World Championship: Game 11 annotated by Rustam Kasimdzhanov

by Rustam Kasimdzhanov
12/11/2021 – “The second half of the match wasn’t the fight we all wanted to see, with most of the games being blundered away (b5,c5,g3 and others). Still, the World Champion barely made a mistake in 11 games, and never gave a chance once in control. Hopefully Nepo can recover from what must be an absolute nightmare of a match”, writes GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov in his analysis of the match’s eleventh and final game. | Photo: Austin Fuller

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Game 11: Nepomniachtchi 0 - 1 Carlsen

 
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1.e4 Nepo goes back to his main move. 1.c4 worked decently well for him a few days ago, at least in the early phase of the game... e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 No more Spanish Nf6! Actually, a better move order. Just trust me on this! 4.d3 4.Ng5 d5 currently works very well for Black 4...Bc5 5.c3 d6 6.0-0 a5 7.Re1 Ba7 A very interesting and an almost completely new set-up. One of the drawbacks of Italian from White's point of view is the variety of different solid lines for Black. 8.Na3 I suspect Nepo was on his own here, and Na3 looks natural enough h6 The solid way. 8...0-0 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bh4 g5 looks too risky for a World Championship match 11.Bg3 0-1 (28) Volokitin,A (2606) -Rakotomaharo,F (2391) Riga 2021 11.Nxg5!? as always, this looks messy hxg5 12.Bxg5 Kg7 13.Qf3 9.Nc2 Somewhat too standard. 9.Nb5!? looks a bit more lively to me Bb6 10.Be3 Bxe3 11.Rxe3 0-0 12.d4 Bg4 13.h3 Bh5 14.Qe1 and maybe White could claim a bit of something 9...0-0 10.Be3 Only this is really new. 10.a4 Ne7 11.d4 1-0 (39) Saric,I (2646) -Yankelevich,L (2461) Skalica 2020 Ng6! Black is perfectly fine here. The knight on c2 is remarkably badly placed to support e4, and White will feel this. 10...Bxe3 10...Ne7 11.Bxa7 Rxa7 12.d4 Ng6 looks very easy too 11.Nxe3 Re8 12.a4 Another instant move. 12.Qc2 Be6 13.b3!? looks like a chance to keep it more complex. 13.Bxe6 Rxe6 14.Rad1 d5= 13...d5 14.Bb5! 12...Be6 13.Bxe6 At this moment I really felt Nepo wanted nothing of this game. 13.Bb5 Bd7 14.Qb3 at least looks more like a fight. 13...Rxe6 14.Qb3 b6 14...Rb8 15.Qb5! is suddenly awkward. Magnus is always alert. 15.Rad1 Ne7 16.h3 Qd7 17.Nh2 Rd8 18.Nhg4 Nxg4 19.hxg4 d5! perfectly in time 20.d4 exd4! 20...dxe4 21.dxe5 Qe8 was playable too, but the game continuation is more direct and well-calculated. 21.exd5 21.Rxd4 Rxe4 22.Rxe4 dxe4 23.Rd1 Qc8 24.Rxd8+ Qxd8 25.Qc4 Qd7 26.Qxe4 Kf8= 21...Re4! 21...Nxd5 22.Rxd4+- 22.Qc2 Rf4! Only moves, but sufficient. Now facing a bunch of very drawn lines, Nepo makes one of the worst mistakes in a long history of World Championship matches. 23.g3?? 23.Rxd4 Rxd4 24.cxd4 Nxd5 25.Nxd5 Qxd5 26.Qxc7 Qxd4= 23.Nc4 Ng6 24.cxd4 Qxd5= 23...dxe3 Also, an absolutely only move. 24.gxf4 Qxg4+ 25.Kf1 Qh3+ 26.Kg1 Nf5?! There were several checkmating lines, for instance 26...exf2+! 27.Qxf2 Rd6 28.Qf1 Rg6+ 29.Kf2 Qh2+ 30.Ke3 Nf5+ 31.Kd3 Rg3+ 32.Kc4 Qxb2 etc 27.d6! Somehow White isn't immediately lost Nh4 28.fxe3 Qg3+ 29.Kf1 Nf3 30.Qf2 Qh3+ Magnus goes for a winning rook endgame. With his technique it's probably as good as delivering checkmate. 31.Qg2 31.Ke2 Nxe1 32.dxc7 Qg4+! 31...Qxg2+ 32.Kxg2 Nxe1+ 33.Rxe1 Rxd6 34.Kf3 Rd2 A pawn up and an active rook is plenty. The rest is agony. 35.Rb1 35.b4 axb4 36.cxb4 Ra2 37.Rc1 Rxa4 38.Rxc7 Rxb4-+ 35...g6 36.b4 axb4 37.Rxb4 37.cxb4 Ra2-+ 37...Ra2 38.Ke4 h5 39.Kd5 Rc2!? 39...h4 was winning, but Magnus carefully avoids any complications 40.Kc6 h3 41.Rb1 h2 42.Kxc7 f6 43.Kxb6 g5 40.Rb3 40.c4 h4 41.Kc6 h3 42.Kxc7 h2 43.Rb1 Rxc4+ Now White doesn't even get a passed pawn. 40...h4 41.Kc6 h3 42.Kxc7 h2 43.Rb1 Rxc3+ I would probably prefer 43...f6 44.Kxb6 g5 45.a5 g4 46.a6 Ra2 47.a7 g3 and pawns will queen. Nothing is wrong with the World Champion's choice either. 44.Kxb6 Rb3+ 45.Rxb3 h1Q 46.a5 Qe4! White doesn't get a single chance here 47.Ka7 47.a6 Qe6+! 47...Qe7+! 48.Ka8 Kg7 49.Rb6 49.a6 Qe6 50.Ra3 Qc8+ 51.Ka7 Qc5+-+ 49...Qc5 and Nepo resigned. The second half of the match wasn't the fight we all wanted to see, with most of the games being blundered away ( b5,c5,g3 and others). Still, the World Champion barely made a mistake in 11 games, and never gave a chance once in control. Hopefully Nepo can recover from what must be an absolute nightmare of a match. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nepomniachtchi,I-Carlsen,M-0–12021C542021 World Championship match

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born in 1979, the grandmaster from Uzbekistan has for many years been known as a very strong and imaginative player. However in 2004 Rustam Kasimdzhanov shocked the chess world by winning the FIDE world chess championship title, beating a string of world-class players like Ivanchuk, Grischuk, Topalov and Adams in the process. The Uzbekian grandmaster, who has helped Anand in both his World Championship matches, lives in Germany.

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