Magnus Carlsen gets away with error after seemingly touching a piece during World Chess Championship

World chess champion Magnus Carlsen seemingly got away with an obvious mistake during game 9 of the ongoing World Chess Championship.

The Norwegian grandmaster is currently taking part in the World Chess Championship in Dubai, UAE. Magnus Carlsen finds himself playing a 14-game series against Russian grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi.

With 8 games having been played, the series was poised with Magnus Carlsen leading 5-3. However, during game 9, Carlsen appears to make an error that he has gotten away with.

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Magnus Carlsen touches knight but moves another piece during World Chess Championship game 9

During a recent live stream, Hikaru “GMHikaru” Nakamura watched a clip that showed Magnus Carlsen committing the error. The Norwegian is currently leading the 14-game series 5-3. Game 9 has only recently concluded at the time of writing this article.

Carlsen went on to win the match. However, he looks to have got away with making an obvious error when Nepomniachtchi was away from the table. He touched his black knight but then decided to move another piece. When GMHikaru saw the clip, he was left with no doubt that Magnus Carlsen touched the piece:

“Yeah, I mean totally. He totally touched. That’s not even a question. 100% he did. I mean, it’s super slow-mo, but 100% he did. It was on Ian as he was not on the table but he did touch it.”

Hence, while Carlsen did break a rule by touching a particular piece and moving another despite there being multiple legal moves to play with the knight, the Norwegian was not at fault. This was because his Russian opponent was not at the table and therefore missed the moment.

Magnus Carlsen went on to gain complete control of the match, and ended up winning game 9 as well. The victory sees him gain a 6-3 lead over Ian Nepomniachtchi that puts him in a very strong position to defend his title.