The world championship match November in New York City may be a case of the immovable object meeting the immovable object.
Surprise Russian challenger Sergey Karjakin doesn’t have the modeling contracts, the “Charlie Rose” interviews and the inspiring backstory of Norwegian titleholder Magnus Carlsen, but the champ and the challenger play the same kind of uncompromising, positionally sound game, attacking only when it’s justified, defending as long as it takes and hardly ever beating themselves.
The Ukrainian-born Karjakin has been a fixture among the game’s elite since 2002, when he first set the record — one that still stands — as the youngest grandmaster in history at the age of 12 years, seven months. Switching to play for Russia in July 2009 (his native Crimea would make the same allegiance switch five years later), Karjakin, 25, racked up some notable results, and nearly qualified for a title match two years ago, finishing second in the 2014 Candidates’ tournament.
In head-to-head matches, the Russian has scored a respectable 1-3 record with 15 draws against Carlsen at classical time controls.
Still, there was a sense that Karjakin’s career had semi-stalled coming into 2016, with rivals such as the Americans Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, the Netherlands’ Anish Giri and a slew of rising young Chinese prodigies seeming to surpass him. He entered the year not even in the FIDE world rankings’ top 10.
But Karjakin’s slow-and-steady-wins-the-race style played out to perfection at the Candidates’ tournament in March, and he punched his ticket with an emphatic last-round demolition of Caruana.
Carlsen, a former prodigy himself, told Deutsche Welle recently he wasn’t surprised at Karjakin’s victory: “While he had the most tournament wins, I always considered him one of the favorites in this tournament. He has very strong, very good nerves, and he defended extremely well.”
Against Black’s Petroff, White takes a calculated risk with the unexpected 14. f3 h6 15. Be2!, leaving the knight hanging and inviting 15hxg5 16. hxg5 Qd7 17. g4 Bg6 18. Bd4!, with a strong attack and the immediate threat of 19. Bxe5. Black declines the offer, but Karjakin keeps the pressure on following 15d5!? 16. g4 Bg6 17. f4! dxc4 18. Qc3 Nd3 19. f5! (cxd3!? cxd3, and Black threatens the knight on g5 as well as 20dxe2+) Bxg5 20. fxg6.
The only blot on White’s performance comes after 20Rxe3, when more precise was 21. Qxc4! Bxh4 22. Bxd3 Qe7 23. Bf5 with a dominating position. But Kramnik returns the favor on 22. Qxc4 Rxe2? (Black has better defensive chances on 22Bxh4! 23. Bxd3 Bf6) 23. hxg5, when Black might be able to hold the pawn-down ending after 23b5! 24. Qb3 Qd5 25. Qxd5 cxd5 26. Rxd3 Kxf7 27. gxh6 gxh6 28. Rxd5.
Instead, Karjakin shows his tactical precision after 23Qxg5? 24. Qxd3 Qe3 25. Qh7! Qe4 26. Qg8+ Ke7 27. Qxg7 Qxc2+ (the line looks risky, but the White queen has a firm eye on the critical b2 square) 28. Ka1 Rf8 29. Rhf1 Rd2 30. Rfe1+ Re2 (see diagram) 31. Qc3! Kxf7 (Qxc3 32. Rxe2+ is a killer zwischenzug) 32. Qf3+!, and White picks off the rook; Kramnik resigned.
Karjakin-Kramnik, Tal Memorial, Moscow, 2010
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nd7 9. O-O-O Ne5 10. h4 c6 11. c4 Be612. Ng5 Bf5 13. Kb1 Re8 14. f3 h6 15. Be2 d5 16. g4 Bg6 17. f4 dxc4 18. Qc3 Nd3 19. f5 Bxg5 20. fxg6 Rxe3 21. gxf7+ Kf8 22. Qxc4 Rxe2 23. hxg5 Qxg5 24. Qxd3 Qe3 25. Qh7 Qe4 26. Qg8+ Ke7 27. Qxg7 Qxc2+ 28. Ka1 Rf8 29. Rhf1 Rd2 30. Rfe1+ Re2 31. Qc3 Kxf7 32. Qf3+ Black resigns.
• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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