NEW YORK, United States (Reuters) — After pressing for a win to even the competition, Champion Magnus Carlsen survives game nine with a draw against challenger Sergey Karjakin at the World Chess Championship.
Defending champion Magnus Carlsen survived game nine with a draw against challenger Sergey Karjakin at the World Chess Championship in New York on Wednesday (November 23).
The 25-year-old Norwegian pressed an offensive game on Karjakin in order to overcome a one point deficit after losing game eight on Monday. However, the 26-year-old Russian challenger was able to counter and press the champion before Carlsen dug himself out of trouble to earn a draw after six hours and 74 moves.
“In general, it was a very difficult game. So, there were many difficult points for sure and just happy to survive,” said Carlsen afterwards.
“I think I played not bad at all but at some point Magnus defended just brilliantly and I couldn’t do anything. But, it happens. It was an interesting game,” added Karjakin.
With three games left in the competition for the highest honor in chess and a $1 million purse, Karjakin leads with 5 points to Carlsen’s 4. The first player to reach 6 1/2 points from the scheduled 12 games is the winner of the match.
“I think the way I have to think about it is I have to win one game out of three and, normally, that’s something I’m capable of doing,” Carlsen finished.
The match continues with game ten on Thursday (November 24).