The World Chess Championship took place in London from 9-28 Nov 2018. Defending Champion Magnus Carlsen faced Fabiano Caruana as his challenger. The 12 game Classical match was drawn 6-6, with no wins; a new record for a World Chess Championship. Carlsen then won the rapid tie-break 3-0 in a rather one-sided match finale.

Game 1

The first game of the FIDE World Chess Championship ended up in a hard fought draw. It was Carlsen who reached a winning position arising out of Sicilian Rossolimo Variation on move 33, where he had plenty of time on the clock and his opponent was down to the 30 second increment but when they reached time control move 40, Caruana was only a bit worse and held the draw with no further scares. The game finished in 115 moves, the longest between the players, their previous record was 91 in Bilbao 2012.

Game 2

The second game of the World Chess Championship was not nearly as interesting as the first. Magnus Carlsen chose 1.d4 and a mainline Bf4 Queen's Gambit developed. Caruana's choice of the rare 10...Rd8 worked well and produced at least equality for him almost straight away. 11.Be2 Ne4! was still preparation, 17.Nxf7!? was interesting (and equal) but not something to be tried when you suspect your opponent knows his stuff.

The players traded down to a Rook and Pawn endgame where Carlsen was worse but his split Kingside pawns meant that his losing chances were practically zero. The players went through the motions before repeating for a draw on move 49.

Game 3

The 3rd game of the World Chess Championship match in London ended in a draw after 49 moves. Caruana had the white pieces against Carlsen and they repeated the Sicilian Rossolimo Variation from game 1. This time Caruana was forearmed and even though Carlsen was the first to produce a surprise with the rare 6.... Qc7, he was by his own admission only worse a few moves later. Most likely 10...Bg4 was the culprit.

Then again only a few moves after that Carlsen was again completely equal. Then Carlsen played 37...fxe4 and all the tension went out of the game and it was quickly drawn. Caruana said he was relieved.

Game 4

Game four of the World Chess Championship match in London was drawn after only 34 rather bloodless moves. Magnus Carlsen was visibly cross with allowing his challenger Fabiano Caruana such an easy draw with black. Carlsen switched to the English with white but seemed to be thinking even in a position that Caruana had previously had over the board and never seemed to seriously trouble his opponent.

Game 5

The fifth game of the World Chess Championship was drawn in 34 rather tense moves. Once again with Caruana as White the game went into a Rossolimo Sicilian variation. Carlsen's pace of play slowed considerably after 6.b4 although it became clear he knew the theory well. Caruana's 12.Qe2 seems to be a novelty. Fairly soon after it became clear that if anyone was better it was Carlsen. Caruana thought for over half an hour on move 19 and it was Carlsen's turn to go into the tank on move 20. Carlsen presumably was hoping for winning chances but his choice of 20...Kb6 didn't really work out. Caruana's 21.Bd2 brought about a nice sequence where he gave up pawns for activity and when he finally restored material equality on move 34 the position was a dead draw.

Game 6

Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana drew a long Petroff Defence in game 6 of the World Chess Championship. This was the first of two games in a row where the champion Carlsen had White. Having the white pieces used to be seen as the opportunity to play for a win, but in the last decade of World Championship Matches it is often been very hard to demonstrate anything if black is well prepared. Caruana was not in any trouble in the symmetrical pawn structure they reached and starting with the excellent 21...c5 he took over the initiative leaving Carlsen having to scramble for a draw.

Once they reached first time control at move 40 it was already tricky for Carlsen and he thought for a long time over 43.Bf3 and it is clear he already decided to give up a piece for three pawns (later just two) on move 58 he gave up yet another pawn to achieve a fortress that computers confirm was drawing with best play. After 67.Kg6? computers sprang to life again saying white was lost but only after 68...Bh4!! After 68...Nf3 Black had no further chances and the game was drawn in 80 moves and about 7 hours of play. Carlsen was surprised by the news that he briefly had a lost position.
Carlsen: "As a matter of fact that was the 2nd time in the game I’d missed the plan with Ba3. I thought I’d actually have 3 pawns, not 2 pawns, so I thought it would be a fairly straightforward draw, and when it turned out I only had 2 pawns I was quite worried."

Game 7

Game 7 was another quiet draw, this time in 40 moves. Magnus Carlsen once again had white. After getting into trouble against Fabiano Caruana's Petroff in game 6 he returned to the Queen's Gambit Bf4 variation today. Caruana played the rare 10...Qd8 and achieved total equality only a few moves later. Caruana admitted to playing a few careless moves after that and while he was still equal he had to show a small amount of care, but by move 40 the players saw no reason not to draw by repetition.

Game 8

Fabiano Caruana played very sharply with Sveshnikov against Magnus Carlsen's Sicilian Defence and it seems that he had deeper preparation. Carlsen's preparation ran out, probably between the sharp 14...e4 novelty and 18...g5 which isn't objectively very good. It is harder to say where Caruana's preparation ran out, he still was playing quickly up to and including 20.Bc3.

Following 20...Bf5 Caruana thought for about 35 minutes before playing the computer recommended 21.c5. After the game he said that he thought this was the critical continuation but that the position was very "concrete", that is very precise moves had to be found for him to prove an advantage. The key moments of the game followed. 23.Rae1 seems stronger than 23.Rad1 and after 24.h3 the computers were already thinking that White was only a little better. Carlsen held the position quite comfortably after that and the game was agreed drawn on move 38.

Game 9

Magnus Carlsen finally got a promising position with white in game 9 of his match against Fabiano Caruana. Carlsen found a tricky position in the English that hadn't been investigated by his opponent and after the pragmatic 17...Bxf3 Caruana would have expected a long defence.

Game 10

The 10^th game of the World Chess Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana in London was a tense thriller that finished in a draw in 54 moves. The game again was a Sveshnikov Sicilian following game 8 where Caruana was close to winning and again he innovated first. It seemed that Carlsen knew this move, because next few moves were all supremely accurate and in the end it was he who ended up with a threatening looking position on the Kingside.

Caruana didn’t play 24.Bxb5. Carlsen played 23...Qg5 which after 24.Bxb5 might have put him under pressure, instead Carlsen emerged with the slightly more pleasant position but in time trouble he decided to simplify and by move 41.g4 the game was heading for a draw. There was late drama as 44...Kd4 was a move that promised Carlsen very little upside but instead cost him a pawn. Carlsen settled down and traded to a Rook Endgame with high drawing chances, the way Caruana played it even the small chances to play weren't taken and the game finished very quickly in a draw.

A very tense struggle and there were signs of the extreme tension of the situation starting to get to the clear thinking of the players.

Game 11

The 11th game of the World Chess Championship was a damp squib as Magnus Carlsen couldn't show anything dangerous against Fabiano's Petroff Defence. They followed a line that seemed to have been mentioned in the video leak at the start of the championship and Carlsen showed nothing new. He did think for quite some time over his moves starting with 11.Rhe1, it is impossible to believe he hadn't prepared the line, perhaps he intended something sharper but backed out at the last minute. Carlsen quickly transposed into a drawn bishops of opposite colours endgame, Caruana had to show a bit of care but held very comfortably in the end.

Game 12

The Sicilian line Carlsen chose seemed to catch Caruana off-guard. Caruana turned down a draw by repetition and started consuming time on the clock. Then on move 31 Carlsen offered a draw which was accepted by Caruana. Given the computer assessment and large time advantage people thought Carlsen was pressing for a win in this position but after the game Carlsen said he "didn't care" about the assessment. Carlsen clearly fancied his chances in the rapid tie-breaks, he was rated 2880 and Caruana was 2789 a huge difference, and not an inaccurate reflection of their past results.

Tie-break summary

The tie-breaks were a whitewash (3-0) in favour of Carlsen.
Game 13: Carlsen gained a large and according the computers, winning, advantage in an English where he played an interesting new idea. Carlsen thought for 10 minutes over 24.Bxe6+ but didn't find the best moves (24.Rxd4 Kf7 25.Kh1 stepping out of potential knight checks) and over the next few moves Caruana was very close to a draw before blundering with 37...Kxe4 (37...Ra2+) and being ground down after that.
Game 14: A Sicilian. Caruana gained a decent advantage and was scathing about his own play “The second game was a disaster. I didn't even put up a fight.” He resigned on move 28.
Game 15: Carlsen switched to 1.e4 and in a Sicilian he retained decent control throughout trading down to a draw. Caruana had to keep complicating to stay in the match which led to a lost position and in the end he resigned the game and the match on move 51.