There was no big fight to be expected in the World Cup match in Dubai between Magnus Carlsen and Jan Nepomniashchi on Wednesday. Carlsen was three points ahead and he could be saturated. ‘Nepo’ would have to win three more times in five matches to equalize, an impossible task against Carlsen, who has only lost two matches at a classic pace in all his world championship matches since 2013.
It was actually clear after five moves on Wednesday that the tenth match would be a draw. It took a while, perhaps because Carlsen had a shadow of an advantage, but mainly because no draw is allowed in the first forty moves. At the press conference afterwards, Nepo was asked if he still hoped to win the match. “That’s an absurd question,” said the Russian.
Until last Friday it was equal, but that day the sixth match match must have broken Nepo. It was an exhausting 136-move battle – a World Cup match record – that lasted nearly eight hours, past Dubai’s midnight. In the final phase, they played ‘on increment’ at thirty seconds per move.
As a defender – that was Nepo – you had to be a computer to always find the best move under such circumstances. Nepo made the decisive error six moves before the end. Carlsen said the next day that he hadn’t been able to sleep that night, but that he had realized it must be worse for his opponent.
Solid draw
Nepo then initially did what is traditionally advised by experienced coaches in such a case. He did not immediately try to regain the lost ground, but made a solid draw with White in the next game, to stop the bleeding.
But then Nepo didn’t seem like himself anymore. In the eighth game he lost a pawn just after the opening due to sloppiness. Maybe he could have saved it with perfect play, but that didn’t happen. He was two points behind.
On Tuesday an unexpected guest had come to Dubai for the ninth match, Sergej Karjakin. He was already present at the opening ceremony. Then he went back to Moscow and we can assume that he continued to help Nepo at home.
Karjakin played a World Cup match against Carlsen in 2016, which he only lost in the tiebreak. In addition, he has the reputation of someone who often came back from a seemingly lost position. He told in Dubai that he had not been asked by the Nepo team to come back. They had simply sent a plane ticket Moscow – Dubai.
Karjakin still saw opportunities for Nepo. First win a game, then a few draws, then maybe another win… Simsalabim, but it didn’t work out that way. In the ninth game, Nepo had some advantage with white from the start. Nothing special, but it could be something.
blunder
Then Nepo made a blunder that was going to cost him a lot. All his mistakes came impulsively and quickly. Internet viewers armed with computers saw it immediately, but Nepo did not see it. He withdrew to his restroom, thinking he had an advantage.
The players sometimes go there when it is not their move. There are drinks and snacks and a screen on which they can see their party position. When the opponent has made a move, they go back to their board.
Photo Giuseppe Cacace/AFP
In his room, Nepo saw the counter-move made by the astonished Carlsen. Nepo must have immediately realized that he was lost and that he could lose all hope with three points behind. He did not go back to his plate, but remained in his room for another fifteen minutes while it was his move. The thoughts that went through his mind must have been horrific.
Carlsen was asked how he felt about winning twice because of such gross mistakes. “It’s a world championship, the tension is huge and you take what you get,” he said.
But he also said he enjoyed a good game more in which he should have done something special. “Almost everyone thinks that. Only Donner wrote in his book that he was happier for a victory by pure luck than for a victory by his own merit.
It was nice to hear that Carlsen knows the classics of Dutch chess literature.
Magnus Carlsen will win his fifth World Cup match. The Norwegian never mince his words and at the start of this match he said that American Fabiano Caruana and Chinese Ding Liren would be more difficult opponents for him and that Nepo, for all his giftedness, tended to to disintegrate. He then also said: “My advantage in the match is that I am the better chess player.” Everything was true.
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