Round 10 of the FIDE World Championship was performed at this time between the reigning champion, GM Magnus Carlsen and his challenger, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi.

Lichess is offering a broadcast of the strikes being performed in real-time. Additionally, GM Nijat Abasov is offering sport annotations and insights on the video games every day. Round ten’s sport annotations may be discovered beneath.

(title picture – FIDE / Niki Riga)

Carlsen had the white items at this time in sport 10, and plenty of thought of it doubtless he would open with 1. e4 somewhat than 1. d4. The symbolic first transfer was performed to e4, and Carlsen let it stand. There had been a mixture of opinions as to what Nepomniachtchi could play – three video games down, with 4 left, the time for drastic measures appeared to be ripe. Some recommended he could attempt a Sicilian, (1… c5) which may permit for extra sharp or imbalanced positions, others thought he could choose to play it protected and concentrate on taking part in effectively and taking any probabilities as they appeared.

https://lichess.org/research/embed/RoBvWqfx/y72QkvTF#0

The latter camp appeared to be right, with Nepomniatchi providing 1… e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 – the Petrov Defence, which has been performed a number of instances within the match to this point. With a status for being drawish, Carlsen had nonetheless transformed a Petrov in sport 8 following a slip from Nepomniachtchi. However, while Carlsen had the choice to play extra sharply and complicate issues on this sport, he selected to maintain issues easy. As he later touched on within the press convention, being three video games up means he doesn’t must take unnecessary dangers – while the sport was in progress, simply one other 1.5 / 5 can be sufficient for Carlsen to have defended his title for a 4th time.

Nepomniachtchi additionally appeared content material to maintain issues easy, and commerce off items equally. With little signal of find out how to inject additional complication into the place, the sport regarded fully drawn. Some questioned whether or not Nepomniachtchi ought to have gone for extra fiery issues – though others highlighted {that a} draw at this time permits him relaxation, restoration, and higher probabilities with the white items on Saturday. In any occasion, the sport ultimately devolved into a very symmetrical and equal pawn construction, with a king and knight every. The gamers agreed to a quiet draw simply after transfer 40, with neither participant actually having the benefit over the opposite at any level within the sport. Carlsen now solely wants 1 extra level out of 4 encounters to defend his title.

The subsequent sport will probably be performed after a relaxation day, on Friday tenth December 12:30 UTC. For extra particulars on the event, you possibly can evaluation our first spherical recap which has extra info.

(GM Nijat Abasov achieved the GM title at simply 15. He was Azeri nationwide champion in 2017, additionally profitable the Baku Open the identical yr. He has performed the Tata Steel Challengers and the Grand Swiss (twice), amongst many different tournaments, reaching his all-time peak score of 2670 in February 2020. He just lately represented Azerbaijan on the European Team Championships, profitable a board prize with a efficiency score of 2760).