Stockfish Analysis of Analysis: WCC 2018, Carlsen vs. Caruana Round 2

I wrote a package (with claude and gemini's help) that takes a pgn file of chess games, runs them all through stockfish for analysis, then creates a terse latex report (link below) for selected top games (such as the game discussed in this column). This "Chess Game Analysis" (CGA) was posted to my github repo. This latex report was run through Gemini and the post below was created.

Precision in London: Carlsen vs. Caruana, Round 2

Analysis generated by Stockfish 17.1 | Event Date: 2018.11.10

The second round of the 2018 World Chess Championship in London [cite: 17, 18] was a masterclass in technical accuracy. Playing White, Magnus Carlsen faced Fabiano Caruana in a game that engine analysis now classifies as "balanced and one-sided," with White maintaining a slight but consistent comfort level throughout.

Game Statistics

Metric	Magnus Carlsen (White)	Fabiano Caruana (Black)
Total Moves	49	48
Accuracy	97.7%	98.6%
Avg. Centipawn Loss	4.6	2.9
Blunders/Mistakes	0	0

Positional Breakdown

While the game ended in a draw, the underlying positional metrics show a fascinating tug-of-war between different strategic advantages:

• Space: Caruana (Black) held a consistent edge in territory, averaging a score of 0.36 compared to Carlsen's 0.29.
• Mobility: Carlsen countered Black's space by maintaining more active pieces, with an average mobility score of 1.62 vs. Caruana's 1.42.
• King Safety: White enjoyed significantly higher safety metrics (0.67 avg) compared to Black (-0.05 avg), particularly as the game progressed.
• Tactical Threats: Carlsen maintained a higher average threat level (4.78) than Caruana (3.51), keeping the pressure on the challenger.

Conclusion

With a total evaluation spread of only 0.63, this encounter is the definition of "Balanced" play. Neither side allowed a single inaccuracy or mistake, resulting in a technical 1/2-1/2 draw.

The latex report can be found here: Download Full PDF Report.