CHESS

It’s zero hour in Dubai. Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi began their 14-game match for the world championship this week, with a $2m prize fund, split 60-40, at stake.

Carlsen can strengthen his claim to be the all-time greatest ahead of Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer, while Nepo

(as he is usually called, and whose first name is pronounced Jan) can be the talisman who creates a new version of the Soviet chess empire.

If the classical section

finishes 7-7, the result will be settled by tiebreak speed games. Nepo is 31, while Carlsen will reach that age on 30 November, the day of their fourth game. The pair have been rivals since they first

3790 Hikaru Nakamura v Peter Svidler, bullet game, chess.com speed championship 2021. Black to move and win, White’s last was Bb2-c1, apparently gaining material.

met in world under-12 competitions.

Carlsen believes that classical chess games, lasting four hours or more, are outmoded because of their too frequent draws and their low entertainment value for the tens of thousands of online fans worldwide who now watch major matches. He would prefer the default time limit to be rapidplay, two hours or less, fast enough for continuous action yet slow enough to be explained by commentators.

mate. Rxf1 Kh1 5 Ne2+ Bf1 4 Rd1+ mate) Rd1 Kf1 3( Nf2 3 Bd4+ similar) is Bd4+ gxf3 2( Nxh3 2 N2h3+! 1... by five in mate It’s 3790