The Week in Chess

Ding Liren was surprised by Ian Nepomniachtchi in game 10 of the World Chess Championships and the game finished in a draw after three and a half hours play with bare kings on the board. This means Nepomniachtchi retains a one point lead going into the final four games of the match.

The game saw a return to the English Opening by Ding, today he chose a Sicilian Four Knights with 4.e4. 4...Bc5 allowed a fork trick with 5.Nxe5 Nxe5 6.d4 recovering the piece but it turns out this might not be at all bad for black.

9....Bc5 seemed to catch Ding out and they then followed a Titled Tuesday blitz game Nepomniachtchi played in 2020 until 14.0-0 which was new from Ding. The variation is a sharp attempt at equality for black, he risks things by displacing his King on f8 but has other compensation including play against white's doubled c-pawns and generally good activity.

On move 17 white chose to go into an endgame, alternatives looked worse, but there didn't look very much for white to play for a win with. Black might have drifted into trouble on another day but it would have taken a lot of mistakes. On move 33 Ding offered an exchange of rooks, this clearly was calling off any last pretence that he was trying to win. The players then hoovered the board of all pieces and pawns to leave bare kings by move 45. Disappointing for Ding because he's really managed to get a little something in most of his games with the white pieces but also a fairly normal scenario for a title match.

Ian Nepomniachtchi: "Today's line is quite interesting for White. White can play on and have different plans... The idea of Bc5 looks a little bit scary, but you take some extra risk if you're going for forcing lines. Overall I think it was a decent game from me."

Score Nepomniachtchi 5.5 Ding 4.5. Best of 14.

Game 11 Monday 24th April 2023.