Caruana vs Carlsen - First Shots | Round 1 | Grenke Chess Classic 2018 | 

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Anyone remember when Sergey dropped out of a tournament right after winning the last Candidates? Fabiano, the beast, plays on in the face of exhaustion. I like this guy.

Excellent commentary Mr. King. I learnt several important finesse about rook and pawns endgames.

Superb and fluent commentary as always. And a truly epic rook endgame, that ends in a draw after Black misses a win. Very reminiscent of Fischer's game against Botvinnik in the 1962 Olympiad, with the motif of Black queening and getting the checks in first.

Good coverage, GM King, I thought you would get a 'rest' after the Candidates, but not so. Caruana defended well here, but he was fortunate to save this game. I still Magnus will win the match later this year.

Daniel King is really king of chess teachers

Seems that your channel is the only one left to follow on youtube. Everyone analyzes the same games but your videos are ten times more contentious. It looked like Carlsen had the control for the whole game, even double-edged positions were at least equal for him, weren't they?

Great commentary, as always!

And I agree: Rh7 is an absolutely stunning move

A brilliant analysis.

Thanks for the video, you are the best in analyzing games. The game didnt change my opnion who might win the World Championship, it only strengthened my opinion, that Carlsen will win. Chess games Carlsen-Caruana : +9 -5 =17. But you never know. Fischer hadnt won a game against Spassky before WC match 1972. On the other hand, Caruana is a very strong player but has not the class of Fischer.

Superb coments and commentator!

Caruana is a streak player and can get really hot in Nov. Also, he must have been still very tired (I hear from my sources, "exhausted") from the candidates, which may explain his very cautious play in the opening and some inaccuracies. Caruna, IMHO, has a better chance against Magnus than Karyakin did and Karyakin was sort of close to beating Carlsen. At this time it's 50-50 in Nov.

This game could affect the big match, because it suggests that Magnus' grasp of strategy is stronger than Fabiano's. Magnus will have an incentive to drag Fabiano out of his comfort zone, and Fabiano will have a reason not to "swim" but to play it safe unless he is sure he knows what he is doing.

To answer Daniel King's concluding question, this game does not alter my assessment about who will win the championship match in November. On paper, with his higher rating, superior head-to-head result against Fabi, and previous experience in championship matches, Carlsen should win. But it's not really that simple. Just ask Jose Capablanca (if he were still alive). In 1927, at the start of the Alekhine-Capablanca world chess championship, Capablanca was widely expected to win. After all, Capa had hardly lost any games to anyone in years, and he had never lost to Alekhine (www.chess.com/article/view/clash-of-champions-alekhine-vs-capablanca). Nevertheless, Alexander Alekhine prepared assiduously for the match against Capablanca, and Capablanca was perhaps a bit overconfident. Despite the pre-match expectations and a poor head-to-head record against Capablanca, Alekhine wrested the title from the Cuban. If I were Caruana, I'd be using Alekhine as a role model for how he should prepare to face off against Carlsen, at least in the psychological sense.

Does this game change your opinion on who might *win* the World Championship in november? Do let me know in the comments

A taste. Looking forward to November.

I think it would add a great deal of intrigue for chess, if Carlsen lost the title (since he would likely fight for and regain it), but Carlsen's style is perfect for a: narrow, grindy, 2 wins 1 loss, lots of draws; victory

Carlsen said in interview that 38...Kg8 (instead of Kg6) was an easy win! I don’t know if that’s true?? Thank you Daniel for excellent analysis. 👍🙏🏻

Thanks

Very nice video, indeed ;-)

Got an ad for Garry Kasparov's 'Masterclass'. I don't need that washed up old has-been when I've got Mr King and his PowerPlayChess channell!

Marvellous job of explaining a devilishly complex endgame! Wasn't it Leko who said, Chess is brutal? Both Caruana and Carlsen certainly earned their pay today!

hard to see caruana as a world champion as long as the carlsen is there

Provocative play by both. Like technical boxers taking wild swings to mess with their opponents expectations.

Well at least kudos to Fabi for keeping himself alive in the complexities . Still I'd say that Caruana's best chance in November is to look for advantage in the middlegame.

What great players. Who gave 5 cents for Caru on the 30th move...?

Even though Carlsen didn't play .... Rh7, the game still proves Caruana isn't in Carlsen't league.

Hi Mr. King. Very nice explanaitions of this match. I have only one observation. At 21:56 you say black is completelly winning and you make 58. Kg6. I will answer more with 58. g6 Rxh6 59. g7 .... or 58. g6 Rf1+ 59. Ke6 ....I think is not completelly losed for white in this or I miss something(of course on the diagram 57. ...... a5 was not done but not change a lot).

I am a big fan of endgames, and the first one I studied in depth (MANY years ago) was R+P. Rh7 indeed would be very, very hard to spot. Does the game change my opinion of who will win? Nope, I figured Magnus to win and he strategically outplayed Fabiano -- especially after the a3 move (IMHO).

Methodical play by Carlsen, exploiting Caruana's inaccuracies. Too bad he couldn't find the winning idea. It's a LONG time until Nov. so I don't think this game has much to say about the championship match, especially because I wouldn't expect Caruana to play openings he's not thoroughly familiar with.

I would love to see a Kings Gambit first game

💥💥💥

Dear Mr King: Great Video as allways! But I kindly like to remind you, that the Wall seperating Eastern and Western Germany is no longer existant ;-)

Daniel in your variaton with 57.Kf5 Kd3 doesn't g6 keep white in the game?

Looked at your very instructive analysis, just one question: I guess I am missing simple tactics but at around minute 22: Wouldn't it be better for White to play 58. g6? If taken (58 ... Txh6) 59. h7? I just can't see without a board how Black can properly stop the last pawn. Even without calculating it is surprising - as you point out - that Black can stop these far advanced pawns, supported by the White King. But as I said, I guess I am missing simple tactics ...

21:55 What if instead of 58. Kg6 white just plays 58. g6? After 58... Rxh6 59. g7 black can't stop the pawn. If black checks from the h-file, white just moves his king f5-f4-f3-g2 and no more checks.

There is a very pretty line (A. Yermolinsky) after 54...Rh7! instead of 54...a5?. 54...h7! 55. Kxd3 Rd7+ 56. Ke4 a5 57. h6 a4 58. g5 a3 59. g6 and the only winning move is the rook sacrifice 59...Rd8!!

14. f4 was a really ugly move by Caruana, giving himself an isolated e-pawn after 14. ...Nfe8! =+. He better do some serious work on this pawn structure before the World Championship.

👏👍

Whats the head to head record between them?

Caruana or Carlsen who can elevate their game?

Daniel, more than once you've made reference to the "Info" tab. Where is this located? I don't see any "Info" tab on these videos. Thanks for the superb analyses!

What would be wrong with RB7 at 46 with a thought to RB1?

At 18:44 min of the video, why not white King x d3?

there is no western and eastern Germany anymore ;) 0:33

This sidelines of kings Indian is absolutely in favor of Black.

Carlsen seems much stronger , almost getting top computer choice moves 99% of the time and much higher than any other player. Unless Caruana and team can come up with some strategy (maybe Petroff draws with black) and a few preps in white, looks impossible to beat Magnus!

carlsen would have spotted Ra7 some years ago

carlsen is gonna win no doubt this game clearly shows how caruana just isnt good enough to beat magnus yet

in my opinion MVL could beat magnus with his extremely uncompromising tactical play but not caruana just no magnus is superior to him in all parts of the game from opening to endgame

Carlsen will probably win a very close match.

It is not western Germany any more! its Germany ...