Nepo - it's just embarrassing for the game now.

One should get 76% of points against a  player 200 points lower.  I.e, in a 10 game match, the better (by 200) player should score 7.5 points (on average).

Yeah, I know how that stuff works.

I would imagine that even 2700+ rated players are not immune from wishful/magical thinking, and I think Nepo might have just fallen into that when he played that g3 move.  It's really easy to fall into a thinking trap such as "Well, I'm gonna grab his rook, anyway, and he only has a queen to attack me with. His knight is like, half a board away, and even his rook is going to take a bit of time to get to my king, and I'm just gonna slide in the opposite direction via e2 etc etc etc". But then, the next several moves were played, and it becomes way too obvious that Black is much quicker in his attack than the hopeful outcome that this comfort blanket of a thinking pattern presented.

And also, the game itself showed that Ke2 wasn't feasible and that Black's rook on d8 was extremely dangerous, equally capable of finishing off White's king either on kingside or on the d-file. Running away with a king, which is very possible in so many other setups was proven not to be an option here, and I don't think Nepo wanted to see that when he captured that black rook on f4.

And it's really Carlsen's 25...Qh3+ move that forces Nepo's king back from f1 to g1, and it becomes obvious that White is in for quite a ride here. It's kind of amazing that Nepo survived into the rook endgame with only one pawn down. That's an accomplishment in my book after being in a situation like he was in.

Yes, but ... near-2800s don't think like that at the board.

What you're describing is more usual for, perhaps, U1800 players.

Nepo is a Super Grandmaster. Even more than a SuperGM - he's one of the strongest players in existence.

At his rating, there are only 4 humans on planet earth who can claim to be stronger than him.

Yes, we're all fallible; we all make mistakes ... but Ian's g3 move was ... confusing, to say the least.

Looking at his body language, after he made the move, (the way he stared, eagerly, at Carlsen's face after playing it), I believe that he played the move as an offer of resignation.

But I'm only speculating, like the rest of us. I suppose only Ian (and whomever he may confide in) will know the full truth of what was going through his mind, when he played it ...

And you may as well be right about Nepo, but if that was/is his mentality, I sure don't understand it at all. And I am not taking about ratings or chess strength or anything like that, but about the simple fact that if I were 3 points down in a world championship contest of any kind and I were still on a losing streak, I'd sure as heck do my best to play the thing to the bitterest end and would work as hard as possible to soften the blow and get as many points in that contest as I possibly could. I'd take the draw over losing, because I'd sure want to last to game 12 or even 13 or 14. But apparently, he's a different person and probably doesn't care whether he loses 3.5 to 7.5 or 4.5 to 7.5. But many people would fight to get to 4.5 to 7.5 is all what I'm really saying, especially if this is a contest that I might never participate in again.

Nepo might be the 5th best player on Earth, but in this match, he's ignored one of chess' basic tenants, which is that, if you're forcing wins in positions where wins are nowhere to be found, you might easily end up losing the game(s). History is full of strong chess players who lost tons of games when they were pushing for wins in situations where it was just against the spirit of the position they were in. And there was no way that White could play for a win in that game. No way. The position before g3 doesn't yield itself to it one bit.

Yes, I agree with you. Good point. I would likely want to fight on, too.

But I also agree with those who've pointed out that this is a tremendous stage to compete on. I have no concept of how it would feel to be up there, playing on that board.

All the cameras pointed at you. All the viewers around the globe. The massive psychological weight that you feel with every move, as you square off against the strongest player in history...

How do you keep your hand from shaking, as you nudge your attacked piece to a new, uncertain square ...?

If Nepo really did blunder from the pressure, or bail out intentionally, I don't blame him for it, either way.

I don't blame him as a human being, but as a challenger I'm not so sure about him.

These are all good points, but I think the big stress of playing at such a stage probably looks much more daunting to us who are not chess professionals than it does to them.

Both of those guys are a different breed. They were both chess prodigies, and have entered tournament play at a super young age. Being exposed to competition at much younger age actually helps a ton, and it's in some ways easier than going at it for the first time when you're 15-16 or so. Also, if you check the wiki page for Carlsen, it mentions that he faced Ian in the U12 World Championship all the way back in 2002, and Ian won on tiebreak, winning the championship. Basically, they were both almost 12 year olds at that point and had already been competing for quite some time.

So, yes, I don't negate the pressure Ian must have felt on that scene with millions watching. But, keep in mind he's probably more than a bit desensitized to all that added pressure by virtue of being a chess professional who has played thousands of tournament games from a very early age.  If I had a kid and that kid wanted to be good at chess, I'd encourage competition from the age 4-5 or so, simply because he/she would get used to the idea of competing at such a young age that it would become second nature to him/her.

wiki about Carlsen:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Carlsen

The following month, he tied for first place in the 2002 World Under-12 Championship in Heraklion, placing second to Ian Nepomniachtchi on tiebreak.

But then, check this out:

After this, he obtained three IM norms in relatively quick succession; his first was at the January 2003 Gausdal Troll Masters (score 7/10, 2453 PR), the second was at the June 2003 Salongernas IM-tournament in Stockholm (6/9, 2470 PR), and the third and final IM norm was obtained at the July 2003 Politiken Cup in Copenhagen (8/11, 2503 PR). He was officially awarded the IM title on 20 August 2003.[23]

Wouldn't it be conceivable to think that young Carlsen got so pissed after losing the U12 championship to Ian that it made him study his rear off, because he probably got so mad that he said to himself "I will never let Ian beat me in a match like this. Ever!"?

You could speculate, but would probably not be that far off to say that this loss probably accelerated Magnus' winning of the IM title. Anger can be a powerfully motivating force.

That's fair.

It's funny how different the conversation became after Game 6. Before that, so many viewers were groaning about the seemingly endless draws ... and debating about ways to change the format, to avoid such evenly matched players ...

Hah! Interesting theory. I like it.

if true, wuddya think he did w/them?

Fry them up? They're full of nutrients aren't they?

Imagine being 1500 and talking trash about a World Championship Challenger.

>Imagine being 1500 and talking trash about a World Championship Challenger.<

Ha ha, you're a little late to the weenie roast, pal.  This thread is played out. See you in the funny papers.