Since Karjakin tried his best to keep his pawn structure perfect so far, Carlsen decided on a more brutal approach. He got his knight vs. bishop scenario and all of Karjakin’s pawns were bad. The question remains if this approach is any good, because we can do a simple point count after move 22, which shows that black is worse.

It goes like this:

White

• extra pawn (1,0)
• bishop pair (0,5)
• passed d-pawn (0,3)

overall: 1,8 pawn units.

Black

• isolated white d-pawn (0,3)
• two isolated white f-pawns (0,6)
• doubled white f-pawns (0,3)
• isolated white h-pawn (0,3)

overall: 1,5 pawn units.

You may add weak kings for both sides, but this is a matter of taste. If we subtract the scores for both sides, then white is about 0,3 pawns ahead and that’s pretty close to the computer assessment. Note: The reason why this position is kinda unique is that white has all the advantages and all the disadvantages at the same time.

Why would you go into such a line with the World Championship on the line? I don’t know! Is this position really better than everything that you could get from a Paulsen Sicilian? Maybe their assumptions about Karjakin’s strengths and weaknesses were just dead wrong. Maybe they didn’t see how white could improve his position. It is difficult for white to push the d-pawn and make a pawn break after all.