Nepo,Carlsen G2 Repeat Story Nepo draws with Black

Again we have another very interesting draw with Nepo as black and Magnus as white. Yesterday neither of the players were very excited about the outcome. So today everybody was hoping that we would have a win or a loss today. Spectators were again disappointed with the outcome of another draw. Again 1.d4 was played today as Magnus played in 2018 against Fabiona Caruana. 

The Game:

Annotations by Sam Shankland

Explaining:

They started out with 1.d4 a move Carlsen had played against Caruana in 2018. Quickly they moved on to a Catalan which Carlsen has played recently. On move 11 Nepo started to visibly struggle. Than Nepo thwarted a knight trap and they continued. By move 19 Carlsen had offered two pawn sacrifices the engine did not particularly like them while GM Hou Yifan did. After a few minor pieces trading off and with both players with less than an hour on their clocks the position looked promising for the Russian challenger. By move 27 the position looked very drawing. By move 31 the position was equal. Neither player had good chances to win, but Fabiona Caruana said that black had said slight danger and Ian would have to be careful. Than at move 34 there was a shocker. Kh3 .

With four minutes left for Carlsen and 8 for Nepo there was a lot of tension over the board. A few moves later they both received there extra time with a sigh of relief. Both players left the playing hall for a few moments to collect their thoughts. After they returned there was a queen trade followed by a few moves later both of them agreeing to a draw. Caruana mentioned that this was good for white and that Nepo had missed some winning chances.

Quotes:

At the press conference when they were asked how to stop their thoughts from racing Nepo replied  "Nothing. You can go for a walk and listen to some music, but your thoughts are always with the game." while Carlsen said that you should "Prepare on for the next game." On Twitter Gary Kasparov said this about the game "I’m not sure I understand the players’ sudden dislike of material in this game, but I do have an old personal bias for powerfully located knights in world championship games… #carlsennepo" When Mike Klein asked Nepo about his royal treatment in Dubai he replied "more about the chess than about anything else," but that "I should probably be enjoying it in some way."Towards the end they relaxed and Carlsen even cracked a joke. He was asked about which players commentary he would like to listen to if he was not playing. He replied  "I honestly don't care," laughing along with the audience.

And with that bye and have a good day.

                                                     @Verne9

P.S. Will not be making one of these on Sunday.