22 November 2021

FIDE World Championship Match Carlsen vs Nepomniachtchi to Open in Dubai on 24 November

The first game will be played on 26 November.


The FIDE World Championship Match between the reigning champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and the challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) will be held at Expo 2020 Dubai from the 24th of November to the 16th of December, 2021. 

The match consists of 14 games with a classical time control. A player, which scores 7.5 points first, will be declared the winner. A tie-break will be played if the score remains equal. 

The total prize fund is EUR 2 million, with the winner getting 60% of it (55% in case of a tie). 

A pre-start press conference and the opening ceremony will take place on the 24th of November. 

The match days: 26-28, 30 November - 1, 3-5, 7-8, 10-12, and 14 December. A tie-break, if necessary, will be played on 15 December. The games will start at 3:30 PM Moscow time.

A fan zone will be opened in GUM, the legendary department store in Moscow, with the commentaries of GM Sergey Shipov.  

The Norwegian Magnus Carlsen has been the world champion since 2013 when he defeated Viswanathan Anand (India). The Russian Ian Neomniachtchi got the right to challenge the champion by winning the FIDE Candidates Tournament (Yekaterinburg, 2020-2021).

Ian Nepomniachtchi's sponsors are PhosAgro, Sima-land, Marathon Group, Nornickel, and Chess.com.

Official website