Carlsen versus Nepomniachtchi, World Chess Championship 2021, Game 6

abcdefgh
8
d8 black king
f7 white rook
g7 white knight
e6 white pawn
f5 white pawn
h4 white king
g1 black queen
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
The final position in which Nepomniachtchi (Black) resigned after Carlsen (White) played 136. Ng7. From here, White's king can proceed towards g8, where it is protected from further queen harassment. Pawn promotion would soon follow.

On 3 December 2021, in the sixth game of the World Chess Championship 2021, the defending world champion Magnus Carlsen (as White) defeated the challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi in 136 moves, which made it the longest game in the history of the World Chess Championship.[1] The game was played in 7 hours and 45 minutes, finishing after midnight local time, to take Carlsen to a 3½–2½ lead in the best-of-14-game match.[2][3][4]

It was the first classical game in a World Chess Championship in more than five years that did not end in a draw; after Magnus Carlsen won the tenth game of the World Chess Championship 2016 against Sergey Karjakin to level the score, there was the longest-ever streak of 19 draws in consecutive World Chess Championship classical games (games 11–12 in 2016, games 1–12 in 2018, games 1–5 in 2021).[5][6] The game was widely praised, with chess players and commentators describing it as "epic"[7] and an "all-time classic".[8]

The game proved to be the turning point in the match. After the loss, Nepomniachtchi's play declined significantly from being on par with Carlsen to highly error-prone, with Carlsen ultimately retaining his title by 7½–3½.[9]

  1. ^ Ninan, Susan. "Magnus Carlsen wins longest world championship game ever to seize advantage" ESPN. 4 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  2. ^ Mark Crowther: Carlsen takes the lead in World Championship following a record breaking game 6. The Week in Chess. 3 December 2021.
  3. ^ Roeder, Oliver. "How The Longest Game In World Chess Championship History Was Won". FiveThirtyEight. 3 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  4. ^ Coventry, James. "Magnus Carlsen wins longest game in World Chess Championship history". ABC. 3 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  5. ^ Graham, Bryan Armen (2021-12-03). "Magnus Carlsen defeats Ian Nepomniachtchi in Game 6 of World Chess Championship – as it happened". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2021-12-04.
  6. ^ David R. Sands: Champion Carlsen takes lead in chess title fight with epic 136-move win. The Washington Times. 3 December 2021.
  7. ^ Collin McGourty: Carlsen-Nepo 6: Magnus Carlsen wins longest World Championship game. Chess24. 3 December 2021.
  8. ^ Roeder, Oliver. After Another Blunder, The World Chess Championship Is Off The Rails. FiveThirtyEight. 7 December 2021.
  9. ^ McSweeney, Eoin. "Magnus Carlsen defends his World Chess Championship crown". cnn.com. 10 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.