Magnus Carlsen crowned world champion for fifth consecutive time
Norway’s Magnus Carlsen became the world chess champion for the fifth time. Carlsen, 31, defended his title. He is the world champion continuously since 2013. He defeated Russian Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi in the World Chess Championship 2021 held in Dubai. Ian’s loss in the last game is being called the worst collapse in the championship’s 135-year history.
In the championship of 14 games, Carlsen became the champion in the 11th game itself. Carlsen scored 7.5 while Nepomniachtchi scored 3.5 points. This was the biggest margin of victory in the championship in 100 years. There was a similar difference between Jose Raul Capablanca and Emanuel Lasker in Havana in 1921.
One point for a win and half a point for a draw
Carlsen won 4 out of 11 games while Ian did not win a single. Seven games ended in a draw. In the final game the two players were tied, but the Russian hastily decided to advance the pawn in front of the king. He then had to pursue his queen to avoid checkmate. After Carlsen eventually promoted one of his pawns to queen, his opponent had to give up.
The turning point of this World Championship was Game 6, in which 136 moves were made. Carlsen won the match, which lasted 7 hours 45 minutes. It was the longest match in the history of the championship. On becoming the world champion, Carlson got around Rs 9.08 crore while Ian got around Rs 6.05 crore. Carlsen compared the victory to the one he won in 2013, when he defeated India’s Viswanathan Anand to win the world title for the first time.
