End to End

Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi – Magnus Carlsen
World Chess Championship match game 11; Dubai, December 10, 2021
Giuoco Piano 54

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 d6 6. 0-0 a5 7. Re1 Ba7 8. Na3 h6 9. Nc2 0-0 10. Be3. Notoriously there are many minor and major nuances in the Giuoco Piano: 10. a4 Ne7 11. d4 d5 12. exd5 exd4 13. d6 Nf5 14. Ncxd4 Nxd4 15. Nxd4 Qxd6 16. Nb5? (⌓ 16. h3) 16. ... Qc5? (16. ... Bxf2+! 17. Kxf2 Qxh2∓) 17. Qd4 Qxb5 18. axb5 Bxd4 19. cxd4 Rd8 20. Ra4 Bf5 21. Bd2 Nd5 (21. ... b6) 22. Rxa5 Rxa5 23. Bxa5 Be6 24. Rc1 Nf4 25. Bf1 Rxd4 26. Bxc7 Nd3 27. Rd1 Rd7 28. Bxd3 Rxc7 29. Be4 Kf8 30. f3 f5 31. b6 Rf7? (⌓ 31. ... Rc5 32. Bxb7 Rb5) 32. Bc6! Rf6? (32. ... bxc6 33. Rd8+ Ke7 34. b7+−) 33. Rd8+ Ke7 34. Rb8 Bd7 35. Bxd7 Kxd7 36. Rxb7+ Kc6 37. Rxg7 Kxb6 38. Rd7 Kc6 39. Rd2 1 : 0 Šarić – Yankelevich, 1st Skalický Šachový Festival, Skalica 2020. 10. ... Bxe3 11. Nxe3 Re8. Also after 11. ... Be6 12. Bb5 Ne7 13. Ba4 Ng6 14. Bc2 Re8 15. d4 c6 16. Qd2 Qc7 Black’s game is fairly solid, Vachier-Lagrave – Caruana, 4th Grand Chess Tour, 2nd stage, Blitz Tournament, Paris 2018 (time control: 5 minutes plus 3 seconds per move). 12. a4 Be6 13. Bxe6 (13. Bb5 Bd7 14. Qb3 Qc8 15. Bc4 Nd8 16. Rad1 c6 17. Qb6 Qb8 18. Nh4 Ne6= Á. Horváth – Tate, 35th Zalakaros Open, Zalakaros 2016) 13. ... Rxe6 14. Qb3 b6 15. Rad1!? Finally a novelty, though not a Copernican one. A game of lesser relevance continued 16. Nd5 Ne7 17. c4 Ng6 18. d4 Nd7 19. Rad1 Re8 20. Qc2 c6 21. Nc3 Qc7 22. d5 c5 23. Nb5 Qb8 24. h4 Nf6 25. g3 Qd8 26. Qe2 Qd7 27. Nh2 h5 28. Rd3 Rad8 29. Rf3 Nf8 30. Rxf6 gxf6 31. Qxh5 Nh7 32. Ng4 Rf8 33. Re3 f5 34. Nh6+ Kh8 35. Nxf5 f6 36. Nfxd6 Qe7 37. Nf5 Qe8 38. Qxe8 Rfxe8 39. Nc7 Rg8 40. Nh6 Rg7 41. Ne6 1 : 0 Ostrovskiy – Pranav Nagarajan, 2019 Bay Area International Open, Burlingame 2019, but of course Nepomniachtchi could not hope for such a help from Carlsen. 15. ... Ne7 16. h3 Qd7

17. Nh2 Rd8 18. Nhg4 Nxg4 19. hxg4 d5!

20. d4. “If we take both e4 d4 e5 d5 Pawns out of the board, then most likely it’ll be equal...”, four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) presciently said on chess.com’s broadcast — via audio-only communication. 20. ... exd4 21. exd5 Re4! (21. ... Nxd5?? 22. Rxd4+−) 22. Qc2 (22. Rxd4 Rxd4 23. cxd4 Nxd5=) 22. ... Rf4. “I think this game sort of indicates that Ian has lost interest in a comeback... he probably sees it as too unlikely...”, Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana says.

23. g3?? And that’s when the shit hit the fan. It’s not unlikely that the last thing Carlsen wanted was to win today — for the sake of his sponsors, if nothing else. Such a melodramatic blunder, however, leaves him no choice. By Nepomniachtchi’s will the match is over. It might have lasted a day or two days if he had played 23. Rxd4, as shown in the previous note. 23. ... dxe3−+ 24. gxf4 Qxg4+ 25. Kf1 Qh3+ 26. Kg1 Nf5 27. d6 Nh4 28. fxe3 Qg3+ 29. Kf1 Nf3 30. Qf2 Qh3+ 31. Qg2 Qxg2+ 32. Kxg2 Nxe1+ 33. Rxe1 Rxd6 34. Kf3 Rd2 35. Rb1 g6 36. b4 axb4 37. Rxb4 Ra2 38. Ke4 h5 39. Kd5 Rc2 40. Rb3 h4 41. Kc6 h3 42. Kxc7 h2 43. Rb1 Rxc3+ 44. Kxb6 Rb3+ 45. Rxb3 h1=Q 46. a5 Qe4 47. Ka7 Qe7+ 48. Ka8 Kg7 49. Rb6 Qc5 0 : 1.

“What can I say... it was just yeah obviously he couldn’t at some point show his best chess which is a pity for the excitement in the match”, Carlsen eventually said. Photo © Eric Rosen.