Wesley So vs Sergey Karjakin, E37, Nimzo-Indian Defense, Classical, Noa Variation
2018 Chess Candidates Tournament, Round 13, Berlin, Germany, 03/26/18
Before round 13 Sergey Karjakin was in clear first! He had 7/12, same as Fabiano Caruana, but he had more victories (and losses), which are worth more than draws in this tie-break system, so he would be a clear winner with no tie-breaks if the tournament finished after round 12. Today he faced Wesley So with the black pieces and he had a chance to almost secure victory at the Candidates and to challenge Magnus Carlsen for the title for the second consecutive time!
They played a main line Classical Variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defense, and they went for the Noa Variation. After having played a highly theoretical line for several moves Wesley played the first novelty, which unfortunately lead to an early queen trade. What’s really disappointing is that Sergey not only accepted, but encouraged the exchange. I find it completely inconceivable that he wasn’t eager to push for a win at all costs, since he had a chance to secure victory without being bothered how the other games go!
Now he will bite his fingernails as he watches Fabiano’s game against Aronian play out, and if Caruana wins, Sergey will be in 2nd place! This means that if Caruana wins and gets ahead of him coming into last round tomorrow, he will have to win and he will have no other choice, which can be a very double-edged thing. But, it remains to be seen what happens in the rest of the games in round 13, after which we will know more! Stay tuned as I will be covering all the games! Cheers!
*Nimzo-Indian Defense occurs after the moves:
1. d4 Nf6
2. c4 e6
3. Nc3 Bb4
And in the game they went for the Classical Variation with 4. Qc2