Chess Club Live Blog

 Magnus Carlsen’s gambit paid off. He played like he was the challenger. He was sacrificing pawns, exchanges, rooks, and his queen. Carlsen crushed Nepomniachtchi completely as he crumbled after the epic game 6. What was really weird was that Nepomniachtchi never went nuclear with the King’s Gambit. In game 11, he was -3 and it was the perfect chance to have a go with a romantic not seen at world chess championship level for a very long time. Instead he dodged the chance to really put caution to the wind and roll the dice. The King’s Gambit is an opening he’d essayed many times and is in fact a leading expert in the KG theory. Could it be Nepo assumed Magnus was well booked up on the theory and would neutralise his weapons? There was good reason to believe this since Nepomniachtchi had delivered a Chessable course on the King’s Gambit. 😂  Perhaps it is safe to say the only person who offered the true gambit was the King himself Magnus Carlsen. Congratulations 🥳 to Carlsen on some fan

  Hey these guys are sacrificing pawns and exchanges and throwing the kitchen sink at each other but ultimately ending each game peacefully. What is going on? Magnus Carlsen's two previous encounters with Karjakin and Caruana had bucket loads of draws.  Why on earth did we think it would be any different when Magnus played his former second, Nepomniachtchi? Magnus Carlsen is totally up for it this time round, he seems ready to fight and his calculated risks seem more edgy than ever before. Magnus has so much to lose if he is unable to defend his title but he seems able to put the sum of all those fears aside and sacrifice material for unbalanced positions. Chess like Tango does take two also so Nepomniachtchi is trying hard to get good positions out of the opening with his phenomenal preparation. Nepo seems to have done very well in predicting that Carlsen will go for main variations and choose sound less popular side lines.  Experienced chess players will know that aggressive move