On a Sunday Afternoon

Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi – Magnus Carlsen
World Chess Championship match game 3; Dubai, November 28, 2021
Spanish Game C88

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 0-0 8. a4 Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. Nbd2. Theoretically speaking, 10. c3 Nd7 11. Bc2 Bf6 12. Na3 is a continuation that cannot be merely dismissed as alternative, since after 12. ... Ne7 13. Be3 c6 14. d4 Qc7 15. h3 Rad8 16. Qe2 Rfe8 (16. ... d5!?) 17. axb5 axb5 18. d5 White stands better, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Azarov, 6th Aeroflot Open, Moscow 2007. 10. ... Re8. “10. ... Re8 is a really, really dumb move because usually you would try to go ... Rf8-e8 without ... d7-d6”, Carlsen said afterwards. “But it turns out even here he was well prepared and he didn’t give me even slight chances to play”. 11. Nf1 h6 12. Bd2 Bf8 13. Ne3 Ne7 14. c4 bxc4 15. Nxc4

15. ... Nc6!? A novelty by Carlsen, which seems to improve on 15. ... Rb8 16. Ncxe5! dxe5 17. Nxe5 Kh7? (⌓ 17. ... Ned5!) 18. Bxf7 Qd6 19. Bc3 Red8 20. Bc4 Nc6 21. Nf7 Qe7 22. d4 g6 23. Nxd8 Rxd8 24. Qb3 Ba8 25. Rad1 Bg7 26. Qc2 Nh5 27. d5 Ne5 28. Bxa6 Qd6 29. Bf1 Rf8 30. h3 Bb7 31. Bd4 Rf7 32. Re3 Bc8 33. Rc3 Nf4 34. Bc5 Qf6 35. d6 Qg5 36. Rg3 Qh5 37. Be3 Ne6 38. Rd5 Bb7 39. Rb5 cxd6 40. f4 Nc6 41. Rxh5 1 : 0 Arakhamia-Grant – Yıldız, 11th European Women’s Individual Chess Championship, Rijeka 2010. “I think that as an overall opening player, Magnus is probably the best prepared in the world and has been for many years”, Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana noted. 16. Rc1. If White had played 16. Bc3 at once, play might have transposed back to 16. ... Rb8 17. Rc1 Qd7 18. Na5 Nxa5 19. Bxa5 c5 20. Bc4 g6 21. Bc3 Bg7 22. Rb1 Kh7 ½ : ½ Kholmov – E. P. Geller, Moscow Veterans, Moscow 1991. 16. ... a5 17. Bc3. “I’m a bit worried for Magnus now”, Caruana said, but Carlsen has clear ideas on how to escape the bind. 17. ... Bc8! Rerouting his Bishop to e6 Black holds the balance. 18. d4 exd4 19. Nxd4 Nxd4 20. Qxd4 Be6

Now indeed it is only a question whether White will be able to stop Black’s ... d6-d5 Pawn advance or not. Apparently he cannot do it, since even the direct 21. Rcd1 may and should be answered by 21. ... d5 with Black promptly equalising. 21. h3!? After half an hour of thinking, Nepomniachtchi plays an useful waiting move, thus meaning that he did not manage to find an effective way of preventing ... d6-d5. On the other hand 21. Nxa5? c5! was obviously no good for White who must return the Pawn with manifest advantage to Black. “This is the current status of the chess theory”, Nepomniachtchi said afterwards. “It’s hard to find some advantage”. 21. ... c6. 21. ... d5 at once is also possible, whereupon there may follow 22. exd5 Qxd5 23. Qf4 Qg5 with near equality (and now not 24. Qxc7?? because of 24. ... Rec8−+). 22. Bc2. It’s just a way to keep the audience’s interest up until the 40th move, where they will be finally allowed to propose a draw. The most straightforward 22. Rcd1 d5 makes little or no difference. 22. ... d5. But by now Black’s fateful Pawn advance was no longer procrastinable.

23. e5 dxc4. 23. ... Nd7? 24. Nd6! was what White was dreaming about (Caruana’s analysis). 24. Qxd8. Likewise 24. exf6 Qxd4 25. Bxd4 Rab8 (Caruana) leads to a very drawish endgame. 24. ... Rexd8 25. exf6 Bb4 26. fxg7 Bxc3 27. bxc3 Kxg7 28. Kf1 Rab8 29. Rb1 Kf6 30. Rxb8 Rxb8 31. Rb1 Rxb1+ 32. Bxb1 Ke5. “I wasn’t thrilled to have this ending but I felt that it was generally well within the drawing range”, Carlsen then said. “I was happy to liquidate this pure Bishops ending because I get to centralize the King and push the Pawn and create a barrier”. 33. Ke2 f5 34. Bc2 f4 35. Bb1 c5 36. Bc2 Bd7 37. f3 Kf6 38. h4 Ke5 39. Kf2 Kf6 40. Ke2 Ke5 41. Kf2 ½ : ½.

“As the match goes along with each draw you get a bit more tense”, Carlsen finally said. “But I would say so far, it’s three games. And personally, as I’ve been Black in two of them, I’m fairly satisfied. There’s a lot of time to create something, although obviously it’s not ever going to be easy against a very strong opponent”. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili/Russian Chess Federation.