Magnus Carlsen Fulfills Vow With Thrilling Win Over Ian Nepomniachtchi in World Chess Championship 2021

After days of finishing stalemate, Magnus Carlsen finally won the first game in this year’s World Chess Championship. Following 136 moves, he defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi with a pure chess masterclass. The first five games of the series ended in a draw, with both players at the top of their game. However, Carlsen finally ended that curse. His aggressive style was pretty evident in this match, as he won the game, one perfect move at a time.

This contest surpassed the 124 move record set by Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi in 1978, becoming the longest chess match in the history of the World Championships.

Magnus Carlsen defeats Ian Nepomniachtchi

He played the Pseudo-Catalan opening with white pieces as he went for 10 Nbd2; sacrificing the pawn for a long-term goal. Notably, he played this move in the first two games as well. However, the match turned on its head as Carlsen traded his queen for two rooks while taking advantage of his rook, knight, and two pawns. Although Ian tried hard to match him move by move, Carlsen brought his A-game and struck all the right chords. He had earlier spoken about winning a classical game to make history as he did exactly that in the sixth game.

“It shouldn?t be easy in a world championship match. You have to try for every chance, no matter how small it is. And part of it was by design at some point. I thought I should make the game as long as possible so that we would both be as tired as possible when the critical moment came. That turned out to be a good strategy,” said Carlsen.

After six long games, the scores are in favor of Carlsen as he gained a 3.5-2.5 lead with the best of 14 games gaining fire.

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Ian concedes defeat

While Ian battled through all the odds to make a good contest, he couldn’t match Carlsen’s approach. This is dubbed to be one of the best chess matches in a long time. Giving his take on the game, Ian said, “I would say that Magnus managed to capitalise on the very few chances he got.”

The first five games were a draw as it extended the record to 19 consecutive draws in a World Championship. Hence, this result comes as a huge boost to Magnus. Now, with Game 7 on the cards, do you think Carlsen doubles his lead, or will Ian bounce back?

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