Warning: Long post incoming! Leave all hope ye who enter! Last week, a very intriguing question, titled: Is it fair to say that Mikhail Botvinnik is the “bad guy” of modern chess? appeared on the Q&A website…
Carlsen – Caruana World Chess Championship – Tiebreak
Featured image credit: Niki Riga One King To Rule Them All After 12 games of the Carlsen and Caruana made history by drawing all games of the classical portion of the match, a rapid tiebreak…
Carlsen – Caruana World Chess Championship – Game 12
Featured image credit: Niki Riga The Final CountDrawn Game 12 of the World Chess Championship 2018 was supposed to be a bloodthirsty struggle. And indeed, things initially looked rather promising. After the third Sveshnikov, another…
Carlsen – Caruana World Chess Championship – Game Eleven
Featured image credit: Niki Riga The Calm Before The Storm? Regular readers of this blog know I have been a fervent defender of the draws between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana in their 2018 World…
Carlsen – Caruana World Chess Championship – Game Ten
Featured image credit: Niki Riga Draws are so boring! I hate it! I hate that Carlsen and Caruana set the new record for the most consecutive draws at the beginning of a World Championship match…
Carlsen – Caruana World Chess Championship – Game Nine
Featured image credit: Niki Riga A NEW RECORD After Fabiano Caruana obtained a serious edge with the White pieces in game 8 of the World Chess Championship 2018, it was Magnus’ time to demonstrate he…
Carlsen – Caruana World Chess Championship – Game Eight
Featured image credit: Niki Riga Not This Time! In the game eight of the 2016 World Chess Championship Match against Sergey Karjakin, Magnus Carlsen lost in a dramatic fashion. Playing White, he played too riskily,…
Carlsen – Caruana World Chess Championship – Game seven
The Drawfest Continues Another game, another success for the Black pieces, another uninspiring draw. This is probably the best description of the events unfolding in game 7. The symmetrical pawn structure and the fact Carlsen…
Carlsen – Caruana World Chess Championship – Game six
Cover photo credit: Facundo Arrizabalaga The Hunter Becomes The Prey Outplaying opponents from equal positions and grinding them down in endgames are hallmarks of Magnus Carlsen playing style. These traits brought him a number of victories…
Carlsen – Caruana World Chess Championship – Game Five
Cover photo by: John Saunders B-Wing Fighter You arrive at the board. You shake your opponent’s hand. You see 1 e4. You want to win. You reply 1…c5. At some point, your opponent pushes his…
Carlsen – Caruana World Chess Championship – Game Four
(Cover photo credit: Macauley Peterson, Chessbase report) ENGLISHMEN IN LONDON After four games in the World Chess Championship 2018, the result remains unchanged. In his second White game, the World Champion employed the English opening….
Carlsen – Caruana World Chess Championship – Game Three
CARLSEN HOLDS IN SICILIAN After intense game one and two players had a rest day. There is no information about what they did, but we can say for sure it included many hours of preparation…