Moral victory for Karjakin in third game

The Grandmasters fought a grim battle for about six hours before drawing after 78 moves. Karjakin countered Carlsen’s in round three with the first Berlin Defense of the event. They explored some very subtle ideas, but never wavered from equality early in the contest. Then the Russian unexpectedly made several inaccurate moves in a row. His efforts to switch from passive to active defence gave the champion a small opening and required Karjakin to draw the game all over again. “You have to fight for every last thing there is, even if it takes energy,” 

Carlsen said after the game. “I didn’t see a forced win,” Carlsen said. “Certainly it’s disappointing. I was quite happy with what I got from the opening. It’s not much but it’s safely better. I don’t think the endgame’s so bad,” Karjakin said. Still, he put himself through an ordeal to keep the match level. He exited the playing room with his hair slightly off-kilter and some sweat noticeable on his brow. Just as in round one, the game headed for rook and knight vs rook and bishop ending, but unlike the opening game, Carlsen didn’t even have weakened Kingside pawns to poke. He eventually shattered some holes, leading to hope for some real action. Carlsen won a pawn, which enabled him to get closer than ever to his first win. “He blundered but I couldn’t capitalize,” Carlsen said. After the game Karjakin lamented several times not playing the Queen-pawn move on the 24th turn. Later, White’s advantage swelled before the Russian’s reputation for defence was proven. “I thought it was going OK up until [move 55], then I just got stuck,” Carlsen said.