Magnus can wring water from a stone, which takes him to a unique stage: Surya Sekhar Ganguly

The laptop has made deep inroads into the chess world. But after a sure level/stage, all of the gamers get comparable assist from expertise. So I don’t assume Magnus (Carlsen) was technologically extra superior than Nepo (Ian Nepomniachtchi) or vice versa. All skilled gamers use comparable software program and comparable sorts of machines. In odd circumstances, a participant can have his nostril in entrance on this regard, like (Veselin) Topalov was forward of (Viswanathan) Anand by way of expertise. But normally, it’s roughly comparable.
Magnus received the World Championship for numerous causes, however let’s face it, he’s a greater participant. The higher participant performed a greater match and received. End of story. Nepo profitable this might have been an upset.To me, this match provided a throwback to the 1971 Bobby Fischer versus Tigran Petrosian Candidates ultimate in Buenos Aires. Fischer performed the match earlier than dealing with Boris Spassky. The match was fairly even for the primary few video games. In reality, Petrosian missed a couple of probabilities to push by way of. In the top, the rating was 6½ – 2½ in favour of Fischer. At one level it was 2½ – 2½, however from Game 6 onwards, Fischer swept by way of, whereas Petrosian suffered a meltdown.

The ultimate moments of Game 11. “Game, set, and match.”#CarlsenNepo #FIDEmatch2021 pic.twitter.com/lYOa1QuOKC
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 10, 2021
This World Championship was fairly comparable. Magnus spoke nicely, when he was requested on the press convention about what did he do higher within the match. His reply was about maintaining issues easy: ‘I think I played simple positions better and made less mistakes’. When positions have been very messy and complex, each gamers have been making errors.
That’s Magnus’s energy, that’s how he performs. He is exceptionally sturdy when positions look fairly even, for he can wring water from a stone, which takes him to a unique stage. He waits patiently for an opportunity and when he will get it, he hits. As I mentioned earlier than, if Nepo needed to trump Magnus, he needed to do it in some very sophisticated positions. Somehow that by no means occurred.

Game 6 was the turning level of the match. Magnus received that recreation and took full higher hand, with Nepo’s blunders piling up after that. Maybe, it was right down to fatigue and I’m speaking about dropping each bodily and emotional power right here. Playing a recreation that lasted nearly eight hours took a whole lot of emotional power. After taking part in a recreation for eight hours, ending on the profitable or dropping aspect issues so much. Physically each Magnus and Nepo have been very drained, however emotionally the latter suffered a physique blow.
After the sixth recreation, the character of the positions on the board was suiting Magnus nicely and as he rightly identified, he hardly ever makes errors in so-called even positions.Once once more, this was precisely Fischer-Petrosian. Like the latter, Nepo, too, was fully unrecognisable within the second half of the match. A participant of Nepo’s tactical capacity, who’s such a beautiful participant in Rapid and Blitz; committing so many blunders was surprising. It could possibly be power, it could possibly be nerves. His recreation simply collapsed.
It’s not my function to criticise a participant with the good thing about hindsight, somebody who’s so much higher than me. I’m fairly positive that Nepo labored actually laborious. I’m fairly positive that he and his staff put in an enormous quantity of effort.
Still, if I’m requested to choose one space, I might say bodily health. You aren’t getting a brief draw; you aren’t getting any straightforward recreation. So you want an enormous quantity of power.

Magnus Carlsen: “I am very happy of course. I did not expect it to go quite like this. I think it was a very good professional performance overall. I have no regrets at all, just very satisfied.” #CarlsenNepo pic.twitter.com/gXa8nCD2xJ
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 10, 2021
Things like preparation for a World Championship and reacting to troublesome conditions fluctuate from participant to participant. What works for Magnus, is not going to work for Anand; what works for Anand, is not going to work for Nepo. Everybody should discover his personal answer. You should discover a set-up and system that work the perfect for you. For instance, Magus went on an overdrive of taking part in Bullet chess tournaments (one-minute recreation) earlier than the World Championship. He confronted criticism on social media for that. But he is aware of what works for him. His strategies could or could not work for others. Same for taking the assistance of a sports activities psychologist; some might have it, some could not.

Nepomniachtchi: “The outcome… The good news is that it was almost nothing about chess. But the match consists of many aspects: not only chess preparation but also physical, psychological.”“The level of these blunders is below some bad examples of pathetic shape.” #CarlsenNepo pic.twitter.com/GeU3Qa0ku9
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 10, 2021
The significance of being alert on a regular basis is the actual takeaway for me from this match. It was by no means about getting the higher of the opponent within the opening. I’ve by no means seen Magnus profitable or dropping a recreation within the opening. His method has at all times been about getting a place, which is sound, then hold taking part in and progressively outplaying his opponent. You want your considering, alertness and power stage at their peak to play this type of chess. You can’t get informal in any respect. That’s his high quality and I need to say that Game 6 would go down in historical past for the extent it was performed at.
You don’t evaluate the greats. It could be unfair to attract a comparability between (Jose Raul) Capablanca, Fischer, (Garry) Kasparov and Magnus; gamers from completely different eras. The fantastic thing about greatness is that it stays forward of its time. No one lasts endlessly and the one who would ultimately beat Magnus, which is inevitable, wouldn’t be intimidated by him (his aura). Someone from a youthful technology.
(Grandmaster Surya Sekhar Ganguly was certainly one of Viswanathan Anand’s seconds and assisted him in profitable the World Championship matches towards Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov. He spoke to Shamik Chakrabarty)