Game Spotlight: Being Inspired by the World Championship

The World Championship between Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen ended, with Carlsen keeping his title on tiebreaks.  One of the unique features of this kind of match play, especially when there’s months to prepare, is that each player has an opportunity to train specifically to beat the other.  This gives opening choices outsized significance.

Back in April, we ran a thematic tournament at the club.  So I found it interesting when Carlsen’s choice as Black for the last half of the match was the opening we’d used: the Sveshnikov variation of the Sicilian Defence.  Caruana chose to play it by using a little sideline.  So instead of highlighting a game from the match (which you can find commentaries for in numerous other places), I thought it might be interesting to look into what Caruana was trying to accomplish.

This weekend is the Jamhuri Cup.  Best of luck to all participating.