Gradually, Carlsen gained the upper hand. On Move 116, an endgame arose where Carlsen had a rook, knight and two pawns against Nepomniachtchi’s queen. Though the game could still have ended in a draw, fatigue took its toll and Nepomniachtchi did not find the correct moves. Nepomniachtchi resigned as it became clear Carlsen would win.
Game 7 ended in a relatively quiet draw, with neither player having any real chances to win.
In Game 8 on Sunday, Nepomniachtchi again was playing Black, or second, as he had in his first defeat. He played aggressively in the opening, eschewing a chance to trade queens early on and also not castling his king, which is the usual method to keep it safe. Despite those decisions, the game remained balanced until Move 21, when Nepomniachtchi made a serious error, losing a pawn.
Perhaps unnerved by his mistake, Nepomniachtchi struggled to put up a stiff resistance. Carlsen soon won a second pawn and then began to advance his pawns up the board. Nepomniachtchi, trapped in a hopeless position, resigned on Move 46.
In the news conference afterward, Carlsen said he believed Nepomniachtchi’s decision to play aggressively in Game 8 and his mistake were caused at least in part by his loss in Game 6 and how that had put him in a hole in the match standings.
“This second win probably does not happen without the first,” Carlsen said. “Everything is kind of connected.”