Carlsen v Karjakin, 2016, tiebreak game 4: 50.Qh6+

The 2016 world championship match in New York between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin finished 6–6 after twelve classical games, so it went to rapid tiebreaks, at 25 minutes each plus 10 seconds a move. The first two were drawn, and Carlsen won the third. In the fourth, on 30 November 2016, Carlsen's 26th birthday, Karjakin had to win with Black. He took risks, Carlsen won with a queen sacrifice, and kept his title. This is a rapid game, not a classical one, which is worth keeping in mind when judging the mistakes.

White to move after 49...Kh7. One move wins at once; every other move loses.

The whole game

Carlsen v Karjakin, World Championship 2016, rapid tiebreak game 4. Step through all 50 moves; Black resigned.

Karjakin chose the Sicilian Defence. Judit Polgár, commentating, called Black's position terribly passive.

What Stockfish makes of it

We had Stockfish check every move. White was better for most of the game, by about a pawn, and the advantage grew slowly.

34...Rxb3: a pawn grabbed

34...Rxb3 35.Nd4 Qxc4 36.Nxb3 Qxb3: Black has given up a rook for a knight and two pawns.

Needing to win, Karjakin took a pawn with 34...Rxb3. Stockfish prefers 34...Ra1, about a third of a pawn worse for Black, against more than a pawn after 34...Rxb3. 35.Nd4 and 36.Nxb3 were each the only good reply.

48...Qf2 and 50.Qh6+

48.Kh1 Qf2 49.Rc8+ Kh7 50.Qh6+!!: Black resigned, with mate next move.

With seconds left on his clock, Karjakin played 48...Qf2, threatening mate on g2. It allowed a forced mate: 49.Rc8+ Kh7 50.Qh6+. After 49...Kh7, 50.Qh6+ is the only winning move, and every other move loses, because Black's own threats are faster. If 50...Kxh6 51.Rh8#; if 50...gxh6 51.Rxf7#. Karjakin resigned.

Lubomir Kavalek called it the most brilliant final move of any world championship.

How we checked

The moves are from Wikipedia's page on the 2016 World Championship and the ChessBase live blog, which agree. We replayed every move with python-chess: all are legal.
The engine: Stockfish 16.1 checked every move at depth 22, and the key moments again at depth 24 to 26. "A pawn better" is Stockfish's measure of the position, not a count of material.
The history and the named opinions are from Wikipedia, ChessBase and Slate (the birthday).

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