World Championship 2021 match will start Nov. 24!!

[Marc Andre Beaudry]

Nepo played an horrible game , in my view. For instance 10 Qe7 in place of Kf8, and he coulp play g5 ! instead of Rh6, and the very bad b5 ? where he could have played Qd6 and he is still very much in the game. Nerves , overconfidence and a lack of confidence, all played in that game. The match ight be close to over. Winning 2 games out of 6 without losing is difficult against the Norwegian genius. Magnus also played a flawless queen endgame. Very impressive.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Nepo played an horrible game

To me it looked White wanted a quick draw and go to a rest day. Black did not agree with that and got busted - the 6th game's aftershakes.

My prediction - there will be one more decisive game with Nepo overpressing and losing.

[Marc Andre Beaudry]

You're right Egidijus, Magnus wanted a short draw after the epic struggle of the 6th game and Nepo did his best to complicate the game and lose horribly.

[Neil Frarey]

Two strikes against Nepo. Decision time. What to do?

Channel his inner Bobby Fischer!!!

Naturally ;)

[Sam Sharpe]

Channel his inner Bobby Fischer!!!

Naturally ;)

So .... stop playing and go home?

[Hans Jung]

Rd 9 I like the opening choice - very dynamic! However White had to find 15.b4 (in answer to 14...a3) which is hard to understand at first because wouldnt Black just grab that pawn with Nxb4. However once you understand that move you can see that White has great play.

[Hans Jung]

Rd 9 In a facinating middlegame position after move 26 White proceeds to blunder with 27.c5. Magnus is definitely in Nepo's headspace.

[Sam Sharpe]

27.c5 was my initial choice as well, but I'm a fish. The match is now over from a practical perspective. I envision 3 quick draws to wrap it up.

[Marc Andre Beaudry]

Incredible that a player of Nepo's strength made blunders like b5 yesterday and the other very bad move c5 today. This match is over and Ding, Fabi or Alireza would have done much better.
Nepo is never at the board to add to thiis. Very disappointed at the way the match has gone. He's completely collapsed after the fantastic 6th game.

[Hans Jung]

I was just thinking before the game today that one more slip and Nepo's gone and then it happened.

[Marc Andre Beaudry]

3-0 6 draws. Nepo will have to be made strong after this match. This will be very disappointing for him to lose with very bad blunders like that. He mioght totally lose his confidence.

[Marc Andre Beaudry]

Playing chess is very tough, even great players blunder badly.

[Marc Andre Beaudry]

After a3 from Magnus, Fabi and Hess suggested the much stronger b4! when white keeps a nice small advantage. bxa3 was played much too fast. He is in a match against the guy who is going to be the GOAT and he plays in 10 seconds in a critical position and he gives away all his advantage. I'm critical of Nepo , after all I'm only a 2050 player, but in my 40 years of chess, I've never seen a WCM where the loser lose with such bad blunders as b5?? and c5 ??. Nepo was not adequately prepared nervously for this match. That's my opinion. The pressure was too much for him.

Fischer played Bxh2 ??, but after that, he played an outstanding match showing that he was superior to the Soviets and everybody else.

[Hans Jung]

Nepo resigned game 9. He could have won the piece back but the endgame is very simple to play for Magnus with two pawns up and a passed H-pawn.
Magnus leads 3 wins and 6 draws with 5 games to go.

[Hans Jung]

I agree. After the fantastic game 6 Nepo's head space was affected. He didnt have the resilience to adjust (make adjustments) and continue the match successfully.