Sergey Karjakin of Russia emerged victorious after the 14th and last round of the FIDE World Candidates Tournament 2016 in Moscow to set up a World Championship match against Magnus Carlsen.
In a dramatic finish to the event, Karjakin and Fabiano Caruana entered the final round with equal points and were paired one against each other. There was one more variable at play, owing to the tie-break rules, and Viswanathan Anand's result was also important for the two leaders.
Caruana entered the Richter-Rauzer variation of the Sicilian defence as its unbalanced nature allowed him to try to play for a win with black pieces. Karjakin avoided the sharpest lines and proceeded into a strategically even middle-game. Feeling some heat on the e4-pawn, white decided to throw it away in order to open up the files and diagonals for the heavy pieces. In the mutual time trouble Caruana made a mistake and Karjakin immediately pounced on the opportunity to sacrifice a rook for the strong attack.
Round 14 results
Peter Svidler drew with Viswanathan Anand
Anish Giri drew with Veselin Topalov
Hikaru Nakamura drew with Levon Aronian
Sergey Karjakin beat Fabiano Caruana
Final standings
1. Sergey Karjakin - 8,5
2-3. Viswanathan Anand and Fabiano Caruana - 7,5
4-7. Levon Aronian, Anish Giri, Peter Svidler and Hikaru Nakamura - 7,0
8. Veselin Topalov - 4,5
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