Written by: Emadeldin Teama

World Chess Championship match - Game 3 :

Today we are going to review Game three. GM Ian started with white pieces 1-e4. It seems like he is not afraid of Carlsen analysis for game one and he is ready to go for the same position without any fear of any novelty.

The game continued with 1-..e5 seems like they are going for the same position

2-Nf3 Nc6 3-Bb5 a6 4-Ba4 Nf6 5-O-O Be7 6-Re1 b5 7-Bb3 O-O so far same position like the first game.

8-a4!? GM Ian decides to deviate from the first game hoping for a different middle game. This move is a typical move for the Ruy Lopez. White is attacking the overextended pawn chain in the queenside keeping some tension on this side of the board.every move black has to calculate the consequence of a capture on b5

8-…Bb7 9-d3 d6 10-Nbd2 Re8 11-Nf1 h6 12-Bd2 Bf8 Typical moves for this position. White transfers the knight to the kingside to prepare an attack there while black is improving his dark square bishop position, overprotecting his king and preparing the counter play on the queenside.

13-Ne3 Ne7 14-c4!? Very interesting play from Ian, white is having more space. It is justified to start attacking anywhere on the board to take advantage of black slightly passive play.

14-..bxc4 15-Nxc4 Nc6!? That is actually a very interesting idea. White has a weak square on d4. Black is making sure that white will have difficulties playing d4 himself.

16-Rc1 putting pressure on the c file and discouraging any maneuvers like Bb8 to g4

16-..a5! Again, fixing the weaknesses on white camp 17-Bc3 Bc8! Now it is safe to maneuver the bishop on another diagonal.

18-d4!? exd4 19-Nxd4 Nxd4 20-Qxd4 Be6

21-h3?! Unnecessary now, black has already put his bishop on the e6 square. The simple and normal idea Qd3 Bc2 putting pressure on h7 square was actually better and quicker!

21-…c6 22-Bc2 d5!? Black fully equalized here . White attack disappeared and an exchange of queens is on the air. The resulting endgame is fine for Carlsen. White tried to mix things up with his next move

black equalized here!

23-e5 dxc4 24-Qxd8 Rexd8 25-exf6 Bb4! A fine move by Carlsen ensures a totally equal endgame. White c3 bishop is the best piece on the board controlling the long diagonal and having pressure on both the kingside and the queenside. Black exchanges it for the much less active f8 bishop.

26-fxg7 Bxc3 27-bxc3 Kxg7 a series of exchanges in the endgame, nothing fancy.

28-Kf1 Rab8 29-Rb1 Kf6 30- Rxb8 Rxb8 31-Rb1 Rxb1 32-Bxb1 Carlsen correctly decides to go for the bishop endgame. He has a very slightly better bishop in spite of his pawn structure and a more active king. White will always be tied to the defense of the a pawn and progress is hard to be made here.

32-..Ke5 Activating the king to the central square 33-Ke2 f5!? 34-Bc2 f4! Putting pawns on dark square opposite to the color of the enemy bishop! Black ensures a fortress and an easy draw within next moves.

35-Bb1 c5 Bc2 Bd7 37-f3 Kf6 38-h4 Ke5. A complete fortress. White cant go anywhere with his king and his bishop is tied to the a pawn defense like we mentioned. The players agreed to a draw by repeation in the next moves.

39-Kf2 Kf6 40-Ke2 Ke5 41-Kf2 ½ ½ a draw is agreed here.white cannot make any progress and black cannot infiltrate the white position.

Conclusion

This game is interesting as well. We can notice that the world champion Carlsen is starting to get tired abit. This may be a good sign for Ian Nepomniachtchi. It is also noticeable that Nepomniachtchi is doing better and better gradually in every round, It seems like he is getting more confident in his abilities to win this.

We are glad that this world championship match is exciting. The players are going for sharp positions and are not afraid to risk losing. However, there is a possibility that Carlsen would try to play a couple of rounds for a draw to just shake off Ian confidence. We can’t forget that the rapid and blitz games favor Carlsen greatly and it would be difficult for Ian or any player in the world to handle Carlsen there.

we cannot wait for the next round to start, Stay tuned!