World Chess Championship 2021 - Megathread

alf
2021-12-11T14:07:18Z

SPOILERS. If you care about those, don't look at the schedule or scoreboard below either.

Final result: Magnus Carlsen successfully defended the World Title by winning in round 11. The competition is over. Long live the king!

Why am I posting this thread?

Honestly, I'm really excited about this. Isn't that enough? :)

What is it?

The World Chess Championship (WCC) is the topmost competition of the sport, and basically determines the best player in the world. It is disputed between the winner of the Candidates Tournament and the current champion. Since his first title in 2013, Magnus Carlsen successfully defended the title on three different occasions and is the undisputed favorite. The challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi does have a positive score against Magnus, but most don't give that much importance, since most of his victories happened when they were much younger. Chess.com combed through the data and gave Magnus 72% winning odds. In terms of style, Magnus is considered a universal player. Nepomniachtchi is generally more aggressive but adopted a more conservative style in the Candidates Tournament.

Since 2014, the WCC happens once every 2 years, alternating with the Candidates Tournament. The current edition was supposed to take place in 2020, but was postponed due to covid. It will happen in Dubai.

The World Chess Championship starts this Friday, November 26, at 16:30 local time, 12:30 UTC.

Where to watch

Chess.com

Chess.com Youtube

Chess.com Twitch

Chess24

Chess24 Youtube (I strongly recommend the stream with David Howell for non-advanced players)

FIDE Youtube

FIDE Twitch

In the United States, the NBC over-the-air television channel will broadcast daily 30 minutes highlights.

The players

Player | Country | Age | GM Age | Rating | Peak Rating
Magnus | Norway | 30 | 13 | 2855 | 2882 (2014)
Nepo | Russia | 31 | 13 | 2782 | 2792 (2021)

Time controls

In chess, time controls determine the time each player has to make their movies. A time control of 10 minutes means that each player has 10 minutes to use throughout the game. There can also be increments, which are added to a player's overall time after each move. For example, with a time control of 10 | 5 each player starts with 10 minutes to make their moves, and automatically gains 5 seconds on the clock every time they make a move.

The time controls for the World Championship matches may seem a bit complex at first. This is just for reference, if you intend to follow the games online, I'm certain that the commentators will make sure to remind you of these details.

Stage | Moves | Time (min)
1 | 01 to 40 | 120
2 | 41 to 60 | 60
3 | 61 to \u221e | 15 + 30s

The table above means that, on stage 1, each player has 120 minutes to make their moves. On stage 2, they have 60 minutes. On stage 3, each player has 15 minutes, with an addition of 30 seconds after each move.

Format

Draw by agreement is only allowed after the 40th move (it used to be the 30th).

There will be 14 standard games (it used to be 12). The first to achieve 7½ points will be World Champion.

If, after the 14 games, the score is equal, there will be tie-break games in that order, with the subsequent tie-break only being disputed if the previous one maintained the tie.

1. 4 rapid games of (TC: 25min + 10s)

2. Best out 5 blitz games (TC: 5min + 3s)

3. 1 armageddon game.

Scoreboard

Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12-14 | Total
Magnus Carlsen | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | N/A | 7 ½
Ian Nepomniachtchi | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | N/A | 3 ½

Magnus won on round 11. Rounds 12 to 14 will not be disputed.

Schedule

All games, as well as the closing ceremony, are scheduled to 07:30 AM EST / 12:30 UTC.

This will be updated with the results for each match, as well as the sum of the overall points. I will also try to sum up some experts commentaries for each selected games. Adding notes to every game would require more effort than I initially thought! I'll create a top comment with links and basic info on each game, but will not be adding personal notes to all of them. Feel free to add your impressions to the top comments. Thanks!.

Date | Event | Result
Nov 26 | GAME 1 | Draw
Nov 27 | GAME 2 | Draw
Nov 28 | GAME 3 | Draw
Nov 29 | REST |
Nov 30 | GAME 4 | Draw
Dec 01 | GAME 5 | Draw
Dec 02 | REST |
Dec 03 | GAME 6 | Magnus Win
Dec 04 | GAME 7 | Draw
Dec 05 | GAME 8 | Magnus Win
Dec 06 | REST |
Dec 07 | GAME 9 | Magnus Win
Dec 08 | GAME 10 | Draw
Dec 09 | REST |
Dec 10 | GAME 11 | Magnus Win

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