Magnus Carlsen draws with Ian Nepomniachtchi in Game 7 of World Chess Championship – as it happened

That’s all for today. Thanks for following along with us and be sure to check out today’s game report here.

“Today was surely not missing chances for any of us,” Nepomniachtchi says. “It was a very, very balanced game and I believe it was just boring.”

The challenger is asked about his habit of walking away from the board toward his antechamber during the games at an unusually high frequency relative to other players. What is he doing back there?

According to Nepomniachtchi, it’s a pandemic habit.

“Sitting on the sofa basically and watching the screen,” he says. “It reminds me of playing during the [Covid-19 pandemic]. It’s very similar: you’re sitting in front of your screen and you try to think. So maybe it’s even more familiar right now than playing regularly over the board.”

Carlsen says today’s game evoked memories of his 2013 title match against Vishy Anand. “Obviously I remembered my first match against Vishy when I broke through and won the fifth game and then I managed to sort of gradually equalize with black in the sixth and eventually win,” he says. I was slightly hoping that we could follow a similar scenario but a draw is obviously a very nice result.”

Did Nepomniachtchi’s opening choice surprise him? “No, it was the usual. Obviously white is slightly better but as long as you can not see a clear way to increase the advantage it’s usually going to go that way.”

Asked to assess the state of the match, Carlsen says: “Obviously with yesterday’s result it’s going pretty well. But it’s a long way to go, half the match still. But I’ve made my breakthrough so the state is good.”

Asked whether yesterday’s (er, today’s) taxing Game 6 affected his opening choice for today, Nepomniachtchi keeps it short: “Absolutely not.” Then he adds: “Also by the way it was quite a new experience to play two games in the same day.”

He goes on to make a sidelong complaint about the 16.30 local start time, chosen for convenience of other time zones.

When asked to assess the state of the match at the midpoint, Nepomniachtchi says: “It’s not going too well because in general I’ve had some quite promising positions. And yesterday was some kind of a collapse which prevented me from grabbing the b4 pawn twice in a row. Yesterday’s game was kind of poor from both sides, I believe, especially during the time trouble. Otherwise I think it’s pretty much sensible and it’s very much fighting.”

“It was fine,” says Carlsen when asked if he’s satisfied with today’s result. “It was kind of the usual that he was a little bit better and I had to gradually equalize. I think I did that OK. Probably his only chance there at the end was to play Rac1 instead of Rec1 and then trade e4 for c7. I thought he was was a little bit better. But very, very little and unrealistic that he can play for a win I thought. Gradually I’d equalize there as well.”

Carlsen admits his energy was low today after Friday’s epic eight-hour win: “I couldn’t really sleep yesterday. I was way too excited. But all the way today I was thinking, ‘I’m tired but it’s probably a lot worse for him.’”

Asked if he expected Nepomniachtchi to play a sharper game next time he plays with white, Carlsen says: “I kind of expected him to play a bit carefully again today seeing as you don’t want tilt after a game like yesterday. I don’t know if it’s going to change very soon but at some point obviously it has to.”

And after Nepomniachtchi plays 41. Ra7, the players shake hands. It’s a draw after 41 moves and 2hr 30min. Perhaps a wasteful opportunity for the Russian challenger: he’s still down a point in the match and Carlsen has more games with the white pieces. But who can blame him after having to come back so soon after yesterday’s eight-hour crucible?

Carlsen leads 4-3 in the best-of-14-games match with seven contests remaining.

The rooks have come off, the queens have come off. We should be finished here momentarily: 33. g3 h5 34. Kg2 Kg7 35. Ra5 Kf6 36. Rb5 Kg7 37. Ra5 Kf6 38. Rb5 Kg7 39. Ra5 Kf6 40. Ra6+ Kg7 ...

This one is fizzling out fast. The moves are flying on the board now: 25. Nxe5 Rxe5 26. Rxe5 Qxe5 27. Qc3 Qxc3 28. bxc3 Rc8 29. Ra5 Rxc3 30. Rxb5 Rc1+ 31. Kh2 Rc3 32. h4 g6 ...

The simplification continues with 23. ... Bxc5 24. Rxc5 Nxe5. More to come shortly with a draw looking ever more likely.

Nepomniachtchi looks off to the side and shakes his head after 21. e5 Qf5 22. dxc5 dxc5 23. Bxc5. It looks like we’re headed for a draw today.

Nepomniachtchi plays 20. Rec1 after nearly 18 minutes. Carlsen takes 97 seconds before responding with 20. ... c5. According to the Norwegian supercomputer Sesse, the position is dead even. “Today’s game is as though the previous game didn’t happen,” Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri says on Chess24’s broadcast. “Neither side adjusted their strategy at all, which makes a lot of sense because they didn’t have time to adjust. They finished very late and there was no rest day.”

View image in fullscreen

Carlsen plays the committal 17. ... exd4 after nearly nine minutes, giving up his stronghold in the center. Nepomniachtchi considers his options for seven minutes before recapturing with his c-pawn (18. cxd4). Carlsen then quickly initiates the bishop exchange before pushing his knight to the side (18. ... Bxb3 19. Qxb3 Ng6).

Nepomniachtchi plays 17. d4 and Carlsen has gone into the think tank. He’s spent more than seven minutes pondering his response and has gone more than 20 minutes behind his opponent on time.

“I think the opening has gone well for Ian,” says American grandmaster Fabiano Caruana on Chess.com’s broadcast. “It’s not a very large advantage but it is pressure and he’s up on the clock. This is a bit of an opening success. But we saw it last time he was white that he got an advantage but he wasn’t able to pursue it in the most accurate way.

“So this is only the start of it. Although he might have won the opening battle in some small way, he still needs to outplay Magnus from this position. Which is really difficult because this is magnus’s territory. Ruy Lopez positions, he’s been playing at the top level, and at the world championship level, for over a decade.”

Nepomniachtchi inspects the position for nearly 10 minutes before playing 16. Be3. Carlsen responds with 16. ... Be6 after exactly six minutes.

Carlsen has taken more than 20 minutes pondering his response to 15. c3. “I’m not sure if I would say if this is an opening success for Ian,” commentator Jon Kristian Haarr says on Chess24’s broadcast. “It seems to me that Magnus has equalized. But then again, it depends again on what Ian wants to get out of this game. He has a very solid position and is by no meams this game over or a draw or anything.”

Ultimately, Carlsen retreats his knight with 15. ... Ne7. Early days, but he’s fallen 20 minutes behind Nepomniachtchi on time.

We’re under way after a technical snafu! After the players blitz out their opening moves into an anti-Marshall variation of the closed Ruy Lopez (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3), the players continue with 7. ... O-O 8. a4 Rb8 9. axb5 axb5 10. h3 d6 11. d3 h6 12. Nc3.

Carlsen, playing as black today, has his first lengthy think of the day, taking nearly 13 minutes before deciding on 12. ... Re8, before 13. Nd5 Bf8 14. Nxf6+ Qxf6 15. c3 leave us in the current position.

View image in fullscreen

Here’s the live action from Game 7

Here’s Bryan’s report from Friday’s unforgettable sixth game in Dubai.