World Championship 2021: Carlsen – Nepomniachtchi
Five straight draws gave way to the longest game in World Championship history — 136 moves, nearly eight hours — which Carlsen won. The marathon broke Ian Nepomniachtchi, whose game unravelled into a string of blunders as Carlsen ran away with the match.
◈Game six: the marathon
The first five games were tense but drawn. Then came game six — 136 moves and 7 hours 45 minutes of queen-versus-two-minor-pieces manoeuvring, the longest game ever played for the title. Carlsen finally broke through in the small hours to take the lead.
The psychological damage proved greater than the single point. Nepomniachtchi, so composed to that point, was never the same.
◈The collapse
Rattled, the challenger began to err badly. He blundered a pawn in game eight, lost game nine to a one-move oversight, and dropped game eleven as well — three losses in four games. What had been a taut contest became a rout.
Carlsen closed the match 7½–3½ after eleven of the fourteen games, a dominant fourth defence. It would be his last: soon afterward he announced he would not defend the title again, opening the door to a new champion in 2023.
◈Cross Table
1 win · ½ draw · 0 loss — click a game number to replay it.