The World Chess Championship 2018 has been an enormous amount to take in – however much of a superfan you are.
By our (rough) calculations, there have been 637 moves and around 48 hours of chess in total.
Not to mention novelties, shocks, surprises and the odd celebrity.
So to make it easier to get a handle on, we’ve boiled each game down to its bare bones in our quick round-by-round summary of everything that has happened so far:
Round 1
White: Caruana
Opening: Sicilian Rossolimo
Result: Draw.
Moves: 115
Length of game: Seven hours
Flash verdict: A marathon grind leaves Carlsen kicking himself after missing a winning opportunity with 34… Qe5. He nearly became the first champion to win Game 1 of a world title match as black in 37 years.
Thrills from Carlsen, and spills from Woody: Our Round 1 report
Round 2
White: Carlsen
Opening: Queen’s Gambit Declined
Result: Draw.
Moves: 49
Length of game: Three and a quarter hours
Flash verdict: Caruana comes back faster, more confident and better prepared. He surprises Carlsen in the opening and the champion then has to defend for the entire game and at the end hold a pawn-down rook endgame.
Speedy Caruana can’t break through Carlsen’s defences: Our Round 2 report
Round 3
White: Caruana
Opening: Rossolimo Sicilian
Result: Draw.
Moves: 49
Length of game: Four and a quarter hours
Flash verdict: Caruana gets a promising position out of the opening but then wavers and has to defend doggedly against Carlsen.
‘Deadlock’ in Carlsen-Caruana match after third draw: Our Round 3 report
Round 4
White: Carlsen
Opening: English Opening
Result: Draw.
Moves: 34
Length of game: Less than three hours
Flash verdict: Not much going on here in this 34-move draw, although Carlsen did offer a novelty with 11. b4, played in less than three hours. Much more interesting was what was happening off the board with Caruana’s YouTube controversy.
Round 5
White: Caruana
Opening: Rossolimo Sicilian
Result: Draw.
Moves: 34
Length of game: Three-and-a-quarter hours
Flash verdict: Carlsen weathers early fireworks from Caruana to negotiate a peaceful result.
Carlsen snuffs out Caruana’s ‘fireworks’: Our Round 5 report
Round 6
White: Carlsen
Opening: The Petroff
Result: Draw.
Moves: 80
Length of game: Six-and-a-half-hours
Flash verdict: An epic. Carlsen narrowly avoids a devastating defeat as he saves a miraculous draw.
Sky News host Kay Burley on chess: ‘It’s so glitzy and fabulous’
Round 7
White: Carlsen
Opening: Queen’s Gambit Declined
Result: Draw.
Moves: 40
Length of game: Three-and-a-half-hours
Flash verdict: The same as the second game until Caruana’s rare 10. … Qd8!? but that was the only highlight. Carlsen rues his conservative play (castling instead of playing the sharper 15.Nce4) as the match drifts.
Magnus Carlsen isn’t exactly loving all these draws: Our Game 7 report
Round 8
White: Caruana
Opening: Sveshnikov Sicilian
Result: Draw.
Moves: 38
Length of game: Three hours and 43 minutes
Flash verdict: Carlsen escapes with a draw after Caruana plays the slow 24. h3?! to let him off the hook after three hours and 43 minutes.
Magnus Carlsen brands World Chess Championship sound-proofing failure ‘unacceptable’
Round 9
White: Carlsen
Opening: English Opening
Result: Draw.
Moves: 58
Length of game: Three hours and 43 minutes
Flash verdict: Carlsen, sporting a bandage over a black-eye, misses a winning chance with an impatient 25. h5 that allows Caruana to hold for a peaceful result.
For Magnus, the time for talking is clearly over: Our Game 9 report
Round 10
White: Caruana
Opening: Sveshnikov Sicilian
Result: Draw.
Moves: 54
Length of game: Five-hour and 19 minutes
Flash verdict: Carlsen weathers Caruana’s surprise 12.b4 move to hold on for a nervy draw in a marathon game.
A result, at last! #TeamCarlsen triumphs in Chessable blitz as John Bartholomew shows how to win
Round 11
White: Carlsen
Opening: The Petroff
Result: Draw.
Moves: 55
Length of game: Two hours 15 minutes
Flash verdict: A quiet draw. Carlsen got surprised in the opening then shut it down. Tie-breaks clearly on the players’ minds as it goes to the final game.
Sergey Karjakin: Magnus needs to invent something new in chess to be the strongest again
Round 12
White: Caruana
Opening: Sveshnikov Sicilian
Result: Draw.
Moves: 31
Length of game: Two hours and 57 minutes
Flash verdict: Caruana pushed, Carlsen got the advantage. Carlsen declined an opportunity to go for the win in the finale to the classical games and offered a draw while ahead to go to tie-breaks. A tame end.
Squeaky-bum time as World Chess Championship goes to tie-breaks: Our Game 12 report
