In a tour limited to 150 minutes and 41 movements

Ain Expo .. The Russian “Chess World Cup” resorts to the “Spanish attack” .. And the Norwegian adopts the “Sicilian Defense”

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The Russian Ian Nepomniacchi imposed a tie for the sixth time on the Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen, at the conclusion of the seventh round of the "Individual World Chess Championship", which is currently being held at the Dubai Exhibition Center at the "Expo 2020 Dubai", and extends until December 16, in total. Prizes totaling two million euros (about 8.3 million dirhams).

The kickoff of the tour was given by Andrey Joseph, CEO of PhosAgro, the official partner of the World Chess Championship in Dubai, in the presence of the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov, and President of the International Chess Federation Arkady Dvorkovich.

Seventh round

The result of the seventh round, which was limited to 150 minutes and 41 movements, reflected the strength and competitiveness of the "Dubai World Cup", in a scene that was previously repeated throughout the first five rounds of the tournament, before world champion Carlsen managed to snatch the only victory that came in the round. Six o'clock last Friday, in a marathon match that lasted about eight hours.

The Norwegian Carlsen, at the end of the seventh round, strengthened his chances of adding his sixth consecutive world title, after the seventh round gave him an additional half a point, and consolidated his lead in the championship with (4) points, a point ahead of his Russian challenger Nepomniachi.

attack and defense

The Russian Ian Nepomniacchi tried to compensate for his loss in the last round, by following, since the kickoff of the seventh round, the “Spanish attack” method by pushing the “pawn” stone in front of the “queen”, and then moving the “horse” and “elephant” located to the right of the “queen” » Towards the front lines, which prompted the world champion Carlsen, for the first time in the tournament, to rely on the "Sicilian defense" method that is most prevalent in the world of chess, which is able to absorb the early pressure of the opponent, and is based on liberating the "pawn" from the "king", and pushing With the “horse” and “elephant” stones for the front lines, and then the “king” and “rook” or “castle” stones.

gradual filtering

The early detection of both players' cards and playing style gave them the necessary balance in terms of the correct spread on the board, and then the gradual elimination of the most effective stones.

Balance recovery

Russian Ian Nepomniacchi said that a draw after a marathon match is a positive thing.

He continued in a press statement, "I could not sleep well after the sixth marathon round, but my success in regaining balance is one of the most important gains in the seventh round, despite it ended in a draw."

He continued, "The ability to regain focus after a marathon round is one of the most important factors in helping in the game of chess, which prompted me more than once during the seventh round to move away from the table and monitor the position of the boards based on the large electronic screen, which gave me a better focus in restoring balance. And not to make any mistakes, and to get the game to a tie point.”

satisfactory result

In turn, the Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen said: "A scenario similar to the first meeting that brought me against Nepomniacci, and I was hoping to succeed in grabbing the victory in the same way that I achieved in the sixth round, but the exit with a tie result is very satisfactory."

Regarding the method that Nepomniacchi followed at the beginning of the seventh round, Carlsen said: “Having the advantage of moving the first stone, and playing in white, allowed him to impose the style of play that came expected, and as long as you cannot get the initiative, you have to rely on the arrangement of your defenses until The whole picture became clear, and in the end, we are still in the middle of the championship journey, and I am happy that I retained the lead in points, and we have to wait for the results of the remaining rounds.”