Dubai, November 28
Defending champion Magnus Carlsen and challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi played out a third consecutive draw in the World Chess Championship, and scores are tied at 1.5 points each going into the first rest day.
Nepomniachtchi, playing with white for the second time in the three matches, was behind Carlsen on time but no player could make a headway and they agreed to shake hands on a draw after 41 moves.
“As the match goes along with each draw you get a bit more tense,” Carlsen said. “But I would say so far, it’s three games. And personally, as I’ve been black in two of them, I’m fairly satisfied. There’s a lot of time to create something, although obviously it’s not ever going to be easy against a very strong opponent.”
Nepomniachtchi said he’s not frustrated at not being able to make a headway in the two games in which he had white pieces.
“I guess it was a clean game and a very logical one,” the Russian said. “Even in the endgame, if I would be given a couple of tempi I could have posed some problems in this bishops endgame. But especially once black’s king enters c5, there was never anything for white. This is the current status of the chess theory. It’s hard to find some advantage.”
The World Championship will consist of 14 games, and the player who reaches 7.5 points first will be declared the champion. — Agencies
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