The Week in Chess

The seventh game of the FIDE World Chess Championship in Dubai between Ian Nepomniachtchi - today with the white pieces - and Magnus Carlsen finished in a fairly uneventful draw. After the marathon game six it perhaps wasn't such a surprise. This leaves Carlsen leading 4-3 with half the match gone.

Nepomniachtchi continued to hammer away at Carlsen's solid Ruy Lopez and again he chose 8.a4 in response to which Carlsen repeated the move 8...Rb8 he played in game 5. 11.d3 was Nepomniachtchi's new try but after the game he implied that his team hadn't found much anywhere to test Rb8.

The game saw two key decisions for Nepomniachtchi:

Firstly 14.Nxf6+ - played after 13 minutes thought - which eased the tension in the position when 14.Be3 (not the only alternative) would have kept the position more complicated.

Secondly 18.cxd4 (7 minutes thought) when 18.Nxd4 likely would have kept the game going a bit more, this was the focus of the brief discussion between the players after the game. As it was after 20....c5 the position became not only completely equal but pieces were rapidly exchanged bringing a quick end to the game.

The players are back again on Sunday for game 8 at 12:30GMT where Carlsen will have the white pieces.

Score Magnus Carlsen 4 - Ian Nepomniachtchi 3.