Carlsen-Nepomniachtchi, Game 9: Nepo Blunders Again; Carlsen Leads 6-3 **UPDATED** Game and Analysis Added
The drama is over. As in game 8, Ian Nepomniachtchi blundered in a perfectly healthy position, and with today's loss goes down three points with just five games to play. Up to that point it had been an interesting game, with Nepo enjoying a plus most of the way. Champ Magnus Carlsen had been under pressure both on the board and on the clock, but after 26.Bxb7 (perfectly fine) Ra4 27.c5?? c6 the game was essentially over, as the white bishop was trapped and would be lost by force. Nepomniachtchi found the trickiest possibility available, but despite Carlsen's relative lack of time he was able to work everything out and win the game just before the time control.
Will there be any real games the rest of the way, or will the match end with a series of pro forma draws? My guess is that Nepo will be satisfied with a draw tomorrow, if he can get to move 40 without blundering (Carlsen hasn't been pushing for a win the last couple of games; he's just taking advantage of Nepo's unforced errors), and will push one last time on Friday, after the rest day on Thursday.
I'll update the post with the game later today.
**UPDATE** Here's the game, with my comments.
Reader Comments (2)
Will Carlsen go for the jugular and Nepo's sanity by attempting to win the match with a "Fischeresque" 8-3?
Or will Carlsen choose the pragmatic approach by drawing the next three games and win the match by 7.5-4.5?
If 8-3, he cements his place in history and frightens Firouzja and the rest of the contenders.
[DM: I don't think anyone will be any more frightened than usual, as it's much more of a Nepo meltdown than Carlsen engaging in a Fischer-like steamroll. Fischer played to win every game, while Carlsen was very obviously entirely willing to make draws in games 8 and 9, and Nepo made outright, *unforced* blunders in both games. (Carlsen had enjoyed the slightly better chances for a fair chunk of game 8, and Nepo had a slight upper hand in most of game 9.) That's not to diminish Carlsen, who has played very good and stable chess throughout the match. But the big lead is mostly Nepo self-destructing...which may well happen again once more before the match finishes. I expect game 10 will be more of the same: Carlsen will be solid and perfectly satisfied to make a draw if Nepomniachtchi gets to move 40 with a decent position. But if he is given a gift, he'll take it.]
It's tempting to analogise Carlsen-Nepomniachtchi as the Kasparov-Ivanchuk match that never was. Just noticed this quoted on the wiki website on Ivanchuk:
If he were able to make the most of his talent, he would surely be a real contender for the World No. 1 spot, but he is a highly emotional player, who takes losses badly, tends to rush critical decisions when under pressure and sometimes lacks motivation.
[DM: It's a little funny to draw an analogy with something that never happened. :) Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for Ivanchuk, we can appeal to actual collapses by the Ukrainian superstar, including the FIDE Knockout final he lost to Ponomariov and the Candidates match he lost to Yusupov.]