Day: December 17, 2021

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‘Blunder after blunder’: Russia’s Nepomniachtchi accused of surrender as Carlsen wraps up chess title

Norway’s Magnus Carlsen retained his World Chess Championship title with victory over Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia in Game 11 to take an unassailable 7.5-3.5 lead in their match in Dubai.

Heading into Friday’s game with a big lead in their best-of-14 showdown, Carlsen wrapped up the title after another error-strewn performance from the challenger. 

The pair were unable to be separated after the first five games of their €2 million ($2.26 million) tussle before the Norwegian made a breakthrough in an epic Game 6 which lasted 7 hours and 45 minutes and was the longest ever at the World Championships.

That appeared to shatter Nepomniachtchi’s resolve and although he picked up two subsequent draws, the initiative had been firmly surrendered to Carlsen as the reigning champion also won Games 8 and 9.

Playing as white, ‘Nepo’ also blundered in Game 11 on Friday with a misguided attack on Carlsen’s rook on move 23, paving the way for his resignation. 

“It’s hard to feel that great joy when the situation was so comfortable to begin with, but I’m happy with a very good performance overall,” said Carlsen.

“Overall I’m happy with my play, very proud of my effort in the sixth game, and that sort of laid the foundation for everything.

“The final score is probably a bit more lopsided than it could have been, but that’s the way I think some of the other matches also could have gone if I had gotten a lead.”

Speaking on his defeat, Nepomniachtchi cited the “tension” of the occasion but suggested that was not an excuse. 

“Of course it’s really tense and it’s a little more tense than I expected,” said the Russian. 

“But I guess anyway the tension is not a reason to overlook some simple things you would never overlook in a blitz game.

“What can I say? I should find out why it did happen and improve.”

Some observers were left disappointed with the ease at which Carlsen had ultimately seen off the challenge from his Russian opponent. 

“The dominating story is blunder after blunder [from Nepomniachtchi]. It just feels like it was gift wrapped to Magnus and that’s not how I ever want to remember any sort of chess event,” said Grand Master and commentator Robert Hess as he watched on critically.

Elsewhere on a Chess24 broadcast, Grandmaster Anish Giri claimed that Nepomniachtchi “wants to lose” to be put out of his misery.

Carlsen’s victory is the fourth successful defense of the title he has held since 2013.

The Norwegian Grand Master, 31, is widely viewed as one the of greatest ever to play the game and has held the world number one ranking since 2011.

Despite his ranking of number five in the world, there were hopes that Nepomniachtchi – playing under the banner of the Russian Chess Federation due to WADA sanctions – could challenge his poster-boy rival.

A two-time Russian champion, Nepomniachtchi, 31, sparred with Carlsen at youth level and defeated him at the 2011 Tata Steel tournament and the 2017 London Chess Classic.

This time, though, their showdown ended in a dominant win for Carlsen, who claimed the lion’s share of the €2 million prize money on offer.

Carlsen celebrated his victory by tweeting an image of late NBA star Kobe Bryant holding up five fingers to signify his five titles – the same number of victories the Norwegian now owns in world championship deciders. 

 

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Venezuelan Vixen: Meet the woman preparing for MMA’s most daunting challenge

Known as the ‘Venezuelan Vixen’, Julianna Pena is set for the biggest opportunity of her life at UFC 269. But is there more to her than meets the eye? Or is she just an attention-seeking ‘clown’, as Amanda Nunes suggested?

This weekend in Las Vegas, Pena takes on the all-conquering Brazilian for her bantamweight crown. 

Whatever the outcome in the co-headline bout topped by Charles Oliveira’s first lightweight title defense against Dustin Poirier, the 32-year-old Pena has come a long way.

Born and raised in a “little, tiny garage” in Spokane, Washington, the youngest of four siblings with a Mexican mother and Venezuelan father, hence her nickname, made the switch to MMA after first joining a cardio kickboxing class to lose weight and channel her aggression in her early 20s. 

Talking to BBC Sport in fight week, she spoke of fighting in bar brawls with “dudes in an alley at work” and being run over in 2012, which left her unconscious and her “nose smashed in”.

Crafted under the SikJitsu and Valle Flow Striking banners, big expectations were made of the mother of one when she became the first female winner of The Ultimate Fighter by clinching the reality show competition’s 18th edition in 2013.

Simple math tells us that Pena has waited over eight years for a shot at glory, with an average of less than a bout per year after the first-round TKO of Jessica Rakoczy which earned her a contract with Dana White’s elite promotion.

Indeed, as one might presume, the road has been rocky on the way to facing a foe who many consider the greatest female combatant of all time in Nunes.

For starters, Pena had to wait almost a year and a half from her TUF win until finally putting on the gloves again to take on Milana Dudieva in 2015.

Having been expected to face future strawweight champion Jessica Andrade in March of 2014, Pena suffered a right knee injury and damaged her ACL, MCL, LCL, and meniscus while grappling in training and required surgery and rehabilitation that kept her out of action for the whole of that year. 

From 2015 to mid-2016, Pena went on a four-fight win streak to improve to 8-2 but then met her match in current flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko, who finished her by a second-round armbar submission in early 2017.

Announcing an indefinite hiatus later that year to start a family with daughter Grace born in 2018, Pena returned to her profession in July 2019 after a two-and-a-half-year break to defeat the first-ever flyweight women’s champion Nicco Montano by unanimous decision.

Given that there was then a loss to Germaine de Randamie before her last win in January against Sarah McMann, the jury is still out on Pena.

“Sara McMann almost beat her. Sara McMann gave up in the fight. If she didn’t give up, she would have beat Julianna. But I beat Sara McMann years ago,” Nunes has been quick to point out.

At a press event to promote their long-awaited meeting delayed by Nunes’ battle with Covid, the Brazilian ripped into her loudmouth foe by calling her “delusional” and a “clown” who “wants attention”.

“That’s it,” Nunes concluded.

But is it? Or is there more to Pena than meets the eye, and does she actually have a chance against ‘The Lioness’?

With her inactivity and a 10-4 record, it is difficult to gauge what Pena has, or not. Coming off the back of two defeats in inferior promotions, it beggars belief as to how she got onto the Ultimate Fighter in the first place, never mind win it.

But win the competition she did, in thrilling fashion, with her rear-naked choke finish of veteran and top-ten ranked Shayna Baszler considered the biggest upset of the season on the way to her final demolishing of Rakoczy.

Only topped twice in the UFC, those defeats have come to elite competition in Shevchenko, herself challenging Nunes in the GOAT conversation, and De Randamie who took Nunes all five rounds to the cards in one of her most grueling fights in recent memory while rocked in the second.

“I feel like a lot of people are sleeping on me and they think I’m a sacrificial lamb but I definitely think that, you know, I know that I’m definitely not and everyone loves an underdog,” Pena insisted to TMZ.

There are accusations that Pena has merely earned her title shot by trash talking, claiming that Nunes has been “ducking” her until White finally forced them to meet to settle a grudge.

Breaking character from the smiley, laid-back individual typical of her home state of Bahia in the northeast of Brazil, Nunes is clearly riled this time and this could work to her foe’s advantage if her plan is to merely go out and knock Pena’s head off. 

“I’m always focusing and I know I have 25 minutes to finish her. I just have to take my time and pick the shots at the right times and finish the fight. No matter what she shows up with Saturday night, I’m going to have the answers and I will finish her,” Nunes has vowed to counter such assumptions.

Pena has cited her wrestling as giving her the edge over Nunes, who she perceives to be weak on the ground, and said that the clash is a “perfect style match-up”. 

But to Yahoo Sports, Nunes has claimed that “nothing” concerns her about her opponent while the “delusional” insult came about from Pena having been finished on the mat herself in two of her last four outings. 

“Everything about her game, I’ve seen before. I’ve beat the most tough girls many times, even her training partner, best friend. It’s the same style. When I see Miesha Tate fight, you see Julianna Pena fight. They’re pretty much the same fighter,” Nunes claimed.

“Julianna has all the holes where I can finish her on the floor as well,” Nunes also said at the press event.

“Germaine finished her. Germaine de Randamie is a striker and she finished Julianna Pena [on the ground]. I feel like my game is way above all those girls she fought.

“We’re going to see what’s going to happen. I just need a mistake from her. In striking, in the floor, whatever she brings up, I’m going to have the answers and I’m going to finish the fight,” she guaranteed.

Bad blood aside, though, there is some mutual respect between the two. Pena admitted she is “inspired” by Nunes, to which Nunes conceded “she’s definitely a very good fighter” in return.

Yet as Pena quipped while they traded barbs this week, for all their bravado and predictions one of the women is “going to be dead wrong”.

“We will see,” she finished, perfectly setting up a fiery showdown on Saturday night.

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English football icon presses ahead with plans for mass anti-Johnson protest

Former Manchester United and England defender Gary Neville has urged his social media followers to “go for it” after calling for a protest against the under-fire government of Boris Johnson later this month.

Popular TV pundit Neville is a frequent critic of Johnson and the Conservative government, and recently unloaded on the prime minister amid the investigation into a potential breach of lockdown rules at a Downing Street party last year.

READ MORE: Party on Downing Street sinks Conservative Party in polls

Neville has also criticized the latest round of Covid restrictions in England, suggesting they were merely an attempt to distract attention as Johnson faces questions over his position.

After issuing a rant to his 4.9 million Twitter followers, Neville set up a vote asking if they would join him for a protest against “the scoundrel [Johnson] and his disciples.”

“Protest on Downing St anyone to stand up for Truth and Integrity in our democracy,” Neville wrote.

“Against the Scoundrel and his disciples? 18th December seems the right date!! Have no idea how to organise.”

The results are now in, with Neville revealing on Friday that 90% of the almost 150,000 votes were in favor of the protest.

“Right let’s go for it! 18th December. Anyone organise for me,” Neville asked.

While the tweet racked up over 15,000 ‘likes’ within a few hours of being posted, there were some who urged caution.

“Think about this Gary, there are ways to protest that don’t involve spreading the virus and could be organised by someone with a huge social media following with very little effort,” wrote one person, adding: “Come on now, get your thinking hat on.”

“I know, I’ll call for a superspreader event, help overwhelm the NHS. Oh, by the way someone organise it for me so I don’t get my hands dirty,” scorned another.

Some claimed they could assist, with one popular reply reading: “Again, Gary, get in touch and we can get this done.”

READ MORE: UK public must protest over vaccine passports, urges football hero (VIDEO)

There are a host of Premier League matches scheduled for December 18, including Manchester United against Brighton, while the club Neville co-owns, Salford FC, are also in action – meaning he would need to put football aside for the day if he is serious about his anti-government march.  

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Family of NFL star who died suddenly aged 33 believe they know cause

The family of former NFL wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, who died suddenly on Thursday at age 33, believe they know the cause of their relative’s death.

Five-time Pro Bowl star and 2016 Super Bowl winner Thomas passed away at his Georgia home, with his former team the Denver Broncos in mourning and many ex-colleagues revealing they were “heartbroken” by the news.

READ MORE: NFL icon dead at age 33 after ‘medical issue’

It was originally unknown what had caused the untimely passing, with Roswell police saying “preliminary information is that his death stems from a medical issue, and our investigators currently have no reason to believe otherwise”.

On Friday, however, Thomas’ family shed light on health issues faced by the constantly smiling star, who retired in June this year.

“He had been suffering from seizures for over a year, and we believe he had a seizure when he was showering,” revealed his cousin LaTonya Bonseigneur as per AP.

“We’re not sure when he died. We just spoke with him yesterday.”

Bonseigneur, to whom Thomas was close, said that a friend called his driver when he “couldn’t get a hold of him,” and asked him to check if her cousin was alright.

Granted free access to Thomas’ residence by his family due to the seriousness of the seizures he had been suffering, the driver discovered him in the shower.

In spite of this, an official cause of death has still not been set for Thomas, who would have turned 34 around a fortnight from now on Christmas Day.

Also joining fellow GOAT candidate Peyton Manning – who won the Super Bowl alongside Thomas – in tribute to the deceased was another legendary quarterback in Tom Brady. 

“I’m so sad to wake up this morning to hear about the passing of my friend Demaryius Thomas,” said Brady, who played with him at the New England Patriots in 2019. 

“We were all blessed with his humility and positive spirit, and we will all miss him. This photo is from the Hall of Fame this past August, a source of light as always. RIP,” Brady finished, referencing a selfie of the pair also uploaded.

Catching his last competitive ball at the New York Jets, Thomas is best remembered for nine impressive seasons at the Broncos where he became their all-time receiving yards in a game (226) and season (1619) record holder as well as the holder of the most touchdown receptions (14).

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‘That was insane’: Fans wowed by crazy ‘Superman punch’ KO at Moscow MMA event (VIDEO)

An MMA fighter has thrilled the sport with a fantastic “Superman punch” in mid-air that felled his opponent and ended their fight at an Eagle FC event in Moscow.

Mehdi Dakaev took on Makkasharip Zaynukov on Friday night in the headline bout at EFC 43 in the Russian capital.

The promotion run by Khabib Nurmagomedov, and the Chechen served up exactly the kind of highlight-reel clip that will help the ex-UFC lightweight champion in his plans to make the company expand.

Approaching 0:42 in the second round, Dakaev, also a lightweight, first missed with a big left hook.

As his opponent thought he was slipping away from danger, however, and making his way across the octagon, Dakaev noticed Zaynukov wasn’t protecting his chin and threw himself into the air. 

Connecting with another huge left, he knocked Zaynukov out cold which caused the referee to dive in and stop Dakaev from reigning down hammer blows on top of him. 

Fans reacted on social media as footage of the incident spread, calling the “Superman punch” things such as “unbelievable” and claiming it to have been a first in MMA history.

“Mehdi Dakaev has entered the chatroom for KO of the Year. That is some Patrick Mahomes stuff,” commented one, in reference to the way the NFL quarterback often pulls off mid-air throws when all seems lost on a play.  

“Never seen anything like that. Gonna be a tough one to beat,” agreed someone else, and there were also comparisons to the legendary basketballer Michael “Air” Jordan.

“Every fighter who tries to fall forward into a jab as their lead leg gets low kicked is mad right now,” was another observation.

“This is how I fight in dreams but the other person laughs at me instead,” it was also admitted elsewhere.

“Insane accuracy and commitment,” a separate enthusiast remarked.