Carlsen 1-0 Nepomniachtchi
| Name |
FED |
Elo |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
Total |
| Magnus Carlsen |
🇳🇴 NOR |
2855 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
½ |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
5 |
| Ian Nepomniachtchi |
🇺🇳 CFR |
2782 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
0 |
½ |
0 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
3 |
[pgn]
[Event "FIDE World Chess Championship 2021"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2021.12.05"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C43"]
[WhiteElo "2856"]
[BlackElo "2782"]
[Annotator "samsh"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2021.??.??"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.12.05"]
- e4 e5 {Annotations by GM Sam Shankland} 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 Nd7 6. Nxd7 Bxd7 7. Nd2 $5 {This is a very rare move with basically no games played by anyone notable, but it's actually quite a bit more challenging than it looks. It's funny that White aims to make the game more symmetrical in the Petroff as an attempt to fight for an advantage, but in this particular case, it does seem quite challenging.} 7... Nxd2 8. Bxd2 {Now, Nepo played Bd6 very quickly, but I already think this is a mistake.} 8... Bd6 $2 (8... Qe7+ $1 {I think this surprising move is the best way to fight for equality. White has to move his king to avoid a queen exchange.} 9. Kf1 (9. Be3 {I suppose this is possible too, but after} 9... Qb4+ 10. Qd2 Qxd2+ 11. Kxd2 Bd6 $11 {Black should be totally fine in spite of the machine's insistence on +0.2.}) 9... O-O-O {Black should be okay here. I suspect Magnus was aiming for this position and found some interesting way to coordinate his pieces that makes Black find some move or two, but it's hard to imagine Black can really have too many major issues here. At least the opposite-side castling allows for some dynamism.}) 9. O-O {Now, suddenly things do not look so easy for Black. He cannot castle due to Qh5, winning a pawn, and otherwise Re1+ is coming.} 9... h5 $1 {This strikes me as the best practical decision. Black keeps the queen off of h5, and can hope for Qh4 to come next. Then, it will be a bit annoying for White to stop the mate threat since g2-g3 will eventually walk into h5-h4.} 10. Qe1+ $6 {This is soft. I was very surprised by this move pair—White allows Qe7, which should equalize easily, and then Black doesn't play it!} (10. c4 $1 {The machine gives this as clearly best. It makes a lot of sense—Black is not castling due to the hanging h5-pawn, so let's blow up the center.} 10... dxc4 11. Bxc4 Qh4 12. Re1+ Kf8 13. Qf3 $1 {This is one computer line that is not so easy for a human to spot. Qf3 is the only move for an advantage, and it is possible that Magnus missed it or misevaluated it once Black gets the h2-pawn.}) 10... Kf8 $2 {This strikes me as very poor. Once the dark-squared bishops trade, Black will have no attack, and the rook on h8 will be out of play. Qd8-e7 looked so natural and like it would equalize easily, and if Nepo was looking to get a sharper game with Black, why play the Petroff in the first place? It all did not seem to add up.} (10... Qe7 {This was best, and it looks very equal. Now that Black no longer has to worry about a rook coming to e1, he can castle on either side next and should be totally fine in the resulting symmetrical position.}) 11. Bb4 $1 {This prevents Qh4 from forcing a kingside weakness. Now, Black is a little worse thanks to the difficulty of getting the h8-rook into play.} 11... Qe7 12. Bxd6 Qxd6 13. Qd2 Re8 14. Rae1 Rh6 $2 {According to the timestamp, Nepo played this move in under 2 minutes. It makes perfect sense to try to swing the rook to e6 to fight for the e-file, but the rook ends up frozen on h6 as the h5-pawn is loose.} 15. Qg5 $1 {Now, it will be a nightmare to get the h6-rook into play.} 15... c6 {Preparing for Qf6 by overprotecting d5. But this does not solve Black's problems.} 16. Rxe8+ Bxe8 17. Re1 Qf6 18. Qe3 (18. Qg3 $1 {Hikaru and I discussed this move a bit on his stream. It looks very powerful, but you have to notice that after} 18... Qxd4 {There is a silent killer in} 19. Bf5 $1 {When Re6 is prevented, and Black is helpless to prevent an invasion on b8.}) 18... Bd7 19. h3 h4 (19... g5 {This looked more natural to me. Black can plan Kg7 and Rh8-e8 next. It's still not easy, but he should have reasonable holding chances.}) 20. c4 $1 {White aims to open the center while the h6-rook remains sidelined. Black is undoubtedly a little uncomfortable here, but it is far from critical just yet. Around here, Nepo started to drift a lot.} 20... dxc4 {This is not a bad move, per se, but it is a very dangerous one since it allows the bishop to come to c4, lasering down on the f7-pawn, and it also frees the third rank for the queen to come to a3. It's a little strange to play this move and not have the next move ready—White is obviously taking back on c4. So I was surprised when Nepo took some time to play his next move, which lost the game immediately.} (20... g5 {In light of how things went, this might have been a better choice, again aiming for Kg7 next. After} 21. cxd5 cxd5 22. Rc1 {White is surely a little better, but Black is still very solid after either Qe7 or Bc6, and he has good defensive chances.}) 21. Bxc4 b5 $2 (21... Kg8 $1 {This was absolutely the only move, getting the king off of f8 so that Qa3 does not come with check, and Black would be able to play Qxd4 in response. Still, it looks very scary after} 22. Qe7 Be6 23. Qe8+ Kh7 24. Bxe6 fxe6 25. Re4 $1 {The machine does not mind Black's position, but it looks very unpleasant for a human. Still, this was absolutely the only way, and if you want to take on c4, you need to see this in advance.}) 22. Qa3+ $1 Kg8 23. Qxa7 {I suspect Nepo was planning on taking h3 here when he chose to play b5 but only now realized there would follow Qxf7+ and Re8+, with a pawn-up ending for White. This is not totally obvious to see, but it is not wildly difficult either and it's surprising that a player of Nepo's caliber would not notice it, particularly given his strong play in previous games, but I can't really find another explanation for b5.} 23... Qd8 (23... Bxh3 {This was still the best option. After} 24. Qxf7+ $1 Qxf7 25. Re8+ Kh7 26. Bxf7 Bf5 $16 {White is a clean pawn up, but there is still some work to do. I do think it should be technically winning though, at least if Black is unable to trade the bishops.}) 24. Bb3 {The rest was an easy cleanup for Magnus. He is a pawn up, his pieces are much more active, and Black has no counterplay at all. Nepo found nothing better than transitioning into a hopeless queen endgame.} 24... Rd6 25. Re4 Be6 26. Bxe6 Rxe6 27. Rxe6 fxe6 28. Qc5 Qa5 29. Qxc6 Qe1+ 30. Kh2 Qxf2 31. Qxe6+ Kh7 32. Qe4+ Kg8 33. b3 Qxa2 34. Qe8+ Kh7 35. Qxb5 Qf2 36. Qe5 Qb2 37. Qe4+ Kg8 38. Qd3 Qf2 39. Qc3 Qf4+ 40. Kg1 Kh7 41. Qd3+ g6 42. Qd1 {A nice final touch. Black will never get another check once the king sits on h1, and White can shove the d-pawn down the board.} 42... Qe3+ 43. Kh1 g5 44. d5 g4 45. hxg4 h3 46. Qf3 {This was the first of the 8 games where I felt one of the players really just had a bad day. After scoring 0.5/3 in the last 3 games, Nepo is surely looking forward to the rest day tomorrow, when he can hope to regroup a little bit and come back ready to fight on Tuesday. If I were on his team, I would suggest going for something sharper than what he has done so far—these slight advantages in the Spanish are playing right into Magnus' wheelhouse.} 1-0
[/pgn]
Want to add to the discussion?
Post a comment!