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80-491: Before 1993 it was contested as a triennial tournament; almost always held every third year from 1950 to 1992 inclusive. After the split of the World Championship in the early 1990s, the cycles were disrupted, even after the reunification of the titles in 2006. Since 2013 it has settled into a 2-year cycle: qualification for Candidates during the odd numbered year, Candidates played early in the even numbered year, and

160-725: A de facto world championship in retrospect.) Magnus Carlsen refused to defend his title at the World Chess Championship 2023 and was replaced by the runner-up of the Candidates Tournament, Ding Liren. After 1996, interzonals ceased to exist, but FIDE continued to organize qualifying zonal tournaments. After the reunification of the FIDE and "classical" titles, the Chess World Cup and FIDE Grand Prix series were introduced as qualification for

240-487: A "panicky" move, and indeed this gave up most of his advantage. White had an opportunity to push for more, but an inaccuracy by Carlsen allowed Nepomniachtchi to force a theoretically drawn position. After a forced queen exchange, Carlsen played on for 15 moves, but the result was never in doubt. Game 3 was a 41-move draw. Like Game 1, the players played the Ruy Lopez . Nepomniachtchi deviated first with 8.a4, but Carlsen

320-587: A Russian wild-card, but it will probably be a match or match-tournament with Kirill Alekseenko [...]." At the time of the announcement no Russian had qualified for the Candidates; and Alekseenko, Grischuk and Nepomniachtchi were sure to be eligible for the wild card, although the latter two also had a chance to qualify via the Grand Prix. On 22 December 2019, the Grand Prix results were finalised, with Grischuk and Nepomniachtchi qualifying, meaning Alekseenko

400-719: A World Chess Championship. Following this loss, Nepomniachtchi's level of play worsened, with Carlsen capitalizing on a series of one-move blunders by Nepomniachtchi in Games 8, 9 and 11 to win another three points. This gave Carlsen a convincing match win with four wins, seven draws and no losses. The challenger was Ian Nepomniachtchi , who qualified by winning the Candidates Tournament 2020–21 , an eight-player double-round robin tournament in Yekaterinburg , Russia . Originally scheduled for 15 March to 5 April 2020,

480-818: A bid in March 2019, but withdrew it in June 2019 after Carlsen expressed reluctance to play the match in Norway. In November 2019, FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich announced that FIDE had received bids from Dubai and Argentina . In February 2020, he announced the match would most likely take place in Dubai . In January 2021, FIDE announced that the match would take place in Dubai from 24 November to 16 December 2021, as part of Expo 2020 . Due to WADA sanctions against Russia, FIDE confirmed that Nepomniachtchi would not compete under

560-488: A blunder. Nevertheless, even with best defense the position was likely already lost by this point. The rooks and bishops were quickly exchanged, and further consolidation resulted in a queen-and-pawn endgame with Carlsen up two pawns. Such endgames are often difficult to win due to the threat of perpetual check . Nepomniachtchi made a last-ditch effort to create perpetual checks, but Carlsen calmly spent his available time to ensure this could not occur. Nepomniachtchi gave up

640-412: A draw by threefold repetition . Commentators GM Sam Shankland and GM Fabiano Caruana felt that Nepomniachtchi was the moral victor of the game, having successfully reached a clean draw even when faced with a new idea. Game 5 was a 43-move draw. Similar to games 1 and 3, Nepomniachtchi opened with e4 following the Ruy Lopez opening. The endgame resulted in a draw by threefold repetition . Game 6

720-499: A draw. In the press conference after the game, Carlsen said: "Obviously I'm elated to get this result. It was never easy. Frankly it shouldn't be. There was a lot of the same emotions as the game that I won against Karjakin (in Game 10 of the 2016 World Championship ), which was a marathon there as well. Obviously this is huge." The game was widely praised within the global chess community. Former world champion Garry Kasparov praised

800-447: A pawn for open lines. Nepomniachtchi agreed that this idea was promising when it was pointed out to him during the press conference. As the game continued, Carlsen missed White's 24.Qe1 when playing 21...Qb4, which allowed White to win the b7-pawn, but Black had sufficient compensation. One move after capturing the b7-pawn, however, Nepomniachtchi blundered a bishop with 27.c5??, leaving the bishop trapped after 27...c6. Nepomniachtchi found

880-475: A point of the lead (but with a worse tie-break than Nepomniachtchi) with wins over Wang Hao and Ding Liren in rounds 9 and 11. In round 12 Giri faced third-placed Caruana, in a game which both needed to win; Giri won, but Nepomniachtchi won against Wang Hao and kept his half-point lead; giving lead standings of Nepomniachtchi 8, Giri 7½, and Vachier-Lagrave 6½. In round 13, both Giri (against Grischuk) and Vachier-Lagrave (against Nepomniachtchi) played for wins with

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960-487: A slight material advantage to Carlsen in exchange for Nepomniachtchi later obtaining a passed a-pawn. Both Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi missed chances during a time scramble just before the first time control at move 40, where the position was considered equal. With 52...Qe4, which Anish Giri believed was a mistake and Nepomniachtchi called "unnecessary" in the post-game press conference, Nepomniachtchi gave up his passed a-pawn for Carlsen's h-pawn, leading to an endgame which

1040-497: A third pawn on move 44 and resigned on move 46. Game 9 was a 39-move win for Carlsen. Nepomniachtchi played the English opening, a good psychological choice because there are few forcing lines for Black. He managed to get a complicated position out of the opening, which was also a success because such positions often provide greater opportunities for a win. On move 15, Nepomniachtchi missed the idea 15.b4, which temporarily sacrifices

1120-496: A white win, 0–1 indicates a black win, and ½–½ indicates a draw . Numbers in parentheses show players' scores prior to the round. For each player, the difference between wins and losses after each round is shown. The players with the highest difference for each round are marked with green background. The players with no more chance of advancing to the title match, in each round, are marked with red background. World Chess Championship 2021 The World Chess Championship 2021

1200-438: Is 12:30 UTC . Colours were drawn at the opening ceremony, and Nepomniachtchi received the white pieces for the first game. Colours alternated thereafter, with no switching at the halfway point as in previous matches. The final three games were scheduled for 11, 12, and 14 December and tiebreaks were scheduled for 15 December; however, these were not required because Carlsen reached 7½ points after Game 11. Consequently,

1280-639: The COVID-19 pandemic . As a result, this is the first sporting event to be held at an international exposition since the 1904 Summer Olympics during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis , United States . The match began with five consecutive high-quality draws, before Carlsen won a closely-contested eight-hour struggle in Game 6 that, with 136 moves, was the longest ever game in

1360-672: The Chess Federation of Russia (CFR) flag. Before the first game, WADA sanctions barred FIDE from using an initial flag with the full name "Chess Federation of Russia", so FIDE officials deployed a flag with the initials "CFR". Nepomniachtchi was helped by seconds Sergey Yanovsky, Vladimir Potkin , Peter Leko and Sergey Karjakin . Carlsen's seconds were revealed after the match as Peter Heine Nielsen , Laurent Fressinet , Jan Gustafsson , Jorden van Foreest , and Daniil Dubov . Carlsen confirmed that Nils Grandelius , who helped in previous World Championship preparation,

1440-481: The Petroff Defense , indicating that he was happy with a draw despite the match situation. The queens were quickly exchanged and a symmetrical position with no weaknesses on both sides appeared on the board, leading to a draw. Shankland described the game as a "snoozefest" and suggested that were draw offers permitted before move 40, the players might well have called the game off as early as move 11. Game 11

1520-437: The reunification of titles in 2006 , FIDE tried different Candidates formats in 2007 , 2009 and 2011 , before settling on an 8 player, double round robin Candidates tournament from 2013 onwards. The tables below show the qualifiers and results for all interzonal, Candidates and world championship tournaments. Normally, the incumbent champion is seeded directly into the final against the challenger (who had to pass through

1600-456: The COVID-19 pandemic, and this rule was used to select Maxime Vachier-Lagrave as his replacement. Radjabov was given a direct entry into the next Candidates Tournament . Note: Numbers in the crosstable in a white background indicate the result playing the respective opponent with the white pieces (black pieces if on a black background). The organization rights belong to World Chess,

1680-526: The Candidates Tournament. The Swiss-system FIDE Grand Swiss was introduced in the latter half of 2019, acting as another qualification path for the 2020 Candidates Tournament. Anand won rapid playoff 2½–1½ to retain the title Carlsen won to retain title, 7½–3½ Jul-Aug 2023 206 players, 8 round, mini-match, knockout tournament Top three qualify Oct-Nov 2023 114-player Swiss tournament Top two qualify Top two qualify Candidates Tournament 2020 The 2020–2021 Candidates Tournament

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1760-429: The Candidates qualification), but there have been exceptions: The incumbent champion Bobby Fischer refused to defend his title at the World Chess Championship 1975 , and his challenger Anatoly Karpov won by forfeit. (At the time, the Candidates was a knock-out event, so the 1974 Karpov–Korchnoi Candidates final match – a best of 24 games, like world championships in the period 1951–1972 and 1985–1993 – arguably became

1840-520: The Candidates. Wang Hao later decided to not return to China at all before the tournament. On 19 February, Russia announced a partial ban on Chinese nationals entering the country due to the coronavirus outbreak in China. FIDE announced that the Chinese delegation was travelling on humanitarian visas and therefore would be permitted to enter Russia, but they were advised to come "well in advance" before

1920-604: The Grand Swiss, and thus was ineligible to be picked as the wild card player. On 11 November 2019, Andrey Filatov , the president of the Russian Chess Federation , announced the intention to use the wild card to choose a Russian player, stating: "The decision to host this event in Russia guarantees that there will be a Russian player participating. We’re still considering different options how we’ll choose

2000-558: The Petrov Defense, Carlsen varying from game 4 with the less common Steinitz Variation (3.d4). Carlsen's 7.Nd2 is an obscure sideline, but it was after 9.0-0, in a position apparently beyond his preparation, that Nepomniachtchi took his first think before playing the surprising novelty 9...h5 !? . In response, Carlsen took an even longer think before playing 10.Qe1+?!, a safe move, rejecting sharper (and perhaps stronger) alternatives by offering to trade queens. Carlsen commented after

2080-463: The Russian authorities, and stated this again on 14 March: ″It is not the responsibility of FIDE to cancel FIDE-rated tournaments in any given Federation. Each Federation may take their own decisions ...″ FIDE also announced health and safety measures, including screening of visitors for body temperature, and making handshakes optional. If one of the players would test positive for COVID-19,

2160-402: The Russian flag, but would play as a neutral player. The sanctions apply only to the world championship match, not to other FIDE events such as the Candidates Tournament . The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a ban on Russia competing at World Championships, and it is implemented by WADA in response to the state-sponsored doping program of Russian athletes. Nepomniachtchi played under

2240-424: The Russian team. In previous world championships, the players followed a simple two days on, one day off schedule. For this match, FIDE changed the format to a weekly cycle: 3 games Friday-Sunday, rest Monday, two games Tuesday-Wednesday, rest Thursday. Days with games are shaded. The tighter schedule was deliberately designed to try and ensure more decisive games. Games started at 16:30 local time ( GST ), which

2320-507: The World Championship match played late in the even numbered year. The latter half of the 2020 Candidates Tournament was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was only played in April 2021. The next tournament, the 2022 Candidates Tournament, took place as scheduled in 2022. Before 1950, the champion had the right to handpick a challenger. However, a number of tournaments acted as de facto candidates tournaments: The number of players in

2400-530: The World Cup, third in the Grand Prix, fifth on the rating list); Kirill Alekseenko (highest non-qualifier in the Grand Swiss and also played in the World Cup); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (sixth on the rating list, played in the World Cup and Grand Prix) and Levon Aronian (tenth on the rating list, played in the World Cup and Grand Prix). Viswanathan Anand was ninth on the rating list but only participated in

2480-404: The basis that Vachier-Lagrave was eligible for the wild card in three different ways. However, Alekseenko was confirmed as the wild card. Alekseenko himself encouraged the abolition of the wild card in a later interview. The tournament was an eight-player, double-round-robin tournament, meaning there were 14 rounds with each player facing each other twice: once with the black pieces and once with

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2560-420: The best practical try after the blunder, but, down a bishop, his position could not be salvaged. This win gave Carlsen a three-point lead over Nepomniachtchi, and commentators agreed this virtually assured Carlsen would win the match. Game 10 was a 41-move draw. It was a quick, quiet game with the players eventually splitting the point. Nepomniachtchi surprised commentators by again meeting Carlsen's 1. e4 with

2640-422: The black pieces, but both obtained inferior positions. When Nepomniachtchi saw that Giri was losing, he offered Vachier-Lagrave a draw, which was accepted. This left the standings at Nepomniachtchi 8½, Giri 7½, Vachier-Lagrave and Caruana 7. With a superior tie break due to his 1½–½ head-to-head score against Giri, Nepomniachtchi won the tournament with one round to spare. First named player is white. 1–0 indicates

2720-473: The chess record books." Game 7 was a 41-move draw. Carlsen equalized smoothly out of another Ruy Lopez, after which the players heavily exchanged material leading to a drawn position. The position was completely lifeless by the 28th move, with the remainder of the game a formality to accede to the rules regarding draw offers. For many commentators, this lifeless draw was not surprising because of how draining game 6 had been (it had ended after midnight). Game 8

2800-461: The closing ceremony, originally scheduled for either 15 or 16 December, depending on whether or not tiebreaks would be required, was moved up to 12 December. Note: Since Carlsen reached 7½ points with game 11, the match ended even though not all 14 games were played. Game 1 was a 45-move draw. Nepomniachtchi (White) opened with 1.e4, and the game developed into a Ruy Lopez . The players followed established lines until Carlsen (Black) played 8...Na5,

2880-443: The commercial partner of FIDE . The match was a best-of-14 match, with tie breaks if necessary. It was increased from best-of-12 (in place for every world championship match since 2006 ), after all 12 regular games were drawn in the previous match in 2018 . On 29 June 2020, the match was officially postponed to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The prize fund was € 2 million, split 60% vs 40% between winner and loser. If

2960-488: The defending FIDE champion ( Anatoly Karpov ) also entered the Candidates, in the third round (Candidates final). During its 1993 to 2006 split from FIDE, the "Classical" World Championship also held three Candidates Tournaments (in 1994–1995, 1998 and 2002) under a different sponsor and a different format each time. In one of these cases ( Alexei Shirov in 1998) no title match eventuated, under disputed circumstances (see Classical World Chess Championship 2000 ). After

3040-517: The final round on 3 April and the closing ceremony on 4 April 2020. The revised schedule was announced on 16 February 2021. All games began at 16:00 local time (11:00 UTC ), except Round 14, which began at 15:00 local time (10:00 UTC). Players from the same country had to play each other in the earlier rounds. Ding Liren and Wang Hao played each other in rounds 1 and 8; while Grischuk, Nepomniachtchi and Alekseenko played each other in rounds 1 to 3 and rounds 8 to 10. The COVID-19 pandemic , which

3120-456: The first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves, and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting with move 61. The match was best of 14 games; a score of at least 7½ would win the world championship. If the score had been equal after 14 games, tie-break games with faster time controls would have been played: Players were not allowed to agree to a draw before Black's 40th move. A draw claim before then

3200-511: The first eleven players except for world champion Magnus Carlsen , Fabiano Caruana (who qualified as the 2018 challenger), Ding Liren (who qualified as a finalist of the 2019 World Cup), Alexander Grischuk and Ian Nepomniachtchi (the winner and runner-up of the 2019 FIDE Grand Prix). All of the players in the table met the above game count requirements. The qualifier by rating was Anish Giri . Since Radjabov withdrew, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also ended up qualifying by rating. One wild card

3280-456: The first three tie-break methods, then the two players to play the tie-break were to be decided by lot. The prize money was: €48,000 for first place, €36,000 for second place, €24,000 for third place (with players on the same number of points sharing prize money, irrespective of tie-breaks); plus €7,000 per point for every player; giving a total prize pool of €500,000 . FIDE announced the pairings on 14 February 2020. The original schedule had

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3360-442: The game as a counterexample to the stereotypes that "chess isn't a sport" or "that physical condition isn't important in chess", as well as that "classical chess is dead". Former world champion challenger Nigel Short described the game as "epic" and called Carlsen's effort in the game "stupendous". Later in the match, The New York Times called game 6 "the breakthrough that blew open the contest" and "an epic struggle that rewrote

3440-414: The game that he felt too tired after game 6 to properly calculate the sharper alternatives, and, leading the match, was happy to offer the quick draw and reach the scheduled rest day. Nepomniachtchi replied with 10...Kf8, avoiding the queen trade and probable draw which would have resulted from 10...Qe7, a decision which was criticized by multiple GMs, including Giri and Anand . Nepomniachtchi commented after

3520-400: The game that he thought both moves were equally drawish. Middlegame play continued relatively normally until Nepomniachtchi blundered with 21...b5??, losing the a7 pawn in a simple combination. Commentators also considered Black's subsequent defense imprecise; several GMs, including Giri, Anand, Caruana and Polgár suggested 23...Bxh3 as a possible improvement, while Stockfish rates 24...Rd6

3600-411: The halfway point due to the COVID-19 pandemic , with the second half of the tournament played from 19 to 27 April 2021. Over 13 months from beginning to end, it is believed to be the longest over-the-board chess tournament in history. The qualifiers for the Candidates Tournament were: The regulations stated that if one or more players declined the invitation to play in the Candidates Tournament,

3680-401: The highest average rating for the 12 ratings periods from February 2019 to January 2020, who did not qualify by another method. To be eligible, a player must have played at least 30 games during the 12 ratings periods, and at least 18 in the final 6 ratings periods. The following table shows the ratings of the players with the top average ratings from February 2019 to January 2020. It includes

3760-413: The match had been tied after 14 classical games, the prize fund would have been split 55% vs 45% in favor of the tiebreak winner. The chief arbiter was Mahdi Abdulrahim from United Arab Emirates, and the deputy arbiter was Andy Howie from Scotland. The first move of each game was ceremonially performed by guests invited by the organisers: The time control for each game was 120 minutes per side for

3840-443: The most direct winning lines afterwards, but still simplified the position into a comfortable pawn-up rook endgame which he converted without trouble. Commentators suggested that 23.Rxd4 could have maintained a drawn position. A number of commentators expressed regret and surprise over Nepomniachtchi's poor performance in the second half of the match, where he lost three games due to uncharacteristic blunders . The exhausting game six

3920-542: The pawn to neutralize Black's initiative and reached a threefold repetition draw. In his commentary, GM Sam Shankland expressed concern about Carlsen's opening preparation, noting that he had failed to equalize in the opening. Game 2 was a 58-move draw. Carlsen played the Catalan Opening , and Nepomniachtchi elected to hold the pawn with 7...b5 rather than return it with the usual 7...a6, giving Carlsen an advantage in development and central position. Although

4000-471: The players with the next highest average ratings would qualify. On 6 March, this rule was used to select Vachier-Lagrave, after Radjabov withdrew. Compared to previous cycles ( 2014 , 2016 , 2018 ), the Grand Swiss was a new addition, and the number of qualifiers by rating was reduced from two to one. The format of the Grand Prix tournament was also changed. The qualifier on rating was the player with

4080-402: The pre-tournament favourites, started the tournament badly with two consecutive losses, and shared last place on 2½ with Alekseenko. When the tournament resumed, Caruana sprung a spectacular novelty on Vachier-Lagrave to eventually defeat him in round 8, and Nepomniachtchi was again the sole leader, a lead he extended to one point with a win over Alekseenko in round 10. Giri moved to within half

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4160-483: The top choice of the neural network chess engine Leela Chess Zero . Nepomniachtchi quickly played the strong but not obvious move 14.Kf1!, indicating that he was still within his preparation. Carlsen sacrificed a pawn in return for the bishop pair , more space , and more activity. Nepomniachtchi played some inaccurate moves (22.Bf4 ?! and 30.Ne1?!), allowing Carlsen to gain a slightly better position. With Carlsen pressing, Nepomniachtchi defended accurately, returning

4240-464: The tournament on 26 March, as FIDE could not guarantee players' and officials' return upon the completion of the tournament. Under the tournament conditions, the scores from the first seven rounds were retained. As a consequence of the postponement, Radjabov called for his reinstatement in the tournament, as well as considering legal action if he were not reinstated. In a May 2020 interview, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich indicated that his preference

4320-512: The tournament varied over the years, between eight and fifteen players. Most of these qualified from Interzonal tournaments, though some gained direct entry without having to play the Interzonal. The first Interzonal/Candidates World Championship cycle began in 1948. Before 1965, the tournament was organized in a round-robin format. From 1965 on, the tournament was played as knockout matches , spread over several months. In 1995–1996,

4400-527: The tournament was halted at the halfway point on 26 March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The second half was played between 19 April and 27 April 2021, also in Yekaterinburg. The qualifiers for the Candidates Tournament were: If one or more players declined the invitation to play in the Candidates Tournament, the players with the next highest average ratings would qualify. On March 6, 2020, Teimour Radjabov withdrew because of concerns about

4480-400: The tournament would be stopped immediately and resumed later in the year, with points counting from games already played. The first seven rounds proceeded as scheduled, between 17 and 25 March, with round eight scheduled for 26 March. But on 26 March, the Russian government announced an interruption of air traffic with foreign countries, taking effect on 27 March. This prompted FIDE to suspend

4560-476: The tournament. On 2 March, Ding Liren and his team passed the Russian border control in Moscow and went to an isolated cottage house at the outskirts of Moscow, for two weeks of medical quarantine and observation before the start of the tournament. On 6 March, citing concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic and FIDE's handling of the related risk-management, Teimour Radjabov withdrew from the tournament. His place

4640-657: The variation was clearly in Carlsen's preparation, Nepomniachtchi did not shirk from a battle with 13...Nd3. The resulting middlegame was complicated, with Carlsen holding an advantage until the inaccurate 17.Ne5. Carlsen later confessed that he had missed his opponent's response 18...Nac5. Nepomniachtchi won the exchange , but White had strong compensation and initiative. The game continued to be complicated, with commentator Sam Shankland writing that he thought White had an advantage before consulting an engine, which clearly favoured Black. GM Anish Giri called Nepomniatchi's 24...c3

4720-413: The white king into the open) made his task much more difficult. Ultimately, Nepomniachtchi made the decisive error 130...Qe6 (130...Qb1 and 130...Qc2 were the only drawing moves according to the tablebase), allowing Carlsen to begin advancing his pawns towards inevitable promotion . The players discussed the game immediately after its finish and seemingly agreed that the objective result should have been

4800-663: The white pieces. The tournament winner qualified to play Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship late in 2021 . The time control was 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game; plus a 30-second increment per move starting from move 1. In the event of a tie, tie breaks were applied in the following order: 1) head-to-head score among tied players, 2) total number of wins, 3) Sonneborn–Berger score (SB), 4) rapid chess tie-break games (for first place only). If more than two players were tied for first after

4880-405: Was 1 win each with 4 draws. Their most recent pre-championship game, during the 2021 Norway Chess tournament, was a draw. Bids were originally to be presented to FIDE no later than 1 March 2019, with inspection of the proposed venues between 1 July and 15 August 2019. Early interest was expressed in 2018 by Monaco and Vienna , though nothing came of these. Stavanger , Norway , announced

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4960-498: Was a chess match between the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen and the challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi to determine the World Chess Champion . It was held under the auspices of FIDE and played during Expo 2020 at Dubai Exhibition Centre in Dubai , United Arab Emirates , between 24 November and 12 December 2021. It was originally scheduled for the latter half of 2020 but was postponed until 2021 because of

5040-479: Was a 136-move win for Carlsen that lasted 7 hours 45 minutes. As of 2023 , it is the longest game in the history of the World Chess Championship, surpassing the previous record, a 124-move draw in game 5 of the World Chess Championship 1978 between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi . With 25...Rac8, Nepomniachtchi unbalanced the position by giving up two rooks for Carlsen's queen, offering

5120-495: Was a 33-move draw. Carlsen opened with 1.e4, against which Nepomniachtchi played Petrov's Defence . The game followed known theory until Carlsen tried the novelty 18.Nh4. Although an interesting move, Nepomniachtchi had seen the idea before and had prepared for the variation. Although the position looked risky for Nepomniachtchi with a knight stuck on f8, the passed a-pawn provided strong counterplay . Carlsen thought for 50 minutes looking for winning chances, before acquiescing to

5200-402: Was a 46-move win for Carlsen. Nepomniachtchi blundered a pawn in the middle game, leaving him with a lost position, and Carlsen carefully and accurately converted his advantage to a win in the queen-and-pawn endgame . This gave Carlsen a two-game lead, with commentators saying it was now difficult for Nepomniachtchi to win the match. Carlsen began with 1.e4 and Nepomniachtchi again replied with

5280-673: Was a 49-move win for Carlsen. Nepomniachtchi began with 1.e4, as he had in games 1, 3, 5, and 7, but deviated with 3.Bc4, the Italian Game , instead of the Ruy Lopez he had played previously. He did not play the most ambitious moves, and Black achieved the central pawn break ...d5 – thematic in the Italian – before White did. With no advantage, Nepomniachtchi blundered again with 23.g3??, a surprising blunder because Black has only one good response, but that response wins. Carlsen did not play

5360-487: Was advantageous to Carlsen. With 80.Rxf7+! Carlsen entered an endgame with rook, knight and two connected passed pawns against Nepomniachtchi's queen, which Giri described as "terribly unpleasant" for Nepomniachtchi. While the position was a tablebase draw, the burden was mainly on Nepomniachtchi to defend accurately to achieve this. Meanwhile, Carlsen, facing no serious threat of losing, could continue pressing his position. Nepomniachtchi's 118...Qa5 (instead of Qb6+, forcing

5440-401: Was an eight-player chess double- round-robin tournament to decide the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2021 , played in Yekaterinburg , Russia . Ian Nepomniachtchi won the tournament with a round to spare and earned the right to challenge the defending world champion, Magnus Carlsen . The first half of the tournament was played from 17 to 25 March 2020. It was suspended at

5520-406: Was caught by Vachier-Lagrave, who defeated him in round 7. The tournament was halted at the halfway point, with every player having played each other once. Vachier-Lagrave and Nepomniachtchi shared the lead on 4½/7, with Vachier-Lagrave's win in their individual game putting him provisionally ahead on tie-breaks. A point behind on 3½ were Caruana, Giri, Grischuk and Wang Hao. Ding Liren, who was one of

5600-436: Was filled by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave , as he was next on the qualifier by rating list. Radjabov had asked FIDE to postpone the event due to the coronavirus outbreak. FIDE responded that this could not be done "legally and practically", and gave Radjabov until 6 March to confirm his participation; Radjabov responded by formally withdrawing. On 7 March, FIDE announced that the tournament could only be postponed by order of

5680-524: Was identified as a possible explanation for the Russian grandmaster's seeming collapse. A typical comment, from the Chess.com summary of the match, reads: "It's sad; we know what he's [Nepomniachtchi's] capable of and he didn't get to show the world in this match," said GM Robert Hess during the Chess.com broadcast today. The American grandmaster and commentator expressed what seems to be the general feeling in

5760-464: Was mainly confined to China in January and early February 2020, affected the preparation of the Chinese players, Wang Hao and Ding Liren . On 10 February, both players admitted that they cancelled their training camps and had to prepare online with their assistants: Ding Liren was training in his home city of Wenzhou ; while Wang Hao was out of China, and planned to only briefly return to China before

5840-409: Was named as a reserve venue. However, on 16 October 2020, FIDE postponed the resumption of the tournament, until the (northern hemisphere) spring of 2021. This was due to ongoing concerns about COVID-19, as well as the fact that the championship match with Carlsen was scheduled for November to December 2021, so it was not necessary to conclude the Candidates in 2020. Dvorkovich said that Yekaterinburg

5920-454: Was not on his team for this match. Dubov was criticised by a number of other Russian players, including Sergey Karjakin and Sergei Shipov , who suggested that Dubov (a Russian grandmaster) should not aid a non-Russian in a match against a fellow Russian. In response, Dubov contended that he considered it to be a match between two individuals, and said that a counter-argument was that working with Carlsen would improve his chess and hence help

6000-406: Was permitted only through the arbiter, if a threefold repetition or stalemate had occurred. Prior to the match, Nepomniachtchi and Carlsen had played 13 games against each other at classical time controls , of which Nepomniachtchi won 4 and Carlsen 1, with 8 draws. Several of these games were played when they were juniors, however, and in the five years before the match their head-to-head score

6080-439: Was prepared and equalized smoothly. White had a small initiative, but after an accurate bishop maneuver by Black (17...Bc8 followed by ...Be6 preparing ...d5), mass exchanges into a drawn endgame followed. Chess.com called Carlsen's preparation with Black thus far "bulletproof", although Carlsen remarked during the postgame conference that it had not been as easy as it looked, and he had not managed to get many chances. Game 4

6160-488: Was selected by the organizer. This player must have participated in at least two of the three qualifying tournaments (World Cup, Grand Swiss and Grand Prix) and also must have met one of the following conditions: highest non-qualifier in the World Cup and also in the final 4 of the World Cup; highest non-qualifier in the Grand Swiss or Grand Prix; or in the top 10 by average rating from February 2019 to January 2020. Four players were eligible: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (third in

6240-414: Was still the likely venue. On 16 February 2021, FIDE announced that the second half of the tournament would be played between 19 and 28 April, in Yekaterinburg. Note: Numbers in the crosstable in a white background indicate the result playing the respective opponent with the white pieces (black pieces if on a black background). Nepomniachtchi took an early lead with wins in rounds 1, 5 and 6, but

6320-497: Was the only Russian eligible for the wild card. On 23 December 2019, the Russian Chess Federation officially nominated Kirill Alekseenko as the wild card. On the same day, managers of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave expressed their concern with the current FIDE rules in an open letter to the Russian Chess Federation, asking to organize a match between Vachier-Lagrave and Alekseenko for their wild card placement, on

6400-472: Was to give Radjabov a wildcard for the next cycle in 2022, subject to approval from the FIDE Council. In May 2021, FIDE confirmed that Radjabov was a qualifier for the 2022 Candidates Tournament . A resumption was initially announced by FIDE on 8 September 2020. The tournament was rescheduled in the same host city of Yekaterinburg, with the 8th round starting on 1 November 2020. Tbilisi , Georgia ,

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