12.10.21 World Champion Magnus Carlsen won Game 11 of the World Chess Championship Match in Dubai, UAE. Carlsen retains his title and becomes a five-time World Champion. Nothing but the greatest respect goes to the Challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi but, as he has already admitted, he did not bring his best chess to this Match. The final score: Carlsen 7.5 - Nepomniachtchi 3.5.

The 2021 FIDE World Chess Championship Match has concluded in Dubai, UAE with World Champion Magnus Carlsen proving too much for the Challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi to handle. In a veritable blowout, Carlsen secured the Title with a four-game cushion.

In the post-game press conference, Carlsen said the result was unexpected. After the first five games, the Match was locked in a 2.5 tie after five straight draws. The dam seemed to break for Nepomniachtchi on historic Game 6--a game that set World Chess Championship history as the longest title match game ever played. After a loss in Game 6, the Challenger never did restore his balance

Nepomniachtchi essays The Italian Game in an attempt to avoid the Ruy Lopez and Carlsen's Marshall.

The Challenger stated that he had overlooked 22...Rf4. His next move 22.g3 threw the game into a downward spiral that he could not recover.

After 22.g3 dxe3 23.gxf4 Qxg4+, the third pawn-move mistake by Nepomniachtchi in this Match, the game continued for another twenty-six moves and although there were positions that required precise calculation, Carlsen went on to win with Black and retain the Title.

The question remains if this Match was primarily a learning experience for the Challenger or a psychological blow that he may not recover from.

Congratulations to Five-Time World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen.

Final Match Score

Watch The Games Live with Commentary on Chess.com

Games and Coverage from lichess

Official Site of the FIDE World Chess Championship

Game 10 Coverage on ChessBase.com

Regulations

The match will be played over 14 standard games.

The first player to reach 7.5 points wins.

At the opening ceremony, a drawing of colors determines who will start with the white pieces.

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

If the scores are level after the regular 14 games, four tie-break games will be played. These are rapid games with 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds after each move.

If it's still equal, two blitz games will be played (5 minutes plus 3 seconds increment). If it's still equal, a second pair of two blitz games will be played. If there is still no winner after five such matches, one sudden-death game will be played.
The player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the color. The player with the white pieces shall receive 5 minutes, the player with the black pieces shall receive 4 minutes whereupon, after the 60th move, both players shall receive an increment of 3 seconds starting from move 61. In case of a draw, the player with the black pieces is declared the winner.

The players cannot draw a game by agreement before Black's 30th move.

A claim for a draw before Black's 30th move is permitted only through one of the arbiters in
the cases of a threefold repetition.