The World Chess Championship has crossed the half-way mark and we got another draw today (**yesterday), in Game 7 which lasted 40 moves. The game was Carlsen’s second straight as white in the 7 games played so far. He was the first to deviate from the Game 2 line with 10. Nd2 and started with well resolved choices with plenty of positive options for him thereon.
There was a lot of waiting at one point as Caruana, pondered a potentially critical response to Carlsen’s 13. Bg5, spent nearly a half hour before deciding to take white’s c-pawn with 13. … dxc4. It was then, that Carlsen decided on the crowd-pleasing 14. Nd2 instead of the risk-eschewing, drawish Bxc4.
The players became sluggish towards the end, and the game ended in a draw with a repetition: 37. Ke3 Bf1 38. Kf2 Ba6 39. Ke3 Bf1 40. Kf2. Carlsen tried, but it was ultimately a peaceful result. At the post-game conference, Carlsen revealed that he was not at all thrilled with his play today.
