Carlsen defeats Nepomniachi in the sixth round of the "Dubai World Cup"

An incredible chess match at the "Expo" .. breaks a record that has stood for 43 years

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Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen broke a 43-year record for the longest chess match, by defeating his Russian challenger, Ian Nepomniacchi, in the sixth round of the Individual World Chess Championship, which is currently being organized at the Dubai Exhibition Center in "Expo 2020". In a match that lasted seven hours and 45 minutes.

Carlsen needed to deal with 136 moves, which extended in the sixth round, breaking the monotony of the first five rounds, the results of which resulted in a tie between the two players, to advance the world champion in the standings by 3.5 points, compared to 2.5 points for his Russian opponent.

The badge for the sixth round was given by the mayor of Moscow - the host city of the next Chess Olympiad - Sergei Sobyanin, in the presence of the President of the International Chess Federation, Arkady Dvorkovich, and the governor of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region, Natalia Komarova.

The sixth round of the meeting between Carlsen and Nepomniacchi broke the previous record for the longest chess match in the world championships, recorded in 1978, during a match that brought together Russian Anatoly Karpov and the Swiss of Russian descent, Victor Korchnoy, when the two competitors made 124 moves.

At the beginning of the sixth round, Carlsen relied on securing his defenses early, by following the “castle” movement of the King’s Stone, and then opening the way in the other corner to force the opponent not to repeat the scenario of the past five rounds, by sacrificing early on the “Queen” stone, and securing protection from During offensive steps through the “horse” and “elephant”, in a tactic in which the world champion needed an hour and 50 minutes to implement it in the required manner, which he followed by starting to put pressure on Nipomniachi, who was forced in the middle of the match to sacrifice the first “elephant” stones, who tried Replacing him with a defensive tactic through the "rook" or the castle, and pushing the "queen" to the middle of the board, but it did not bear fruit.

The Norwegian player moved to occupying the Russian defenses, paving the way for getting rid of the “rook” or castle stones, and imposing a qualitative advantage over the strength of the remaining stones on the patch, which Carlsen followed by moving his “king” stone, with protection from the “rook” and “horse” stones. Towards the front, Nepomniachi made precious sacrifices, the last of which was the "Queen's" stone, allowing the world champion to lay siege to his opponent's "king", and then snatch the victory in the round.

And by the end of the sixth round, world champion Carlsen improved his chances of defending the title he had dominated in the past five years.

"It is a really incredible match, as it is difficult to maintain your focus for nearly eight hours in a high-level match, especially since it witnessed difficult tactics that could have led in the end to the continuity of the tie," Carlsen said in a press statement.

While Ian Nepomniacchi said: “Magnus was able to make the most of the few chances he got in this round, and I think that until the last moments of the match I had an advantage in terms of stones, having (queen) against a rook, a knight and two pawns, and from a point of view In my opinion, the match should have ended in a draw.”

He added, "In general, the round is over, and I have to focus more on the upcoming rounds, to ensure that Carlsen is not repeated opportunities to get away with the result."

• 7 hours and 45 minutes, the duration of the match, which is the longest in the history of the World Chess Championships.

Magnus Carlsen:

• “It is difficult to maintain your focus for about eight hours in a high-level match, especially since it witnessed difficult tactics.”

Ian Nepomniachi:

• "The round is over, and I have to focus on the future, to ensure that Carlsen is not given repeated opportunities to get away with the result."

14 rounds

The World Chess Championship, which is currently being organized at the Dubai Exhibition Center at Expo 2020, will continue until the 16th of this month, with 14 rounds, with a total prize money of two million euros.