Thus, after a difficult start, Carlsen has entered the fight for the tournament victory despite the fact that the leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov is 1.5 points ahead.
It was a classic duel against Caruana. The American has often been a bore for Carlsen, but this time the Norwegian also succeeded with black pieces.
Carlsen has now won twelve games between them in classical chess, while Caruana has won five. No less than 38 times it has ended in a draw between the two duelists.
It went quickly for the players up to 15 moves. Caruana then spent a few minutes, while Carlsen spent just over twelve minutes on his move. Caruana’s 22nd move turned out to be a small blip, because suddenly the percentages for a Carlsen victory jumped to 98 on TV 2’s chess thermometer.
After 33 moves, Caruana had to give up. The two met in a WC duel in 2018 where, as is well known, Carlsen was the best.
Caruana was among the players who suffered the most during the pandemic as there were few long chess tournaments, which are his great strength.
On Tuesday, Carlsen will face Indian Dommaraju Gukesh in the ninth round of the tournament.
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