlin Defense, which is quite often seen in the World Championship (4 times each in 2013 and 2014). Carlsen avoided the 'Berlin Endgame' by playing 5.Re1. A mainline was followed until Carlsen retreated his rook only to e2 on move 10, upon which Karjakin thought for nearly half an hour. Carlsen followed it up with 11.Re1, apparently losing a tempo but having provoked the move 10...b6. At the press conference afterwards he joked that 10.Re2 was a " ;dfn id="" ;fingerfehler ;/dfn ;" which he corrected on the next move. (In fact the idea had been tried the previous year by grandmaster Rustam Kasimdzhanov.) Karjakin accepted slightly weakened pawns, and in contrast to the previous games decided to aim for counterplay with 29...Ra8 then 30...Ra2 rather than sit passively. Carlsen soon won a pawn to emerge with the first real winning chances of the match. After many vicissitudes along the way, Carlsen missed the winning 70.Re8 (see diagram). After 70.Nc6, Black could reach a theoretical draw by 70...Rc3 (attacking the knight, which guards White's rook), though some difficult follow-up lines might be needed before a drawn pawnless endgame would definitively be reached. Karjakin instead immediately grabbed White's f-pawn (70...Kxf5), which would lose against perfect play, but Carlsen granted him another drawing chance two moves later with 72.Rb7. This time Karjakin found the necessary defense 72...Ra1. An ensuing liquidation saw Karjakin's passed h-pawn strong enough to compel Carlsen to acquiesce to a draw after almost seven hours of play.
The game was hailed as a miracle escape for Karjakin and a showcase of his defensive skills. At the postgame conference, Carlsen said that he never saw a clear win, that it was "a little bit disappointing" not to have converted, and responded "absolutely" when asked if he was afraid to find out from the computer how much he had missed.
 ;templatestyles src="Block indent/styles.css"/ ;1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. 0-0 Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 0-0 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re2 b6 11. Re1 Re8 12. Bf4 Rxe1 13. Qxe1 Qe7 14. Nc3 Bb7 15. Qxe7 Bxe7 16. a4 a6 17. g3 g5 18. Bxd6 Bxd6 19. Bg2 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 f5 21. Nd5 Kf7 22. Ne3 Kf6 23. Nc4 Bf8 24. Re1 Rd8 25. f4 gxf4 26. gxf4 b5 27. axb5 axb5 28. Ne3 c6 29. Kf3 Ra8 30. Rg1 Ra2 31. b3 c5 32. Rg8 Kf7 33. Rg2 cxd4 34. Nxf5 d3 35. cxd3 Ra1 36. Nd4 b4 37. Rg5 Rb1 38. Rf5+ Ke8 39. Rb5 Rf1+ 40. Ke4 Re1+ 41. Kf5 Rd1 42. Re5+ Kf7 43. Rd5 Rxd3 44. Rxd7+ Ke8 45. Rd5 Rh3 46. Re5+ Kf7 47. Re2 Bg7 48. Nc6 Rh5+ 49. Kg4 Rc5 50. Nd8+ Kg6 51. Ne6 h5+ 52. Kf3 Rc3+ 53. Ke4 Bf6 54. Re3 h4 55. h3 Rc1 56. Nf8+ Kf7 57. Nd7 Ke6 58. Nb6 Rd1 59. f5+ Kf7 60. Nc4 Rd4+ 61. Kf3 Bg5 62. Re4 Rd3+ 63. Kg4 Rg3+ 64. Kh5 Be7 65. Ne5+ Kf6 66. Ng4+ Kf7 67. Re6 Rxh3 68. Ne5+ Kg7 69. Rxe7+ Kf6 (diagram) 70. Nc6 Kxf5 71. Na5 Rh1 72. Rb7 Ra1 73. Rb5+ Kf4 74. Rxb4+ Kg3 75. Rg4+ Kf2 76. Nc4 h3 77. Rh4 Kg3 78. Rg4+ Kf2 ½–½
Game 4: Karjakin–Carlsen, ½–½.
Both players repeated the classical Ruy Lopez opening from Game 2, but this time White went with the main line 6.Re1. After White avoided the Marshall Attack with 8.h3, the pace slowed at move 11, with Carlsen thinking