Magnus Carlsen retains world chess title after horrible blunder

Reigning champion Magnus Carlsen has retained the world chess title after a horrible blunder from his Russian challenger.

Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen has officially retained his world title after defeating Russian challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi.

The match came to an abrupt end after a horrible blunder by Nepomniachtchi on Friday evening.

Carlsen, who turned 31 during the competition, has now won five world titles in a row after taking the crown in 2013.

Nepomniachtchi had needed a miracle to overcome the growing points differential after disastrous losses in games six, eight and nine.

Fair warning: we have some heavy chess terminology coming up here.

The Russian started with the fighting move e4, turning away from the Ruy Lopez and instead steering the game into the Giuoco Piano (Italian Game).

Ian Nepomniachtchi (left) and Magnus Carlsen during their final game. Picture: YouTube/FIDE

Carlsen responded with the solid two knights defence and Nepomniachtchi employed the Giuoco Pianissimo system through transposition.

Carlsen declined to castle early, instead playing 6. a5 to slow Nepomniachtchi’s queenside expansion.

The dark square bishops were exchanged and with 11. Nxe3, the position transposed to a blitz game between France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and US player Fabiano Caruana.

Carlsen manoeuvred and managed to push through the critical d5 to equalise. Nepomniachtchi sent his pawn forward to d4, maximising the tension in the centre.

In the resulting exchange Carlsen’s rook went deep into enemy territory.

Magnus Carlsen competes with Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi. Picture: AFP

In an attempt to repel it, Nepomniachtchi blundered with 23. g3. The computer evaluation immediately plunged to a dire -11.

Carlsen began a scintillating attack, sacrificing the exchange and exposing the Russian’s king.

The Norwegian missed a clear winning line, but navigated the position to a rook endgame.

Carlsen’s active rook and pawn advantage proved too much for Nepomniachtchi.

People said the championship was 60/40 pic.twitter.com/OZbbh6uhMj

— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) December 10, 2021

Carlsen queened his h pawn, clinching the 11th game of the 14-game series in the $3.16 million match in Dubai.

Nepomniachtchi resigned with a brief handshake and the two players exchanged a few words.

Carlsen reacts to win

“It’s hard to feel that great joy when the situation was so comfortable to begin with, but I’m happy with a very good performance overall,” Carlsen told the post-match press conference.

The Norwegian said game six in the match was critical.

“After five games there were five draws and I had very few chances to play for anything more,” Carlsen said.

“Then everything kind of clicked and it all went my way.”

Ian Nepomniachtchi makes a move during the match against Magnus Carlsen . Picture: AFP

The two men had been rivals since the 2002 under-12 championship when Carlsen cracked in his final game against English youngster David Howell to hand Nepomniachtchi, who is slightly more than four months older, the title.

Carlsen has called the setback “one of my worst memories in chess.”

Entering the world championship, and excluding draws, the Russian had a 4-1 edge over the Norwegian in matches in the traditional long format, but in Dubai, Nepomniachtchi cracked.

“You don’t expect necessarily to run away with it in a world championship,” Carlsen said. “That’s fine by me.”

Nepomniachtchi implied one of his problem was nerves.

“Experience is never easy. It should be tough to gain some real experience. It was a little bit too much here,” he said.

“The tension is not a reason to overlook some simple things you would never ever overlook in a blitz game,” he added.

Carlsen sympathised. “He couldn’t show his best chess, which is a pity for the excitement in the match,” he said.

“Sometimes it happens when your get in a difficult situation. All the preparation doesn’t help if you can’t cope in the moment.”

– with AFP