NAfter Magnus Carlsen had put on the chess crown for the fifth time in the Dubai Exhibition Center, the Norwegian first blew hard. Visibly relieved, he analyzed the decisive moves with his erratic challenger Jan Nepomnjaschtschi while the corks popped in his home country.
The 31-year-old made everything clear against his Russian opponent in the eleventh of a maximum of 14 games and has remained after his triumph on Friday, which he made perfect with the fourth win and a score of 7.5: 3.5 eight years world champion. “He’s become a pretty solid chess player,” said Carlsen’s father Henrik jokingly: “This is very important for us Norwegians, I’m proud, it’s time to celebrate.” The whole country was cheering in front of the screens. And the national hero did not disappoint .
On Friday Nepo, as he is called in the chess world, tried everything again with the white pieces. But the 31-year-old went completely wrong again with the 23rd move and played an absolute losing move that robbed him of all chances of winning. As a result, Carlsen put his opponent in order. Nepo struggled until move 49, but then had to admit defeat without a chance.
Carlsen had already made the preliminary decision last Friday, in a memorable record match that Nepomnyashchi had broken permanently. It was only after midnight, after 136 moves and almost eight hours of play, that the Russian gave up. It was the longest World Cup duel in history and gave Carlsen plenty of tailwind.
At a loss, powerless, powerless: Jan Nepomnyashchi was without a chance.
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Image: EPA
While Carlsen played out his experience and made no more mistakes, “Nepo” often acted too hastily and made mistakes that are unforgivable at this level. Carlsen won twice with the white and black pieces, the first five games had all ended in a draw. In addition, Carlsen was able to look forward to prize money of 1.2 million euros, Nepomnyashchi received 800,000 euros.
Carlsen remains the sovereign world champion and has held the title since 2013. At that time, at the age of 22, he had prevailed against the Indian Viswanathan Anand. A year later he successfully defended the title against the Indian, as well as against Sergej Karjakin in 2016 and against Fabiano Caruana in 2018.
However, Carlsen had a much more difficult game against Caruana and Karjakin. The duel against Caruana was decided after twelve draws in classic chess only in the tie-break, where rapid chess is played. Against Karjakin he had to make up a deficit from a win and also won in extra time.
The next World Chess Championship is to take place either at the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023, as the world federation FIDE had announced in advance. The eight-part Candidates Tournament, in which Carlsen’s next challenger will be determined, is slated to take place in the second half of next year. “Nepo” is automatically qualified for it.
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