Sergey Karjakin, who in 2002 became the world’s youngest-ever grandmaster at the age of 12 years and seven months, has won the Moscow Candidates tournament and has earned the right to challenge Magnus Carlsen for his world title later this year. It was thought the match would take place in New York, but given Karjakin’s victory it would not be surprising if it was relocated to Moscow.
The full scores in the Candidates tournament were as follows (out of 14): Karjakin 8½; Caruana and Anand 7½; Giri, Aronian, Nakamura and Svidler 7; Topalov 4½. The field was exceedingly close, except for Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov, the former Fidé World Chess Federation champion, who lagged behind. In fact, the winner of the tournament was ultimately decided when Karjakin and Caruana, jointly in the lead, fought a battle to the death in the final round.
We join the game just as White launches what turns out to be a decisive attack after Caruana eventually blunders.
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