Reigning world chess champion Magnus Carlsen has issued a one-word response after finally breaking the deadlock in his title showdown with Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Beating the Russian in the sixth game of 14 following five successive draws, the Norwegian took to social media.
“YES,” he wrote past 1am in Dubai, where the spectacle is being held.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr">YES.</p>— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) <a href="https://twitter.com/MagnusCarlsen/status/1466876519972851715?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2021</a></blockquote>
The pair’s latest encounter was described as a “grueling back-and-forth marathon,” and broke records for being the longest game in 135 years of world championship matchplay history.
It took in 136 moves and 7 hours and 45 minutes, which surpassed the 124 moves executed in a title match between Nepo’s compatriots Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi in 1978.
Both players missed out on winning opportunities under the extreme pressure of the clock, but Nepo felt that “Magnus managed to capitalize on the very few chances he got”.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">That's it! A historical, record-breaking game ends in a victory for Magnus Carlsen. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CarlsenNepo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CarlsenNepo</a> <a href="https://t.co/fSWKjrCu1x">pic.twitter.com/fSWKjrCu1x</a></p>— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIDE_chess/status/1466864124634316802?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2021</a></blockquote>
“It shouldn’t be easy in a world championship match,” Carlsen said himself.
“You have to try for every chance, no matter how small it is. And part of it was by design at some point.
“I thought I should make the game as long as possible so that we would both be as tired as possible when the critical moment came. That turned out to be a good strategy,” he concluded.