After three devastating losses, Nepo seemed to face an impossible task to
comeback. With Carlsen only needing 1.5/5 to defend his title, many expected
Nepo to come out swinging this game. Instead, we saw a calm and solid draw.
The thought is that Nepo's plan was to hold this game and push once he has
White during the next game. Whether this was or was not the right decision is
entirely debatable!1.e4e52.Nf3Nf6Already here it seems that Nepo is
fine with a draw. Against an opponent like Carlsen who is happy with the draw,
the Petroff is not an ambitious choice.3.Nxe5d64.Nd3...Carlsen may have
chose this move over the more popular 4.Nf3 in anticipation of playing Qd1-e2
after ...Nf6xe4 and then trading queens after Black responds with ...Qd8-e7.
Every half point benefits Carlsen at this point, so going into this endgame is
a solid decision.4....Nxe45.Qe2Qe76.Nf4Nf66...Nc67.Nd5Nd48.Nxe7Nxe29.Nd5Nd410.Na3Ne611.f3N4c512.d4Nd713.c3c614.Nf4Nb615.Bd3d516.Nc2Bd617.Nxe6Bxe618.Kf21/2-1/2 (80) Carlsen,M (2835)-Caruana,F
(2832) London 2018 CBM 187 [Grivas,E]7.d4Nc6!?An interesting decision
by Nepo that gives Carlsen the chance of playing Be3 -- complicating the game
by preventing the queen trade.8.c3...Carlsen keeps it simple to play a
straightforward endgame8.Be3Bf59.Nc3O-O-Owith a playable game with
chances for both sides8....d59.Nd2Nd8Planning to manouver the knight
to e6 at some point, while also vacating the c6-square, allowing ...c7-c6 to
solidify the d-pawn.10.Nf3Qxe2+11.Bxe2Bd612.O-OO-O13.Bd3Re814.Re1Rxe1+15.Nxe1Ne616.Nxe6Bxe6Up to this point we have mainly seen a
series standard exchanges. Now Carlsen finds a way to improving and developing
his pieces. This demonstrates a key idea: it's important to not develop pieces
immediately to whatever squares are available, but instead, to take time to
find or create good squares.17.g3g618.Ng2Re819.f3Nh520.Kf2c621.g4Ng722.Bf4Bxf423.Nxf4g5This is an important move to prevent h2-h4.
Although h2-h4 doesn't seem like a significant move, it grabs space and
secures the f4-square, creating the ability to push in the position. This is
especially dangerous in the hands of an opponent like Carlsen who can create
an advantage out of almost nothing.24.Ne2f525.h3Kf726.Rh1...Anticipating the opening of the h-file with possible pawn pushes f3-f4 or
h3-h4.26....h627.f4fxg428.hxg4Bxg429.Rxh6...There is nothing here29....Bf529...Bxe2??30.Bg6++−30.Bxf5Nxf531.Rh7+Ng732.fxg5Kg633.Rh3Kxg534.Rg3+Kf635.Rf3+Ke736.Nf4Kd637.Ng6Re638.Ne5Ne839.Rf7Rf6+40.Rxf6+Nxf641.Ke3After several decisive games, we saw... well, it
wasn't the most exciting draw. However the future is promising: with White in
the next game, Nepo will throw everything and the kitchen sink at Carlsen to
bring home the win and lessen Carlsen's lead.1/2-1/2