12/7/2021 – The World Championship match in Dubai might theoretically finish after 11 (out of 14) games, as Magnus Carlsen scored a third victory in four games after Ian Nepomniachtchi inexplicably blundered a piece in an equal position on Tuesday. The challenger now needs to win 3 out of the 5 remaining encounters to take the match to tiebreaks. | Photo: Niki Riga

12/5/2021 – Magnus Carlsen now has a two-point lead at the World Championship match in Dubai, after beating Ian Nepomniachtchi’s Petroff Defence in Sunday’s game 8. Nepo made a couple of inexplicable moves in positions that seemed to be all but forcefully heading to an inevitable draw. Find here the crucial encounter analysed by elite grandmaster and theoretical expert Anish Giri. | Photo: Eric Rosen

12/4/2021 – After a gruelling fight on Friday, Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi played a rather uneventful game at the World Championship match in Dubai. The 41-move draw they signed marks the halfway point of the event, as Nepo now has seven games tu surmount the one-point deficit on the scoreboard. Saturday’s encounter was analysed by Dutch star Anish Giri. | Photo: Niki Riga

12/4/2021 – Magnus Carlsen is leading the World Championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi after scoring a memorable win. In our fourth and final instalment of Carlsen’s previous matches, we look at his 2018 confrontation against Fabiano Caruana. For the first time in a match for the crown, all the classical games finished drawn. The defending champion won the rapid tiebreaks categorically though, and thus kept his title. | Photo: Niki Riga

12/3/2021 – In what will surely be remembered as a highlight of World Chess Championship history, Magnus Carlsen defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi in a 136-move marathon which included missed chances, deep time trouble and a number of subtle manoeuvres worthy of a combat for the highest prize in the world of competitive chess. Find here the fantastic encounter annotated by super-GM and elite analyst Anish Giri. | Photo: Eric Rosen

12/3/2021 – Game number 6 of the World Championship in Dubai, left Carlsen with two rooks against Nepomniachtchi's Queen. Such material imbalances occur frequently. But do you know how much better two rooks are against a queen? What about a rook against two minor pieces in the middle game? Or even three minor pieces vs. a queen? The Canadian WIM shows us plenty of examples by master players like Fischer, Kasparov, Polgar, Capablanca, Alekhine, and more, on what to look out for in her first Fritztrainer.

12/1/2021 – For the first time at the World Championship match in Dubai, Ian Nepomniachtchi clearly won the opening battle against Magnus Carlsen. The Russian missed a couple of chances to put his opponent under more pressure, which led to a fifth draw in the 14-game duel. The contenders will get a second rest day on Thursday. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

12/1/2021 – On first sight, game 4 of the World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi does not seem to be particularly spectacular. Nepomniachtchi went for the Petroff and appeared to be well prepared for Carlsen's novelty 18.Nh4 and after 33 moves the game ended with a repetition and a draw. But as English Grandmaster Luke McShane points out in his analysis, the game contained a lot of hidden tactical possibilities.

11/30/2021 – The match for the World Championship in Dubai is still tied, as Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi signed a fourth consecutive draw on Tuesday. The defending champion went for his first 1.e4 with the white pieces, to which Nepo responded by setting up a Petroff Defence. Carlsen spent quite a while investigating options that might create trouble for his opponent, but ended up going for a triple repetition on move 30. | Photo: Niki Riga

11/29/2021 – Game 3 of the World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi was full of opening subtleties and refined maneuvering that, however, eventually led to the third draw of the match. David Navara took a closer look at the game and its hidden subtleties.

11/28/2021 – The battle of theoretical preparations continues at the World Championship match, with Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi signing a third consecutive draw on Sunday before the first rest day in Dubai. Once again, the defending champion deviated from mainstream theory only to see his opponent well prepared and ready to discuss the ensuing sidelines. | Photo: Eric Rosen

11/27/2021 – A second consecutive tense draw was seen on Saturday at the World Championship match in Dubai. Once again, Magnus Carlsen deviated from mainstream theory early in the game, pushing his opponent to solve difficult problems over the board from the get go. Ian Nepomniachtchi showed great nerves to keep things under control, and even got some winning chances in a complex middlegame. The tension continues to rise in Dubai! | Photo: Eric Rosen / FIDE

11/26/2021 – The much-anticipated confrontation between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi kicked off at 16:30 local time in Dubai. The first game of the World Championship match finished in a draw. Playing black, Carlsen was the first one to deviate from well-known theoretical lines, but Nepomniachtchi proved to be prepared to face the variation chosen by the defending champion. A tense endgame developed, with both contenders missing small chances here and there. The draw was signed after 45 moves. | Photo: Eric Rosen

11/26/2021 – The World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi promises exciting games. After all, the World Champion and his Challenger have very different styles. French GM Romain Edouard took a close look at the strengths and weaknesses of both players to find out who has the better chances to win the match - and why. | Image: FIDE

11/26/2021 – In a smart move, the Spanish decided to hold a worldwide school chess tournament at the Expo 2020. The best teams, including a bunch of remarkably strong kids from India, are now competing in the finals at the Spanish pavilion. On Wednesday, they were visited by Magnus Carlsen and Judit Polgar. | Images: Patricia Claros

11/25/2021 – IM Jonathan Tisdall has been covering World Chess Championship matches for decades. His book "Moscow Marathon" from 1985 (co-authored with Jon Speelman) is a witty and insightful report about the 1984/1985 match between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, and Tisdall's textbook "Improve Your Chess Now" from 1997 is considered a modern classic. In Dubai, Tisdall covers the match between Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi as FIDE press officer and writing about the press conference on Wednesday, Tisdall revealed "the best advice for aspiring champions". | Photo: Eric Rosen

11/25/2021 – With the World Championship match in Dubai scheduled to kick off on Friday, we get ready for the showdown between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi by recapping the four previous matches, which were all won by Carlsen (two of them in rapid playoffs). In the third instalment, we recapitulate what went on at the Fulton Market building in Lower Manhattan, where Carlsen came back from behind in the classical games before beating Sergey Karjakin in the rapid tiebreakers. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

11/25/2021 – Who will win the World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi in Dubai? In video interviews a number of top players, including Garry Kasparov and Vishy Anand, have commented on the possible outcome of the match in video interviews. Before the match, Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi also revealed what they think about the other and the match. | Image: FIDE

11/25/2021 – Wednesday afternoon the World Chess Championship between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi in Dubai began with a press conference. In the evening, the opening ceremony followed and the colours were drawn. In the first game, that starts Friday, 26 November, 16:30 local time (13:30 CET, 7:30 ET, 12:30 UTC) challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi has White. | Photos: FIDE

11/24/2021 – With the World Championship match in Dubai scheduled to kick off on Friday, we get ready for the showdown between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi by recapping the four previous matches, which were all won by Carlsen. In the second instalment, we go over the second match between Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand. Few had predicted it, but the Tiger from Madras gained the right to have a rematch. It was a tense-packed confrontation, with a case of mutual blindness playing a big role in the result. | Photos: Anastasiya Karlovich

11/23/2021 – On Friday, 26 November 2021, at 16:30 local time (13:30 CET, 7:30 ET, 12:30 UTC), the first game of the World Championship match between defending champion Magnus Carlsen and challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi will begin in Dubai. But who will win the match - World Champion Carlsen, since July 2011 the world's number one and with a current Elo rating of 2855 the nominal favourite, or challenger Nepomniachtchi, who currently has an Elo rating of 2782 and is the world's number five, but may not yet have realised his full potential? What do you think? | Photo: Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi at the Norway Chess Tournament 2021 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

11/18/2021 – With the World Championship match in Dubai scheduled to kick off a bit over a week from now, we get ready for the showdown between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi by recapping the four previous matches, which were all won by Carlsen. In the first instalment, we recount what went on in Chennai in 2013, where a 22-year-old Carlsen got a commanding victory over local hero Vishy Anand. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

11/11/2021 – The Royal Hideaway Sancti Petri is a 5-star hotel located in Cadiz, Spain. Recently, world champion Magnus Carlsen visited the resort and was presented as ambassador of “The Maître’s Gambit”, a recurring activity in which Guillermo Garcia, a former Spanish Junior chess champion, plays simultaneous exhibitions against guests of the hotel. In an interview, Carlsen talked about grandmaster preparation, his early years as a chess player and “The Queen’s Gambit”

11/8/2021 – Magnus Carlsen is currently preparing intensively for his World Championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi that starts on 24 November. But the World Champion still seems to have time for other important things. Wednesday, 3 November, he was spotted at a soccer match: the BVB Dortmund played against Ajax Amsterdam in the Champions League. | Photo: Magnus Carlsen