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 17: Lc0 -0.4 , SF[128] -0.1

Update 16:55 CET

Slight inaccuracy by Caruana! He blasted 17. c3 on the board, but engines suggest 0.3 to 0.4 eval drop

SF 128 -0.1 17. .. Kd7 18. cxb4 Ra8 19. Bc3 Kxc7 20. Ng5 Bf8 21. Nxe6+ fxe6 22. b5 Nd4 23. d3 Bc5 24. Nd2 Ra2 25. Kf1 Rc2 26. Bxd4 Bxd4 27. Re2 Rb2 28. Nf3 Rb1+ 29. Re1 Rxb5 30. Ng5 Kd6 31. Nxh7 Rb2 32. Re2 Rb1+ 33. Re1 Rxe1+ 34. Kxe1 b5 35. Ng5 b4 36. Kd1

Lc0 -0.47 17. .. Kd7 18. cxb4 Ra8 19. Bc3 Kxc7 20. Ng5 Bf8 21. Nxe6+ fxe6 22. Rc1 Kb6 23. Kf1 Bxb4 24. Ke2 Bc5 25. Bb2 Nd4+ 26. Kd1 g5 27. d3 Ra2 28. Nd2 Nc6 29. Nc4+ Kb5 30. Ra1 Rxa1+ 31. Bxa1 Bxf2 32. Nd6+ Kb4 33. Nxb7 Bd4 34. Bxd4 exd4 35. Kd2 g4 36. Nd6 Ne5 37. Ne8 Nd7 38. Ng7 e5 39. Nf5 Kb3

Note that the second best move is a mistake leading to +1.1 after a capture on 17. .. bxc3 and then 18. Nxc3 Kd7 19. Nd5 Kd6 20. Rb1 Bxd5 21. exd5 Kxd5 22. Rxb7 Rc8 23. Ng5 f6 24. Nxh7 Ke6 25. f4 exf4 26. Ng5+

Update 16:45 CET

15. Qc7 Qxc7 is the only option for white as 15. Qd3 Nc6 16. Bb2 O-O 17. c3 Qa2 18. Qc2 Rc8 19. d3 Nd4 20. Nxd4 exd4 21. c4 b5 22. c5 b3 23. Qc1 Be5 24. Na3 Bxd6 25. Bxd4 Bxc5 26. Bxc5 b2 27. Qc3 Qb3 would mean -1.12 according to Lc0 eval

A line by the 128 cores Stockfish super computer

15. Qc7 Qxc7 16. dxc7 Nc6 17. Rd1 Kd7 18. d4 b3 19. Nxe5+ Kxc7 20. cxb3 Ra8 21. Nd2 Nxe5 22. dxe5 Bh6 23. Bd4 b5 24. g3 Bxd2 25. Rxd2 Bxb3 26. Rb2 Bd1 27. Rxb5 Bf3 28. Kf1 Ra3 29. Rc5+ Kd8 30. Rc6 Ke8 31. Rd6 Rd3 32. Be3 Rxd6 33. exd6 Bxe4 34. Bc5 Kd7 35. Ke2 Ke6 36. Ke3 Bc6 37. Kd4 g5 38. f4 g4 39. Bb4 f5 40. Kc4 h5 41. Ba3 Bf3

Update 16:32 CET

First moment when Carlsen takes time to think. The speed at which they were moving so far suggest that they are in preparation. The line is indeed sharp, but looking at the top lines of Lc0 things can quickly converge to a draw.

Lc0: 13. .. Qa5 14. cxd6 Be6 15. Qc7 Qxc7 16. dxc7 Nc6 17. Rd1 Kd7 18. d4 Ba2 19. d5 Nd4 20. Nxd4 exd4 21. Nd2 Rc8 22. Nf3 Rxc7 23. Bxd4 Bf8 24. Ne1 Rc4 25. Kf1 b3 26. cxb3 Bxb3 27. Rb1 Rb4 28. Kg1 Rxd4 29. Rxb3 Rxe4 30. Rxb7+ Kd6 31. Kf1 Be7 32. Nd3 Kxd5 33. g3 Ke6 34. Nf4+ Kd6 35. Kg2 Re5 36. h4 Rf5 37. Nh3 h6 38. Ra7 Bd8 39. Ra3 Ra5 40. Rb3

Update 16:26 CET

Polschikov-Anoshkin 2007 0-1 last game in book after 10 …d6 11.bxc5

Update 16:15 CET

The main question now, is 6. b4 a direct draw offer in the opening, or Caruana has something cooked?

Update 16:03 CET

1. e4 c5, Sicilian, but there comes the bombastic move by Caruana, after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 e5 he plays 6. b4!?

Lc0 says take with the pawn 6. .. Nxb4 7. Bb2 Nc6 8. Bxc6 dxc6 9. Nxe5 Nf6 10. Nf3 O-O 11. a4 Re8 12. d3 c4 13. h3 cxd3 14. cxd3 b6 15. Qc2 c5 16. Na3 Nh5 17. Bxg7 Nxg7 18. Rad1 Ne6 19. d4 Ng5 20. Nxg5 Qxg5 21. d5 Bxh3 22. f3 Bd7 23. Nc4 Qf4 24. e5 Bf5 +0.28

SF128 says take with the knight 6. .. Nxb4 7. Bb2 +0.18

In any case a rare move that does not lead to direct advantage, rather to a surprise at the opening.

Update 15:45 CET

Today is an eventful day in the world of chess. Besides the game Caruana – Carlsen, we have the semi finals of the Women World Championship, an interesting interview with GM Alexander Morozevich, and the end of the first round robin of Div 4 of the Top Chess Engine Championship

Update 15:15 CET

There is always the possibility that Caruana tries something different with 1. d4 for example, as this is his last game with white before having twice in a row the black pieces, starting tomorrow. A third option of course is to enter in a theoretical dispute in the English opening that Carlsen employed the other day. To learn more about the English opening see GM Boris Avrikh on Caruana’s approach to 1. c5 e5 here

Update 15:00 CET

Game 5 start in about 1 hour. In the previous two games where Caruana had white we saw Sicilian Rossolimo. Game 1 saw 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. Here Lc0′s suggestion was 9. Qd2 and SF128 suggestion was 9. Qc1. In game 3 they deviated earlier as Caruana went 6. O-O instead of 6. h3.

More: Caruana – Carlsen game 1 / Carlsen – Caruana game 2 / Caruana – Carlsen game 3 / Carlsen – Caruana game 4

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