The World Championship match has been labeled as boring, uneventful, played by two computers-era guys who know way too much their preparation, and a lot of other derogatory names. People got upset when in game 12, with the players still tied, they decided to go for a 40-minute draw, without even trying to make it less obvious. The match actually was not boring at all. There has been a precise theme through almost every game: Magnus - the stronger player - trying to attack Karjakin or, at least, to get a tiny advantage in the middle game to then strangle his opponent with his proverbial endgame technique, and Karjakin doing what he does better: defending like a champion. The psychological aspects played an important role, obviously. A match is a confrontation of preparation, talent and resilience. Anyway, the war was still going on when they sat in front of each other for the tiebreaks. Four rapid games with time control of 25 minutes plus a 10-second increment. The first game was a relatively quite draw, and the comments on the socials were of course on the lines "they'll get to Armageddon!". But in the second game, Carlsen went for the kill, only missing the victory by a move. Probably that was the moment which triggered something in Magnus' head. In Game 3, with black, the Champion played aggressively, and Karjakin used all his time to resist. At the end, Karjakin could not oppose his proverbial defending skills to the storming attack and blundered in time trouble.  Magnus had white in the fourth and decisive game. e4 again, as almost always in this match. Karjakin decided to try the Sicilian for the first time.

Magnus went for it, and played solid chess, but without frantically seeking for a draw.  

Karjakin, again, used most of his time to find a way to penetrate Carlsen's well-built center, and ended up overdoing it. Magnus finished the game - and the match - with a memorable move:

Qh6+

What a way to celebrate his 26th birthday!  

Congratulations to Magnus Carlsen for winning the match and thanks to Sergey Karjakin for putting up such an amazing defense.

The Super contest to win a LIFETIME membership has been won by ICC member zedudu.

 We had TWO members predicting the exact final result of the Match: zedudu and slowbishop. zedudu won the draw and the LIFETIME membership.  Congratulations!

 

Here is Game 4 of the Rapid playoffs, the decisive win by Carlsen.

        

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GAME ANALYST GOTD VIDEO GAME 1 GM Ronen Har-Zvi GAME 2 GM David Smerdon GAME 3 GM Larry Christiansen GAME 4 GM Lars Bo Hansen GAME 5 GM Alex Yermolinsky GAME 6 GM Ronen Har-Zvi GAME 7 GM Alex Yermolinsky GAME 8 GM Jon Speelman GAME 9 IM Voja Milanovic GAME 10 GM Ronen Har-Zvi GAME 11 GM John Fedorowicz GAME 12 GM Larry Christiansen TIEBREAKS GM Miguel Illescas

The New in Chess magazine has sponsored our GOTD videos, offering a 1-year subscription to its digital magazine to a lucky ICC member for each game of the World Championship! And here are the winners of the New in Chess Digital Magazine 12-month subscription:

GAME WINNER GAME 1 estralita GAME 2 blunder23 GAME 3 SlowGuest GAME 4 springrain1361 GAME 5 Laurence GAME 6 blunderville GAME 7 Radja GAME 8 smeagol GAME 9 bennywins GAME 10 Koenigsac GAME 11 Pancake GAME 12 Bereolos TIEBREAKS Corocotta