Magnus Carlsen won his fifth World Chess Championship match by the crushing score of 7.5-3.5. His opponent Ian Nepomniachtchi suffered yet another unnecessary loss as his ability to execute even the most basic of calculations again eluded him.

Nepomniachtchi had white in Game 11 and he switched to a Giuoco Pianissimo for the first time in the match. Nepomniachtchi didn't manage to put any real pressure on Carlsen. The opening is very flexible with many acceptable moves for both sides. Carlsen's 7...Ba7 was already pretty rare and the new move 10.Be3 didn't seem very critical. After 13.Bxe6 Carlsen - for whom a draw was obviously just fine - was completely equal. After 20.d4 there was a final intricate sequence, Carlsen's 21...Re4 and especially 22...Rf4! took Nepomniachtchi by surprise and he simply lost his mind. To be sure Nepomniachtchi took nine and a half minutes over the losing 23.g3 but as potentially the last key moment in the game he could have afforded to spend a lot longer. It was a bit confusing but I believe he said he missed 24...Qxg4+ which means his whole process must have broken down. I know I react very badly to moves that come as a surprise, but a World Championship Challenger should be better than that. Carlsen never lost his winning advantage after that but he did miss a number of more incisive continuations and had to be accurate in the endgame.

World Chess Championship 2021 (11)

Mark Crowther (Fri Dec 10 20:44:00 2021)