Nepomniachtchi fails to bounce back

Magnus Carlsen

After Friday’s marathon game, the two GMs  Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nipomniachtchi yesterday chose balance and peace for their – practically – second game for the day. The challenger, Ian Nepomniachtchi started with 1.e4, initiating another Ruy Lopez. The world champion Magnus Carlsen,  claimed nothing more than a neutral position, which slowly led to an almost empty board and the sixth draw of the championship.

Later Carlsen mentioned that despite the fact that history was created, game 6 drained his energy. “I couldn’t sleep yesterday, I was way too excited” he added, while Nepomniachtchi admitted that his levels were ‘obviously not at the highest point’, but that was ‘part of the job’.