World Chess Championship 2021
Carlsen's most one-sided championship win — defeats Nepomniachtchi in Dubai with three wins in the first eight games and one in Game 11.
- Year
- 2021
- Format
- Best of 14 classical games
- Venue
- Dubai Exhibition Centre, Expo 2020
- Prize fund
- €2,000,000
- Cycle
- unified
Held at Dubai Exhibition Centre as part of Expo 2020 (delayed by COVID) from 26 November to 10 December 2021. Ian Nepomniachtchi had won the 2020 Candidates Tournament — held in two halves a year apart because of pandemic disruption — and entered the match as a clear underdog rating-wise but a Carlsen contemporary who had outscored him in their head-to-head record going back to junior chess.
The Match
Six of the first seven games drawn. Carlsen won Game 6 — a record 136-move marathon, the longest game in championship history — and Nepomniachtchi visibly collapsed in subsequent rounds. Carlsen won Games 8, 9, and 11 (the last of which clinched the title), all in lines where Nepomniachtchi’s preparation evaporated under time pressure.
The Fourth Defence
Final score 7.5–3.5 in 11 of the planned 14 games. Carlsen’s fourth and final successful defence — and the match after which he announced he would not defend again. (See our editorial on the abdication for the post-match decision.)