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 41: Lc0 0.00 , SF[128] 0.00
Update 20:15 CET
Official, Caruana and Carlsen shake hands for a draw, the score is now 1,5-1,5. Games 4 is going to take place tomorrow, with Carlsen having white again.
Update 19:35 CET
At move 41 we have reached a complete equality 41. .. Kc7 42. Nf1 Kc6 43. Ne3 Be7 44. Kd2 Bd8 45. Nc2 Bb6 46. Nb4+ Kd6 47. Ke2 Kc5 48. Nd5 Ba5 49. Kd2 Bd8 50. Ke3 Kd6 51. f3 Ba5 52. g4 Bc7 53. Nxc7 Kxc7 54. gxh5 gxh5 55. f4 exf4+ 56. Kxf4 Kd6 57. Kf3 Kc5 58. Ke3 b4 59. cxb4+ Kxb4
Update 19:00 CET
Caruana has had several micro imprecisions. Lc0 already announced that the game is more difficult for white after move 21, however, Caruana’s play does not help that fact. After 33. c3 Lc0’s eval went down to -0.77, indicating more difficulties ahead for white. Objectively the game is still drawn. Chance for Carlsen?
Lc0: 34. Na1 g5 35. hxg5 fxg5 36. Nc2 Kg6 37. Kf1 h4 38. Na3 Nc7 39. Kg2 Kh5 40. f3 Be7 41. Bc1 b4 42. cxb4 cxb4 43. Nc4 Bf6 44. Bb2 Ne6 45. Nxe5 Nc5 46. d4 Bxe5 47. dxe5 b3 48. gxh4 gxh4 49. Kh3 Nd3
SF128: 34. f3 Bc7 35. Na1 f5 36. exf5 gxf5 37. Be1 Bd8 38. Nb3 Ke7 39. Na1 Kf6 40. Nb3 Be7 41. Bf2 Kg7 42. Kd2 Kf7 43. Kd1 Ke8 44. Nd2 Bd6 45. Kc2 Kf7 46. Be1 Kg7 47. Nb3 Bf8 48. Nd2 Kh6 49. Bf2 Kg6 50. Nb3 Kf6 51. Nd2 Kf7 52. Nb3 Bd6 53. Nd2 Kg6 54. Nb3 f4 55. gxf4 exf4
Update 17:35 CET
Lc0: 19. Qb2 h6 20. Bd2 Nf8 21. Be3 Ne6 22. Rxa8 Rxa8 23. Ra1 Ra5 24. g3 c5 25. Rxa5 Qxa5 26. Kg2 Nd4 27. Bxd4 exd4 28. Qb3 Qa4 29. Nd2 Qa5 30. Nf3 Qa4 31. Nd2
SF128: 19. Qb2 Ra4 20. Rxa4 bxa4 21. Ra1 Ra8 22. Ra2 Bf8 23. Qa1 a3 24. Nxe5 Nxe5 25. Bxe5 Qe7 26. g3 Qc5 27. Qc3 Rb8 28. Ra1 Rb5 29. Bd4 Qxc3 30. Bxc3 f5 31. f4 fxe4 32. dxe4 Rb8 33. Kf2 Ra8 34. Ke2 a2 35. Be5 Kf7 36. Kd3 Ra4 37. Kc3 Be7 38. Kb2 Rxe4 39. Rxa2 Re3
Update 17:20 CET
Lc0: 16. Qb1 Nd7 17. Qb2 b5 18. Be3 Ra4 19. Rxa4 bxa4 20. Ra1 Ra8 21. Ra2 Bf8 22. Nd2 a3 23. Qa1 Ra4 24. Nc4 h5 25. g3 Qb7 26. Bc1 Qa7 27. Bxa3 Bc5 28. Qe1 Bb4 29. Qb1 Bxa3 30. Qa1 h4 31. gxh4 Rxc4 32. Rxa3 Qc5 33. dxc4 (+0.86)
SF128: 16. Qb1 Nd7 17. Be3 Rfe8 18. Qb2 Bf8 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. Ra1 Rxa1+ 21. Qxa1 Qb8 22. g4 h6 23. Kg2 Bg7 24. Qa5 Bf8 25. Qd2 Kh7 26. Qc3 Qc7 27. Qc4 Kg8 28. Qa2 Qb8 29. Nd2 Qc8 30. Qa5 Kh7 31. Qc3 Qc7 32. Qa1 Qb8 33. Nf3 Bg7 34. Qa2 Kg8 35. Nd2 Qc8 36. Nc4 b5 37. Nd6 Qf8 (+0.54)
Update 16:59 CET
But what is Carlsen doing? Opening up the position is risky here. Did he consider 14. Rxa5!? For example 14. Rxa5 Rxa5 15. bxa5 Qxa5 16. Bd2 Qc7 17. Qa1 Both Lc0 and SF128 evals spiked.
Update 16:57 CET
While white looks visually better, there is not much in this position. Caruana would have hoped for a better opening advantage as white.
Update 16:39 CET
There we go, Caruana prefers the second line of SF128 over the top line of Lc0 in this case, choosing to go 10. Nbd2 . Keeping the advantage of the pawn after 10. bxc5 is difficult, Caruana’s attitude in this game has been consistent so far. Again difference of opinions, Lc0 suggests 10. .. cxb4 , while SF128 goes for 10. .. Bg4, the full line here is 10. .. Bg4 11. a4 Nd7 12. Ba3 b6 13. h3 Be6 14. Nb3 Bxb3 15. cxb3 Rfd8 16. Rc1 Bf8 17. Rc4 Rab8 18. Qc2 h5 19. Rb1 Bd6 20. Rc3 Be7 21. Nd2 Bf8 22. Nf3 Qd6
Update 16:37 CET
Lc0 also suggests 10. bxc5, here is the full line 10. bxc5 Re8 11. Nbd2 Be6 12. Nb3 Bf8 13. Be3 Ng4 14. Bg5 Bxb3 15. cxb3 Bxc5 16. Bh4 Be7 17. Bg3 Bd6 18. Qd2 Nf6 19. d4 Nd7 20. Rad1 Rad8 21. b4 exd4 22. Qxd4 Bxg3 23. hxg3 Ne5
Update 16:35 CET
The Women World Championship day is now complete, with Zhansaya Abdumalik and Kateryna Lagno victorious, replay the games here
Update 16:25 CET
A very interesting difference of opinion in the analysis of Caruana – Carlsen. Engines at lower depth go with 10. bxc5, however, the high depth of SF128 prefers to wait with 10. h3, a move that it has suggested for quite a while now. Another interesting suggestion is developing the knight Nbd2, but not the bishop to Bb2, which would lead to 0.00
Update 16:20 CET
First official game of Season 14 of the Top Chess Engine Championship is now live, you can follow the competition at the official website
Update 16:14 CET
Current suggested continuation: 8. h3 Be6 9. b3 a5 10. a4 Rc8 11. Bd2 Rd8 Caruana goes 8.a3 instead, leading to one more serious eval drop. Caruana is ready for a long positional game.
Update 16:10 CET
Caruana goes for 7. Re1. Stockfish on 128 cores is not happy about the move. It is an eval drop of around 0.4, however, this is a rare opening line and probably a surprise weapon by Caruana.
Update 16:05 CET
We get a repeat of the opening so far 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 but Caruana is the first one to deviate with 6. O-O instead of 6. h3. It is followed by immediate Qc7 by Carlsen. The suggestion of SF128 is 7. a4 Rb8 8. Be3 Be5 9. Nxe5 Qxe5
Update 15:30 CET
We saw a Sicilian, Rossolimo Variation in game 1 of Caruana – Carlsen that started with . Caruana went for 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Nd7 8. Be3 e5 and then 9. O-O. If we get a repeat of the opening today, are we going to see Lc0’s suggestion 9. Qd2 or SF128 suggestion 9. Qc1 ?
Knowing Caruana’s diverse play style, he ma prefer to go for a totally different opening today to surprise Carlsen.
Update 14:15 CET
Parallel to the World Chess Championship match today you can enjoy two other major events. In Russia we have reached the quarterfinal stage of the Women World Chess Championship, you can follow it live with analysis here. Today starts also the Top Chess Engine Championship, the premier event for computer chess. It will be live after 16:00 CET at the official website
Update 14:00 CET
Today is game 3 of the match and Fabiano Caruana has the white pieces again. In game 1 (replay here) the American was on the brink of losing. The 128 cores Super Computer analyzing the game was often hitting -7 evaluation, while the neural network Lc0 believed the game is long gone before the time control. Series of inaccuracies by Carlsen saved Caruana from a disastrous start. Today he will have a chance to show what he ca do with the white pieces again.
More: Caruana – Carlsen game 1 / Carlsen – Caruana game 2
Watch live video from TCEC_Chess_TV on www.twitch.tv
