Sergey Karjakin Grabs the Lead

He defeated Magnus Carlsen in the Game 8. The score is now 4.5-3.5 in Karjakin's favor.

The 8th game of the World Championship match in New York was played on Monday, November 21. Neil deGrasse Tyson, American scientist and writer, made the first move for Magnus Carlsen. The World Championship started the game with 1.d4, but deviated from the Trompowsky in favor of another rare system – the so-called Zukertort Opening. The game developed quietly. Around the 15th move, a position of dynamic equality arose. The game remained complicated – all pieces remained on the board, and only central pawns were exchanged. 

Carlsen voluntarily ruined his pawn structure in order to develop the initiative in the center and on the queenside. Karjakin's task at this stage of the game was trading material. Approaching the time trouble, Carlsen abandoned his queenside in an attempt to get to the Black's king. This was overambitious, and the sacrifice of a second pawn was objectively unsound. However, Karjakin, also being under the time pressure, did not find the best reply, and Carlsen managed to turn Black's kingside into ruins, obtaining sufficient counterplay. 

After the first control was passed, the World Champion could force a draw, but decided to grab a pawn, looking for winning chances. Apparently, he underestimated the power of Black's passed a-pawn; in addition, white bishop on g2 turned out extremely passive. Karjakin found a clever knight maneuver, safeguarding his king. Another mistake of Carlsen allowed Karjakin to create an elegant mating net around the white king. The World Champion resigned on the 53rd move. 



After the first eight games (out of 12) Sergey Karjakin is leading 4.5 to 3.5. Tuesday, November 22 is a rest day. The 9th game will be played on Wednesday, November 23.  Sergey Karjakin will be playing White. 

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