Watching the Wheels

Interviewed by Lenta.ru today, 12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov attributed Karjakin’s defeat to “lack of freshness” in the tie-break games. “The Norwegian looked much more self-confident and played extremely well. Karjakin seemed a bit too nervous and lost the freshness required for such high-level fights. The tie-break playoff proved to be hard for Sergey Alexandrovich. He thought very slowly. Carlsen’s excellency in thinking fast played a decisive role in his final success”, Karpov said. After the daring salvation of the second tie-break game, Karjakin was thought to have seized a psychological advantage, but that impression soon proved to be wrong. “The third tie-break game was the only one in which Karjakin was in a favourable position. He should have took the chance for exploiting his strategical advantage. Instead, Sergey Alexandrovich underestimated Carlsen’s counterplay and made a series of weak moves, which overshadowed his superiority and turned an excellent position into an almost lost one”, Karpov said.

Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (second row, seated at centre) following the tie-break. His wife Natalia Vladimirovna Bulanova sitting next to him. Photo: Viktoria Korol/Chess-News.ru.