The Week in Chess

Magnus Carlsen is now within a point of retaining his World Chess Championship title in his match against Ian Nepomniachtchi - the match stands at 6.5-3.5 with four games to go. Today Nepomniachtchi chose to repeat the Petroff Defence he played in games 4 and 8 - a solid continuation which often leads to symmetrical pawn structures. This has been a point scoring weapon for black in recent years only because white often has to play slightly riskily to get decent winning chances - white pretty much always has the option to go for the most symbolic of advantages where a draw is a high probability. Carlsen had such a decision on move 8 and he thought for nearly 20 minutes choosing between 8.Be3 which almost certainly would have been followed by 8...g5 and a sharp struggle, instead common sense prevailed and he played 8.c3 after which a draw was the most likely result and so it quickly came to be without much further interest.

The most likely scenario for the match now will be Nepomniachtchi going all out on Friday with the white pieces in game 11 - even then a draw is probable - and Carlsen hoovering off the pieces on Saturday to retain his title. Rest day Thursday.