Magnus Carlsen defeats Ian Nepomniachtchi in Game 8 of World Chess Championship – as it happened

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

“Very happy with the result,” Carlsen says. “Obviously that’s ... what can I say? It’s huge. I’m pretty tired and looking forward to the rest day.”

I don’t think it’s very easy for black to force a draw. And as long as you cannot force the draw then it’s always to be a little bit of pressure that you have to neutralize. Then of course, b5 ... I thought that was a blunder. Both of us are really tired at that point but it always helps to have the initiative.”

“After (21. ... b5), probably I didn’t defend in the best way,” Nepomniachtchi says. “It becomes truly unpleasant and frankly speaking it’s hard to defend after such a blunder.”

He adds: “I wasn’t quite happy, yeah? But in general the test remains the same. I’ve got to win some games. I was already down on the score. Instead of one win, I need two wins. Let’s see what will happen.

“I think he played maybe a bit inaccurately in the opening,” Carlsen says immediately after stepping out of the playing studio. “I think (8. ... Bd6) is probably not a great move. But then he surprised me with (9. ... h5!) and I couldnt figure it out. I think I was kind of hoping that he would not follow h5 with Qe1, exchanging the queens. But I think Qe7 was just fine for him. I spent like 40 minutes thinking and at that point I was thinking, ‘I’m tired. Let’s see if I can get a very slight advantage, otherwise I’ll just make a draw.”

He continues: “And then when he went for (10. ... Kf8), that was really surprising because I thought I still have a slight advantage with the queens on the board. It felt like he never really equalized. Obviously it went a lot quicker than it should have, but it felt like after that there was always going to be some chances.”

Carlsen is asked about the two decisive results in the past three days following the record streak of 19 consecutive draws in classical world championship games, including Carlsen’s final two games with Sergey Karjakin in 2016 and all 12 against Fabiano Caruana in 2018.

“It was pretty cagey at the start (of the match),” he says. “Obviously a win changes the dynamic of the match. I don’t think I would have won this game if I hadn’t won the first one.”

Carlsen waits five minutes before playing 44. d5. Black goes three pawns down after 44. ... g4 45. hxg4 h3 46. Qf3. And it’s over! Nepomniachtchi resigns after 46 moves. And Carlsen is on the brink of retaining his world championship after winning for the second time in three days in the eighth game of their showdown in Dubai, opening a commanding 5-3 advantage in the best-of-14 match with six contests remaining.

White mates in 14 moves after 42. Qd1 Qe3+ 43. Kh1 g5, according to Sesse. Nepomniachtchi is not throwing in the towel, but he may not have a choice soon.

The players have reached the time control after 39. Qc3 Qf4+ 40. Kg1 Kh7. Carlsen plays 41. Qd3+ and Nepomniachtchi answers with 41. ... g6.

A few more moves (36. Qe5 Qb2 37. Qe4+ Kg8 38. Qd3 Qf2). But it’s getting late early for Nepomniachtchi, whose body language is one of resignation as he prays for a Carlsen blunder.

... Nepomniachtchi plays 33. ... Qxa2. And Carlsen grabs black’s last remaining queenside pawn after 34. Qe8+ Kh7 35. Qxb5. Nepomniachtchi plays 35. ... Qf2 and he’s just about out of options.

Carlsen plays 33. b3 after four and a half minutes. Nepomniachtchi returns to his chair from his antechamber. He smiles at the board but there’s no happiness on his side. A deep exhale from the Russian and he looks like he’s about to call it a day ...

A resignation appears imminent after 32. Qe4+ Kg8. Carlsen on the brink of taking a commanding lead in this world championship match. A disgusted Nepomniachtchi steps away from the board.

Carlsen plays 28. Qc5, attacking pawns while covering multiple checking squares. Nepomniachtchi answers with 28. ... Qa5 and Carlsen quickly captures a pawn with 29. Qxc6. Black follows with 29. ... Qe1+ and the next moves fly over the board (30. Kh2 Qxf2 31. Qxe6+ Kh7). The only remaining hope for the challenger appears to be perpetual check.

The bishops and rooks come off (26. Bxe6 Rxe6 27. Rxe6 fxe6). Desperate times for Nepomniachtchi, who’s swapping off pieces with no path to improvement. A pure queen endgame looms as the players look at this position.

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Carlsen takes nearly 10 minutes before playing 25. Re4. That leaves the champion with 21 minutes to make his next 15 moves. Getting Carlsen into time trouble if he’s forced to play precisely could be Nepomniachtchi’s only hope at this point ... it’s too bad Carlsen is also the world’s top blitz player.

Nepomniachtchi thinks for nine minutes before playing 23. ... Qd8. He’s brought his most powerful piece into a fully defensive position and the evaluation tilts even further in Carlsen’s favor. Absolutely ruthless from the champion, who turns the screw with 24. Bb3. The challenger’s struggles only continue with 24. ... Rd6.

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Carlsen improves his position with 22. ... Kg8 23. Qxa7. According to Sesse, Carlsen’s advantage is overwhelming. “All roads lead to disaster for black,” three-time British champion David Howell says on Chess24’s broadcast. “We can’t find anything even remotely close to a defense for black right now.”

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And Carlsen has found 22. Qa3+, which is best. The champion is more than 20 minutes behind on time, but enjoys a far superior position that will almost surely cost black a pawn. Nepomniachtchi finds himself in full-blown survival move, in danger of falling behind a practically insurmountable two points in this best-of-14-games world championship match.

Nepomniachtchi exchanges pawns (20. ... dxc4 21. Bxc4) before pushing his pawn forward with the committal 21. ... b5. That’s a blunder! And the evaluation bar has swung dramatically in Carlsen’s favor, indicating a winning advantage for the champion. “Game over,” the Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri says on Chess24’s broadcast. “A full pawn and a bad position. It’s just losing. It’s insane, the level of blunder. Totally insane. Very odd.”

Carlsen is going for it! After 19. h3 h4, the champion makes a statement of intent with 20. c4. This is difficult position for Nepomniachtchi over the board, although the Norwegian supercomputer Sesse says it’s wiped out Carlsen’s advantage to a dead heat.

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Carlsen retreats the queen with 18. Qe3. Nepomniachtchi quickly answers with 18. ... Bd7.

It continues to look tricky for Nepomniachtchi after the rook exchange (16. Rxe8+ Bxe8). Now the challenger offers a queen exchange (17. Re1 Qf6). Doubtful Carlsen will accept it so look for him to retreat the queen to g3 or possibly e3 or e5.

And Nepomniachtchi plays 15. ... c6 after exactly six minutes, which is an inaccuracy! He’s twice declined to get the queens off the board and now he’s in for a world of suffering. The position is not winning for Carlsen, but we’ve seen the champion squeeze out a full point from far less.

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Nepomniachtchi takes the open file with 13. ... Re8 after three minutes. The champion meets it with 14. Rae1 and Nepo immediately plays 14. ... Rh6. Carlsen then throws his queen forward with 15. Qg5, creating an uncomfortable position for the challenger.

“It just feels like this is the type of position that Magnus Carlsen just excels in,” the English IM Jovanka Houska says on Chess24’s broadcast. “And I feel that in his desire to keep the game alive, Nepomniachtchi has taken too many risks here. Now it’s just Magnus who has a very pleasant choice of playing for a win or just taking a draw.”

No draw yet! Carlsen declines the trade of queens for a trade of bishops (12. Bxd6 Qxd6). The champion then follows with 13. Qd2. Black will have a hard time connecting his rooks from this position.

Nepomniachtchi plays 10. ... Kf8 after more than eight minutes. Ambitious! Says American grandmaster Fabiano Caruana on Chess.com’s broadcast: “Kf8 shows Ian’s intention to keep the game double edged, but I don’t really like it.”

Carlsen immediately responds with 11. Bb4, offering the exchange of dark-squared bishops. The challenger follows with 11. ... Qe7.

Carlsen ultimately gives a check, offering a queen exchange with the unambitious 10. Qe1+ after nearly 41 minutes. This could quickly lead to a draw if Nepomniachtchi responds with Qe7, which the engines like best.

Carlsen has been thinking for more than a half-hour. The engines indicate his best options are Qf3 and c4. Indian grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi prefers the latter.

Nepomniachtchi’s unusual move has sent Carlsen into the think tank. He’s been pondering his response for 20 minutes (and counting) and the players are equal on time again.

Nepomniachtchi plays 9. ... h5! after nearly 17 minutes. That appears to be a new move. He avoids bringing his queen out but essentially rules out the possibility of kingside on the queenside.

Carlsen castles after two and a half minutes (9. O-O). Nepomniachtchi’s natural response is to keep the symmetry by castling. But he’s been looking at the board for more than 12 minutes, perhaps looking for a sharper option that could pull Carlsen out of his prep and create some kind of winning chance.

Nepomniachtchi plays 8. ... Bd6 after three minutes. This creates a completely symmetrical position with every square on the d-file occupied.

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All of the knights are off the board quickly after 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 Nd7 6. Nxd7 Bxd7 7. Nd2 Nxd2 8. Bxd2. A rare position (white’s castling is far more common after 6. Bxd7) and hardly the most ambitious opening for Carlsen. It already looks like we’re headed for a draw.

Nepomniachtchi is first to the playing hall. He’s taken his seat behind the black pieces. Carlsen, playing with white today, arrives about a minute late. Former Real Madrid left back Míchel Salgado makes the honorary first move for Carlsen (1. e1) ... and Carlsen doesn’t pull it back. And we’re very quickly into the Petrov Defence (1. ... e5 2. Nf3 Nf6).

A quick refresher on the format for this world championship match. It will consist of 14 classical games with each player awarded one point for a win and a half-point for a draw. Whoever reaches seven and a half points first will be declared the champion. (Carlsen leads 4-3 over Nepomniachtchi at the midpoint.)

The time control for each game is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61.

If the match is tied after 14 games, tie-breaks will be played on the final day (16 December) in the following order:

Best of four rapid games with 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds after each move.

If still tied, they will play up to five mini-matches of two blitz games (five minutes for each player with a three-second increment).

If all five mini-matches are drawn, one sudden-death ‘Armageddon’ match will be played where White receives five minutes and Black receives four minutes. Both players will receive a three-second increment after the 60th move. In the case of a draw, Black will be declared the winner.

Notably, Carlsen’s second and third title defenses both came down to tiebreakers. But many believe the increased length of this year’s match (from 12 to 14 games) and the stylistic matchup at hand promises a decisive result in regulation.

Hello and welcome back for the eighth game of the World Chess Championship. The overall score in the showdown between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi is 4-3 to Carlsen after the Norwegian’s breakthrough win in Friday’s Game 6, which surpassed the 124-move stalemate in Game 5 of the 1978 title match between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi as the longest contest in the 135-year history of world championship matchplay.

Unsurprisingly, Saturday’s seventh game was a far shorter affair as the pair agreed to a quiet draw after 2hr 30min and took the opportunity to recover.

Nepomniachtchi, marshaling the white pieces, played 1 e4 before the pair blitzed out their opening moves into the same anti-Marshall line of the Ruy Lopez that had featured in each of the Russian’s three previous games as white (1 ... e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3).

Carlsen took lengthy thinks of 33 combined minutes before his 12th and 15th moves, falling more than 20 minutes behind his opponent on time. But not long after the world No 1 gave up his stronghold in the center with the committal 17 exd4, a flurry of rapid simplification began and the action fizzled out fast.

For anyone just coming aboard, Carlsen, who turned 31 on Tuesday, has been at No 1 in the Fide rankings for 10 straight years and was considered the world’s best player even before he dethroned Vishy Anand for the title in 2013. Nepomniachtchi, also 31, is ranked No 5, having earned his place at the table by winning the eight-man candidates tournament in April.

The best-of-14-games match is taking place at the Dubai Exhibition Centre with the winner earning a 60% share of the €2m ($2.26m) prize fund if the match ends in regulation (or 55% if it’s decided by tie-break games, as happened in Carlsen’s second and third title defenses).

We’re a little under a half-hour from today’s first move.

Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s his report from Saturday’s Game 7 in Dubai.