Written by: Emadeldin Teama

Magnus Carlsen keeps his world champion title against Nepomniachtchi by winning game 11

It has been a thrilling match where Carlsen showed a professional performance and an outstanding will power. Carlsen proved to the world that he is the best chess player currently and it would take more than Ian Nepomniachtchi to dethrone him from the world champion title!

In this article we are going to discuss game 11. In this game Carlsen had the black pieces and there should be three rounds remaining. However all Carlsen needed is a draw and he would keep his title!

Nepomniachtchi needed to win the next three rounds in addition to this one in order to have a chance to play the rapid play off and blitz. This is a very very difficult task specially that Nepomniachtchi has lost his focus totally after the round which lasted for 136 moves and is considered the longest game ever in a chess world champion match !. Carlsen showed in that round agility and focus that completely shattered Nepomniachtchi psychologically.

The game started with Ian playing the first move as white as follow

1-e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bc4!? Playing the Italian game is not as challenging .However, the game could steer up to the max lange attack or other sound gambits that is full of tricks. After all Ian has nothing to lose!

3-..Nf6 4-d3 a disappointing move. Most fans were hoping for a crazy game with 4-d4!? Instead going for scotch gambits and those very complicated lines.

4-..Bc5 5-c3 d6 6-0-0 a5!? Again it is carlsen who plays the unusual move. This move is becoming popular lately . the idea is to give the dark square bishop a retreat square in addition to preparing some queenside play for black. It also prevent many ideas of queenside expansion for white as now b4 is not possible.

7-Re1 Ba7 Na3!? developing his knight to an unusual square. However, it makes perfect sense as white could go for Nb5 taking advantage of the weakness the move a5 has done. It will also force the black bishop to move again unless black is ready to give up his two bishops in a potentially open position!

8-..h6 Preventing the white bishop from going to g5 and preparing to castle kingside

9-Nc2?! A passive approach and very slow. I think Nb5 would have been more annoying for black

9-..0-0 10-Be3 Bxe3 11-Nxe3 Black has fully equalize now

11-..Re8 12-a4-Be6 Bxe6 Rxe6 exchanging more pieces. We remember that Carlsen needs a draw only!

14-Qb3!? Putting some pressure on the only weakness black has which was met calmly with the following

14-..b6 15-Rad1 Ne7 16-h3 Qd7 Black has finished his development and may use his rook on e6 to lunch an attack on the kingside.

17-Nh2?! Rd8 18-Nhg4 Nxg4 19-hxg4 d5! Black now is having absolutely no issues and white is the one under attack now due to this passive play

20-d4 doesn’t work black now clears the position

20-..exd4 21-exd5 Re4! Best move

22-Qc2 Rf4 23-g3?? Unbelievable blunder from the world number 5 in the world.Ian underestimated the attack that Carlsen will have now!

23-..dxe3 of course sacrificing the exchange for opening white king is justified

24-gxf4 Qxg4+!

25-Kf1 Qh3+! This is a trivial position to be played. Black is winning here. It is a simple king hunt and an extra pawn for an exchange.

26-Kg1 Nf5?! Still winning, however Carlsen missed the quick (26-..exf2+ Qxf2 forced or the white queen would be lost with Qh2 for free . then black plays the simple rook lift 27-..Rd6 with mating attack )

easier way to win!

27-d6! A Stubborn defense from Ian .

27-..Nh4 28 fxe3 Qg3+ 29-Kf1 Nf3 30-Qf2 Qh3+ 31-Qg2 Qxg2 32-Kxg2 Ne1+ 33-Rxe1 white gave back the exchange hoping for a drawing this endgame. In this position, the match is over . a draw is enough for Carlsen to win the match. However, Carlsen still pressed for a win here! After all he is a pawn up in addition to having a passed h pawn.

33-..Rxd6 34-Kf3 Rd2 35-Rb1 g6 36-b4 axb4 37-Rxb4 Ra2 38-Ke4 h5 39-Kd5!? A crazy try .However, what else can white do. It is either this or resigning the game.

39-..Rc2! even in time trouble Carlsen chooses the most accurate move

40-Rb3 h4! The h pawn cannot be stopped

41-Kc6? Underestimating the danger of the h pawn! Perhaps c4 followed by e4 could have some hopes for white .

41-..h3 very easy play for Carlsen

42-Kxc7 h2 43-Rb1 forced or black would promote a queen.

43-..Rxc3+ 44-Kxb6 Rb3+! THIS should force Resignation

45-Rxb3 h1=Q 46-a5 Qe4 47-Ka7 Qe7+ 48 Ka8 Kg7 these moves are meaningless now. Black is totally winning.

49-Rb6 Qc5 Nepomniachtchi resigns here .

Conclusion

With Carlsen winning this game. He keeps his world champion title for the fifth time in a row. In this match it is clear that Carlsen is on a different level in chess. He showed absolute mastery in Endgames in many rounds and a huge mental power. He has an amazing stamina and will power and he loves the game so much that he doesn’t just accept draws.

It will take more than Nepomniachtchi to win a match against him. We are hoping next year that Alireza Firouzja would win the Candidate tournament. This prodigy has a huge talent that may be enough to take Carlsen out in the middlegame!

All in all , it seems like Carlsen will stay there as the strongest chess player in the world for another while! We hope to see more fighting chess in the next tournaments from him