Karjakin wins Candidates - My predictions fail

Sergey Karjakin will play Magnus Carlsen in the 2016 World Championship Match after beating Fabiano Caruana in the final round of the Candidates Tournament. In a winner take all match Karjakin seized on an error by Caruana close to the first time control and sacrificed a rook for a devastating attack. It was all over a few moves later, with Karjakin outright first on 8.5/14. Caruana finished tied for second place with Viswanathan Annad, on 7.5
The other interest in the final round was seeing if Anish Giri could go through the event with 14 straight draws. He did this by drawing with Topalov, although the fact that he was the only unbeaten player in the tournament is probably not as special as it should be.
As for my pre tournament predictions, I got Karjakin very wrong (he was in my bottom 3). I did have Caruana and Anand as possible winners, but I also thought Topalov and Nakamura were in with a chance (they were struggling from the start). My other potential winner, Lev Aronian did start well, but fell away at the end.
Although it is a long way out I feel that Carlsen will retain his title against Karjakin. However it may be a matter of motivation and preparation, and Karjakin may hold the edge in both categories.


Karjakin,Sergey (2760) - Caruana,Fabiano (2794) [B67]
FIDE Candidates 2016 Moscow RUS (14.4), 28.03.2016

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O Bd7 9. f4 h6 10. Bh4 b5 11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. f5 Qb6 13. fxe6 fxe6 14. Nxc6 Qxc6 15. Bd3 h5 16. Kb1 b4 17. Ne2 Qc5 18. Rhf1 Bh6 19. Qe1 a5 20. b3 Rg8 21. g3 Ke7 22. Bc4 Be3 23. Rf3 Rg4 24. Qf1 Rf8 25. Nf4 Bxf4 26. Rxf4 a4 27. bxa4 Bxa4 28. Qd3 Bc6 29. Bb3 Rg5 30. e5 Rxe5 31. Rc4 Rd5 32. Qe2 Qb6 33. Rh4 Re5 34. Qd3 Bg2 35. Rd4 d5 36. Qd2 Re4 37. Rxd5 exd5 38. Qxd5 Qc7 39. Qf5 Rf7 40. Bxf7 Qe5 41. Rd7+ Kf8 42. Rd8+ 1-0