Carlsen wins 2021 World Chess Championship

The 2021 World Chess Championship match was scheduled for 14 games, meaning that the first player to reach 7.5 points became the champion. Within the match, each win was worth one point and each draw was worth a half-point. By scoring his fourth win in Game 11, Carlsen reached 7.5 points and remained the World Chess Champion.

Two more losses

My previous SparkChess article showed positions from Carlsen’s first two wins, in Game 6 and Game 8. Carlsen won again in Game 9 and Game 11.

Game 9

Game 11

Carlsen’s team

FIDE Press Officer Grandmaster Jonathan Tisdall wrote, “Carlsen was the first player to very clearly prioritize a sense of calm and harmony for these long, gruelling title matches, making sure his delegation is full of family and friends.”

This video of Carlsen’s introducing his chess preparation team also shows the fun and teasing that went on within it. For example, Carlsen joked that he wanted somebody French on his team, and Grandmasters Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Étienne Bacrot weren’t available. So, he chose Grandmaster Laurent Fressinet. Carlsen’s other team members were grandmasters Peter Heine Nielsen, Jan Gustafsson, Jorden van Foreest, and Daniil Dubov.

Upcoming FIDE Championships

FIDE is an acronym for the Fédération Internationale des Échecs, which is the International Chess Federation. Having just completed the 2021 World Chess Championship, next on FIDE’s calendar are the 2021 World Rapid and Blitz Championships and Women World Rapid and Blitz Championships. Originally scheduled for Kazakhstan, they will now be contested in Warsaw, Poland. The dates remain the same, December 25 to December 31, 2021.

Alexey Root is a Woman International Master and the 1989 U.S. Women's chess champion. Her peak US Chess rating was 2260. She has a PhD in education from UCLA. You can find her books on chess on Amazon.com.