In yesterday’s round-seven game against Ian Nepomniachtchi, Levon Aronian made a wrong threefold repetition claim. At the 20th move, the players started repeating moves, but Aronian called an arbiter to claim a draw too early. The position was repeated only twice. While Nepo moved away from the board, the arbiter ordered the game to continue.
In the post-game interview, Nepomniachtchi explained his decision to move on with the game: “When Levon even went for the arbiter to get a draw, I saw how big his desire for a draw was. I don’t have so many classical games before the World Championship match. I should use them“. Ian’s decision was justified with a nice victory against the WR Chess Masters leader. Replay the game here

