World Cup: Finals, Day 2

Both matches headed for tiebreaks.

I was surprised that Magnus Carlsen and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa made a quick draw today in the second game of their final match, but it turned out that there was a good reason: Carlsen apparently got a case of food poisoning. Maybe he could have pulled a Michael Jordan* if he had to, but in a situation where both players could be fine with a draw his choice of a completely innocuous variation and a handshake at the earlier possible moment, on move 30, makes sense. On to tiebreaks, where Pragg will be a mild underdog. Carlsen is the better and more experienced player, but Pragg is in excellent form, very dangerous and resilient in games with a short time control, and not dealing with or recovering from food poisoning.

In the other match, Fabiano Caruana showed his own resilience. After a terrible loss yesterday and a painful loss in the playoff against Pragg, he bounced back with an excellent win against Nijat Abasov. Abasov chose a risky line of the Sicilian, and Caruana doubled down on it by choosing an insanely sharp variation against it. It may not be the best line, objectively, but Black has to have done a significant amount of homework to be ready for it, and - crucially - to then remember it at the board. Given that it’s a sideline of a secondary line, and that Abasov also had to prepare for non-1.e4 openings (Caruana has played a lot of 1.c4 this year, and 1.d4 as well) it was a tough task. He didn’t manage it, and was lost out of the opening.

From there he fought well, though, and while Caruana reached an ending with an extra exchange it wasn’t absolutely clear that it was winning. The defensive task was extremely difficult, and the last key moment came on Black’s 55th move. Had Black found the only move, 55…Rc1, the win - if it’s there - would at least remain anything but obvious. As a practical matter Abasov’s losing chances would still have been less than his drawing chances, IMO, but that doesn’t mean that the loss would have been guaranteed. What is clear is that the move he played, 55…Rc6, did lose, and Caruana quickly proved it.

So, they too are going to the tiebreaks tomorrow, and that will bring this exciting tournament to a close. In the meantime, here are today’s games, with my annotations.

*This is generally known as the “flu game”, but it turns out it was a case of food poisoning.