Dubai: Champion Magnus Carlsen has retained his title by winning his fifth consecutive world title championship. In a match that many are calling called onesided, the champion defeated challenger Ian ‘Nepo’ Nepomniachtchi, bringing the World Championship to a close.
Carlsen has worked to prioritize a sense of calm and harmony for these long, gruelling title matches, making sure his analytical assistants around the world’s time zones, remotely keep him up to date around the clock, about all news and observations on the game.
Jonathan Tisdall, Press Officer, writing on the Official website of FIDE World Championship Dubai 2021, said that “while Carlsen methodically neutralized any danger and aggressive potential in the challenger, and Nepomniachtchi once again ‘tilted’, choosing a horrific move that exposed his king to the deadly attack, rather than acquiescing to the sterile draw that was staring at both of them in the face.”
The challenger’s disappointment threshold was reached, he seemed unable to play with any focus, a deadly state of affairs against a ruthless and long-reigning champion. The 11th and final game was no less baffling than the earlier losses by the challenger.
First, Ian blundered a pawn after drifting from safety to slight pressure but as Carlsen neutralized the position, the challenger switched off completely, overlooking all dangers and kept scripting another lost game.
Carlsen had broken through, for a large part, on determination and willpower, but more on his unique ability to minimize error and maximize pressure.
Accepting that they were playing under the pressure of the title at stake, the champion said that “We both made mistakes, but he made the last one”.
Nepomniachtchi apparently “didn’t feel it had come down much at all to chess” but “other factors influenced his error-filled collapse” and he now has to try to understand and eliminate what happened.
Magnus Carlsen has been world champion since he defeated Viswanathan Anand in 2013. He has successfully defended the title in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2021 (the 2020 championship having been postponed due to the Covid 19 Pandemic).
Given the two year cycle followed by the championship, it next falls due in 2023.
With inputs from the Official website of FIDE World Championship Dubai 2021,
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