Hello everyone and welcome to the live coverage of the 2018 World Chess Championship match between the reigning champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and the challenger Fabiano Caruana (USA). In this live blog + live games from WCC 2018 we will be covering the event Carlsen – Caruana with the latest news, developments, interviews, and in-game details.
The most important feature here will be the lines of analysis by Lc0 – the open Neural Network, and the TCEC champion Stockfish running on a Super Computer of 128 cores.
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Current move eval: Move 34: Lc0 +0.10 , SF[128] +0.00
More: Caruana – Carlsen game 1 / Carlsen – Caruana game 2 / Caruana – Carlsen game 3
Update 18:30
Soon after passing the 30th move, before which draw agreement is forbidden by the rules, the two players shake hands. Yet another draw in the match. Tomorrow is a rest day and the World Chess Championship 2018 returns on Thursday, where Caruana will have the white pieces.
Update 17:31
With the past several moves both Carlsen and Caruana show that they understand that the position is equal and the game is heading for a draw, so they are looking for simplifications
Update 17:27
Caruana did not go with the suggested …h6 which would lead to SF128 line: 17. .. h6 18. Qc2 Bf5 19. Bxf5 Qxf5 20. e4 Qh3 21. d4 exd4 22. Bxd4 Rad8 23. Qc3 Bf8 24. Bc5 Qg4 25. Bxf8 Kxf8 26. b5 cxb5 27. Qb4+ Kg8 28. axb5 Re6 29. bxa6 bxa6 30. e5 Qxb4 31. Rxb4 a5 32. Ra4 Rd5 33. f4 f6 34. Rea1 fxe5 35. Rxa5 Rxa5 36. Rxa5 exf4 37. gxf4 Re2 38. Ra7 Rb2 39. f5 Kf8 40. Rd7 Rb1+ 41. Kf2 Rb8 42. Kf3 Rb2 43. Kg4
Instead he went 17. Bf5 with +0.09 evaluation
Update 17:10
17. Be4, a move that the SF128 super computer did not like! 17. Be2 was keeping the positive evaluation of the game, now white may get in trouble.
Lc0 -0.14 , SF[128] -0.26
Update 17:10
We are at move 16 for black and it is the first time Lc0 shows negative numbers:
Lc0 line 1 -0.17 16. .. h6 17. Qe2 Qe7 18. Qb2 Bh3 19. Be4 Qd7 20. b5 cxb5 21. axb5 a5 22. b6 a4 23. Qb5 Qe7 24. Bb4 a3 25. Bxd6 Qxd6
Lc0 line 2 -0.13 16. .. Qf6 17. Be4 h6 18. Qf3 Qe6 19. d4 f5 20. Bc2 e4 21. Qh5 Kh7 22. Bb3 Qe7 23. Bf7 Rf8 24. Bg6+
However, SF128 is still positive with 0.07 eval and with the following continuation 16. .. Qe7 17. Qb3 Be6 18. Red1 Qd8 19. Be4 Qc8 20. b5 axb5 21. Kg2 Kf8 22. d4
Update 17:00
15. Re1 and Lc0 gives the verdict: this position presents no problem Caruana. Certainly not the opening result that Carlsen hoped for. The surprise weapon with the English opening certainly did not play in favor of the World Champion.
Update 16:23
Caruana is well prepared and understands simplification here is important Nxf3+, now after 13. Bxf3 Caruana has to make another choice. Now …c6, …a6, …Qd7, …Qf6 are all possible moves for Caruana, all leading to an equal middlegame.
Update 16:21
Carlsen chooses the second line of Lc0, which goes 12. Rb1 Nxf3+ 13. Bxf3 c6 14. a4 Bh3 15. Re1 Rc8 16. Qb3 Qd7 17. b5 cxb5 18. axb5 Be6 19. Qb2 Bg4 20. Bg2 h5 21. h4 Bh3 22. Bf3 Bg4 23. Bg2, with a similar eval. Stockfish is less happy about it and says black has at least equalized
Update 16:18
Carlsen deviates with 11. b4 , Caruana is not surprised and swiftly replies Bd6. Move 11 evaluation: Lc0 +0.36 , SF[128] +0.10
Lc0: 12. Rb1 Bg4 13. Bxd4 exd4 14. Re1 c6 15. Nxd4 Bxg3 16. hxg3 Qxd4 17. b5 Rac8 18. bxc6 bxc6 19. Rc1 c5 20. Rc4 Qd7 21. Qc2 h5 22. e3 Red8 23. Bf1 h4 24. Qa4 Qxa4
SF128: 12. Nxd4 exd4 13. Bxd4 Bxg3 14. hxg3 Qxd4 15. Qd2 c6 16. a4 h5 17. e3 Qf6 18. b5 cxb5 19. axb5 h4 20. Ra4 hxg3 21. fxg3 Qg5 22. Qf2 Qxe3 23. Qxe3 Rxe3 24. Rd4 Re8 25. Bd5 Be6 26. Bxb7 Rad8 27. Rxd8 Rxd8 28. Ra1 g5 29. Ra3 Rd6 30. Bc6 Bd7 31. Bxd7 Rxd7 32. Kf2 Rd5 33. Kf3 Rf5+ 34. Kg4 Rxb5 35. Rxa7 Kg7 36. d4 Kf6 37. Ra6+ Ke7
Update 16:17
Carlsen deviates, 9. Ng5 was played before, now we see 9. Bd2. Now we are in the territory of Weslsey So vs Fabiano Caruana from Paris GTC Blitz
Update 16:15
Carlsen and Caruana are following Caruana vs Adams from 2017, replay the game here
Update 16:00
A sharp system of the English opening with 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 followed by 4. g3. Certainly a surprise weapon for Carlsen, as he is not often playing 1. c4.
Update 15:15
In games 1 and 3 Carlsen and Caruana went into theoretical battles of the Sicialian Rossolimo variation. In game 2 we saw Queen’s Gambit Declined 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Qc2 Nc6 9. a3 Qa5 10. Rd1 Rd8 (replay here), are we going to get a repeat of the opening again? The key move in the position, that put Carlsen in deep thought, was 10…Rd8. Historically, this move has been very successful for black. At that point Lc0 suggested 11. Nd2 Bf8 , SF128 chose the same move but expected different reply 11. Nd2 dxc4. Carlsen went for the second line of Lc0 11. Be2, and the evaluation dropped from +0.87 to +0.35, indicating that the opening advantage of white was close to gone.
Update 15:00
It is an important moment of the match. In the next four games Carlsen will have the white pieces three times. He is obliged to take advantage here, otherwise he will have to defend well in the second half of the match. Caruana on the other hand showed he is not afraid of the black pieces and is well prepared. In game 2 Caruana’s deep understanding of the opening was evident. What will happen today, we will know in only one hour.
Update 14:45
Hello everyone and welcome to the coverage of game 4 of the World Chess Championship. Today we are going to follow Carlsen – Caruana once again with key lines from Lc0 and SF128
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