“I guess it was a fine game by Magnus,” said Jan Nepomnyashchi. The World Cup challenger had imagined his first white game on Friday in Dubai differently. With the advantage of the first move, he wanted to try to win or at least make defending champion Magnus Carlsen work up a sweat. Instead, the Russian was on the defensive for almost the entire first game of the World Chess Championship. On the other hand, he had a farmer more than the world champion for a while, but he didn’t feel an advantage. When the opportunity arose, he forced a draw.
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As expected, Nepomnyashchi opened the game with the king’s pawn. Unlike in the last title fight in 2018, when Carlsen only replied Sicilian against Fabio Caruana (1 … c7-c5), he put his own king pawn against it. There was a classic Spanish and on the eighth move the first surprise. Even world number six Anish Giri admitted that he had never seen the pawn sacrifice made by Carlsen before. In the TCEC, the league of the most powerful computer programs in the world, this gambit became a reality already played a few dozen times.
The fact that the world champion chooses a variant that has matured in games between computers is a novelty at a World Cup. Computers have been superior to the strongest players in a direct comparison of chess for more than twenty years. Through the use of neural networks, the programs have become even stronger in recent years and analytical work with them has become more interesting.
According to chess24 commentator Judit Polgár, Carlsen had “full compensation” for the sacrificed pawn with the pair of bishops and the more active position of the pieces, even if these trump cards were less important after an early queen swap. Not all of the world champion’s moves were convincing, and a knight retreat was criticized by some commentators. Others were impressed by the way he forced his opponent into a position that apparently suited him better.
Carlsen kept the freer game and traded a bishop to destroy Nepomnyashchi’s pawn position. He gave back his extra pawns so that he could better position his king and knight. When the opportunity arose after four hours of play, the Russian forced a technical draw by repeating the move.
Nepomnyashchi’s knight oscillated between c4 and e5 and kept the black rook under fire, which must remain on the sixth row in order not to lose the a-pawn: that is, a draw. Carlsen admitted “some nervous moments” in his game but was pleased with the half point scored with Black. “Jan played solidly in the Candidates Tournament and that’s a continuation of that.”
On Saturday (1.30 p.m.) the competition with Carlsen will continue behind the white stones. The color was drawn at the opening ceremony in the Dubai Opera House on Wednesday evening. Instead of the last twelve games, this time 14 games are scheduled, and the suspended color change in the middle of the competition has been canceled. Unlike in previous World Cup matches, Nepomnyashchi, as the one who starts with white, does not have to play him twice in succession with black in the middle of the competition.
According to the WADA ruling on state-organized doping, no national colors, symbols or the anthem may refer to Russia at a world championship until December 2022. Nepomnyashchi therefore plays under the logo of the Russian Chess Federation. A few hours before the first game it was noticed that Russia is mentioned in the “Chess Federation of Russia”. The lettering prepared on the gaming table has been removed. Now there is only the abbreviation FCR.
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