World Chess Championship: "Clean and logical" third game drawn
Ian Nepomniachtchi and Magnus Carlsen settled for a rather quick 41-move draw, in under three hours, in the third round of their World chess championship clash in Dubai on Sunday.
Published : Nov 28, 2021 22:41 IST
A day after a cracker of a contest, challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi and champion Magnus Carlsen settled for a rather quick 41-move draw, in under three hours, in the third round of their World chess championship clash in Dubai on Sunday.
Going into Monday’s rest day, the players are locked 1.5-1.5 after three rounds. The first player to reach 7.5 points in this 14-game match.
The game, that followed the opening lines of Ruy Lopes seen in the first game on Friday, was evenly fought. A series of exchanges followed and eventually, the battle reached an endgame where the players had a bishop and five pawns each. The equal game was drawn after a three-fold repetition of moves.
Interestingly, soon after the game, Carlsen chose to describe his 10th move from the black side as a “really dumb move, but it turns out even here he (Nepo) was well-prepared and he didn't give me even any slight chances to play.”
Nepo, on his part, described Sunday’s clash as a “clean and logical game.” After three draws the action resumes on Tuesday, on Carlsen’s birthday, with the champion playing with white pieces in the fourth game.
- The moves - White: Nepomniachtchi Black: Carlsen 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4 Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. Nbd2 Re8