By Redacción Ajedrez21
The Norwegian champion saves with Black in the opening game of the match. After the comfortable draw achieved with Black by the world champion in the first game, Magnus Carlsen’s opening approach was awaited with great interest. And indeed, the Catalan opening has been a pleasant surprise for the experts, as it foreshadowed a fierce fight. For his part, Nepomniachtchi also responded with great ambition by eating the pawn sacrificed by White.
The course of the opening followed paths of great complexity, in which Carlsen risked sacrificing quality in exchange for a strong initiative, taking advantage of the passive situation of the black pieces and a huge white knight located in the heart of the opponent’s position. This forced a difficult defense from “Nepo”, who had to return all the captured material, even with a pawn down.
Fortunately for the Russian player, he was able to simplify the position and the little material left on the board offered him the possibility of a draw after move 58. A happy result for the challenger and a bit bitter one for the champion, who -as in the first game- showed himself superior to his rival, although it was not enough to unbalance the result.
The third game of the world title match is scheduled for Sunday, at 13.30 (Spanish time).
SCORE after game 2
Magnus Carlsen: 1.0 points.
Ian Nepomniachtchi: 1.0 points.
More information at https://www.ajedrez21.com/mundial
