For many chess fans, the just-completed world championship match between Norwegian titleholder Magnus Carlsen and Russian challenger GM Ian Nepomniachtchi was like one of those double-edged positions where your evaluation shifts depending on your mood.
On the minus side, as the world knows by now, we got only 11 of the scheduled 14 games of the Dubai match, as Carlsen successfully defended the title he first won in 2013 for the fourth time. The 4-point spread (4-0-7) was the biggest winning margin of the modern era since Garry Kasparov dispatched English challenger GM Nigel Short by a 12½-7½ score in their scheduled 24-game clash in London in 1993.
On the plus side, if you think about it, Carlsen-Nepo provided us with two matches for the price of one. In the first match, up through Game 5, the two players were evenly matched, with the Russian challenger perhaps having the majority of the opening surprises and winning chances through five straight draws.
The second match commenced with the already-classic Game 6, in which Carlsen squeezed a win out of the tiniest advantage through 136 grueling moves. The champ, who turned 31 during the match, told reporters Saturday after the match was over that he was most proud of his play in that game, the longest in the history of world championship matches.
Clearly Game 6 changed the dynamic of the fight, as Nepomniachtchi proceeded to lose three of the next five games, committing disastrous, elementary tactical oversights that the challenger himself said were not worthy of a blitz game, let alone a world championship match.
Losing to Carlsen — quickly climbing the ranks as one of the most impressive players of all time — is no disgrace, but the “second” match exposed some weaknesses in the Russian’s game that clearly contributed to his loss.
While Carlsen remained largely rooted to the board during play, Nepomniachtchi preferred to wander off when his opponent’s clock was ticking, monitoring the action from a video feed offstage. More importantly, the Russian fell back into an old bad habit of moving too quickly and impulsively at critical junctures in each game, when a long think would have been a far better option. The result: Nepomniachtchi regularly had an advantage on the time clock in the match, but it was Carlsen who kept racking up the points.
Case in point was the train wreck that was Game 9.
Once again, Nepomniachtchi as White gets a decent position out of the opening, but misses an attractive pawn sacrifice with 15. b4! (the only way to juice up the position and try to cut into a two-game deficit) Nxb4 16. Rb1 Nc6 17. Nxb7 Rb8 18. Na5!, saving the material and giving White a clear edge.
Instead, a series of rushed moves by the challenger in a delicate position led to this: 24. Qe1 (“winning” a trivial pawn) Qxe1+ 25. Rxe1 h5 26. Bxb7 Ra4 (see diagram) 27. c5?? (as an old friend used to say: “Any legal move but this!”, as in, perhaps 27. f3 Nh6 28. Be4 Rxc4 29. Rec1 Ra4 30. Rxc7 Nf5, with a likely draw as White can’t hold the extra pawn) c6! and, voila, White has managed to trap his own bishop deep in enemy territory.
White manages to generate some weak chances with his a-pawn, but Carlsen is really good when he’s a full piece up. In the final position, White’s passer is blocked and not long for this world; Nepo resigned.
An only slightly higher-order blunder sealed the match after a tame draw in Game 10. Three points up at the time, Carlsen seemed content with a draw with Black in this Italian Game, but once again the challenger was feeling more generous.
Crunch time comes after a central dust-up with 19. hxg4 d5 20. d4 exd4 21. exd5 Re4! (a star move; 21…Nxd5 22. Nxd4 just loses a pawn) 22. Qc2 Rf4!, and now the point could be honorably split after something like 23. Rxd4 Rxd4 24. cxd4 Nxd5 25. Nxd5 Qxd5 26. Qxc7 Qxd4 27. Re7 Qd1+ 28. Kh2 Qd6+.
Instead, White blunders with the suicidal 23. g3?? dxe3! 24. gxf4 Qxg4+ 25. Kf1 Qh3+ 26. Kg1, and the only blemish on Black’s play is that now quicker and way more satisfying would have been the king hunt that ensues after 26…exf2+! 27. Qxf2 Rd6! 28. Qf1 Rg6+ 29. Kf2 Qh2+ 30. Ke3 Nf5+ 31. Kd3 (31. Ke4 Ng3+) Rg3+ 32. Kc4 Qxb2, and White’s king is not getting out alive.
Black grants his opponent some slight survival chances after the game’s 26…Nf5!? 27. d6! Nh4 28. fxe3 Qg3+ 29. Kf1 Nf3 30. Qf2 Qh3+ 31. Qg2 Qxg2+ 32. Kxg2 Nxe1+ 33. Rxe1 Rxd6, but once again Carlsen’s technique is strong enough to bring home a winning, pawn-up rook endgame. In the final position, another White pawn is about to fall, and Nepomniachtchi resigned the game and the match.
Nepomniachtchi-Carlsen, Game 9, World Championship Match, Dubai, December 2021
1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 d4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. O-O Bc5 6. d3 Nf6 7. Nbd2 a5 8. Nb3 Be7 9. e3 dxe3 10. Bxe3 Ng4 11. Bc5 O-O 12. d4 a4 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Nc5 a3 15. bxa3 Rd8 16. Nb3 Nf6 17. Re1 Qxa3 18. Qe2 h6 19. h4 Bd7 20. Ne5 Be8 21. Qe3 Qb4 22. Reb1 Nxe5 23. dxe5 Ng4 24. Qe1 Qxe1+ 25. Rxe1 h5 26. Bxb7 Ra4 27. c5 c6 28. f3 Nh6 29. Re4 Ra7 30. Rb4 Rb8 31. a4 Raxb7 32. Rb6 Rxb6 33. cxb6 Rxb6 34. Nc5 Nf5 35. a5 Rb8 36. a6 Nxg3 37. Na4 c5 38. a7 Rd8 39. Nxc5 Ra8 White resigns.
Nepomniachtchi-Carlsen, Game 11, World Championship Match, Dubai, December 2021
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 d6 6. O-O a5 7. Re1 Ba7 8. Na3 h6 9. Nc2 O-O 10. Be3 Bxe3 11. Nxe3 Re8 12. a4 Be6 13. Bxe6 Rxe6 14. Qb3 b6 15. Rad1 Ne7 16. h3 Qd7 17. Nh2 Rd8 18. Nhg4 Nxg4 19. hxg4 d5 20. d4 exd4 21. exd5 Re4 22. Qc2 Rf4 23. g3 dxe3 24. gxf4 Qxg4+ 25. Kf1 Qh3+ 26. Kg1 Nf5 27. d6 Nh4 28. fxe3 Qg3+ 29. Kf1 Nf3 30. Qf2 Qh3+ 31. Qg2 Qxg2+ 32. Kxg2 Nxe1+ 33. Rxe1 Rxd6 34. Kf3 Rd2 35. Rb1 g6 36. b4 axb4 37. Rxb4 Ra2 38. Ke4 h5 39. Kd5 Rc2 40. Rb3 h4 41. Kc6 h3 42. Kxc7 h2 43. Rb1 Rxc3+ 44. Kxb6 Rb3+ 45. Rxb3 h1=Q 46. a5 Qe4 47. Ka7 Qe7+ 48. Ka8 Kg7 49. Rb6 Qc5 White resigns.
• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at [email protected].
