Magnus Carlsen again gave up a pawn early in the game for the initiative, but he overlooked a knight move (18...Nac5) from challenger Ian Nepomniatchtchi and the Norwegian had to give away a rook for a knight. And though the defending champion enjoyed a powerful diagonal and pivotal square for his knight, no player blinked on key moments.
As a result, a draw was reached in 58 moves of the Catalan Opening in their second game of the World Chess Championship.
The third game of their 14-game classical matchplay (with provision of rapid/blitz tiebreaks) will be played on Sunday with Nepo having white pieces.
Despite the draw, the followers and pundits are not complaining too much as they saw queen, knight pawns (Carlden) vs queen, rook, and pawns ending.
