A former child chess prodigy has now emerged as the challenger for Magnus Carlsen’s world championship title.
He is Sergey Karjakin, 26, who pulled off a brilliant rook sacrifice to beat his closest rival, American Fabiano Caruana, 23, in the final round of the 2016 Candidates tournament in Moscow. Karjakin’s victory now earns him the right to challenge Carlsen for the world title next November in New York.
The coming clash takes on a fascinating aspect as Karjakin, born in the Russian republic of Crimea, in 1990, broke Carlsen’s record for becoming the world’s youngest grandmaster at the age of 12 years and seven months.
Before winning the Candidates tournament in Moscow, Karjakin’s biggest successes included winning the 2015 World Cup and finishing second in the last Candidates tournament held in the Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiysk in 2014.
According to Internet reports, the Crimean chess star has become the first Russian to challenge for the world championship since Vladimir Kramnik who last won the title in 2006. He triumphed over 23-year-old Caruana of the United States in their last round game. Karjakin scored 8.5 to finish first in the eight-player tournament, a full point ahead of Caruana and former world champion Vishy Anand of India on 7.5 points.
Karjakin is noted for his classical playing style heavily influenced by Russian world champions from the Soviet era. As a young player he was coached by English world challenger Nigel Short, one of the few westerners to qualify for a world title match.
The Candidates tournament, held over three weeks at the Central Telegraph building in downtown Moscow, was extremely hard fought with the lead changing hands several times as the players battled it out playing each opponent twice, one with white and the other with black.
If Anand had beaten Svidler, the commentators say, a draw would have been enough for Caruana to win the tournament on a tie break.
By move 20 of their classical Sicilian game, Caruana could have been fairly happy, observers noted; he had managed to reach an unbalanced position with “long term trumps” such as his central control and bishop pair.
However, with his king uncastled there were still dangers lurking, a situation which Karjakin brilliantly exploited with a series of threats starting with a pawn sacrifice on move 30.
True, Caruana had lapsed into time trouble, but DR would urge all T&T players to study this game closely for its vital strategic lessons, particularly the sacrificial combination which clinched Kajakin’s memorable victory..
The match is set to take place in New York in November and, according to international chess pundits, it will be “a formidable test” for the Crimean chess prodigy as the world champion is renowned for his legendary endgame skills and a ferocious will to win “not seen in chess since Russia’s world champion Garry Kasparov dominated the game in the 1980s and 1990s.”
Kasparov retired from the sport in 2005 to focus on a career as a liberal pro-Western politician and an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
MORE INFO
Here is a record of the decisive game, with Karjakin (White 2776) and Caruana (Black 2787): (1) e4 c5; (2) nf3 nc6; (3) d4 cxd4; (4) nxd4 nf6; (5) nc3 dc; (6) bg5 e6; (7) qd2 a6; (8) ooo bd7; (9) f4 h6; (10) bh4 b5; (11) bxf6 gxf6; (12) f6 qb6; (13) fxe6 fxe6; (12) f6 qb6; (13) fxe6 fe6; (14) nxc6 qxc6! (15) bd3 h5; (16) kb1 b4; (17) ne2 qc5; (18) rhf1 bh6; (19) qe1 a5; (20) b3 rg8; (21) g3 ke7; (22) bc4 be3! (23) rf3 rg4; (24) qf1 rf8; (25) nf4 bxf4; (26) rxf4 a4; (27) bxa4 bxa4; (28) qd3 bc6; (29) bb3 rg5; (30) e5! rxe5; (31) rc4 rd5; (32) qe2!? qb6; (33) rh4 re5; (34) qd3 bg2; (35) rd4 d5; (36) qd2 re4? (37) rd5! exd5; (38) qxd5 qc7; (39) qf5 rf7; (40) bxf7 qe5; (41) rd7ch kf8; (42) rd8ch...resigns.