Carlsen just won the longest game in chess world championship history (136 moves!).
And, yes, I admit this result to some extent weakens my criticism of the current match system as incentivizing ultra-conservative play, especially if the title-holder expects to prevail in the rapid play tie-breaker. Carlsen pushed hard to grind out this win, and I give him credit.
At the same time, however, this is only the third decisive game in the last 3 title matches (out of 30 games total), and even Carlsen himself has said that the system is seriously flawed. So I'm only partially repentant. I clearly overstated the case. But there is some merit to the argument, nonetheless.
"Asked about the format on Tuesday, Carlsen said, 'There’s a saying that if you don’t have anything nice to say you shouldn’t say anything at all, so I’m going to invoke that particular saying right here.'”