Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi Draw Game 14
The Champion's title is up for grabs at the tie-breaker.
April 29, Astana hosted Game 14 of the World Championship Match between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren. Making the symbolic first move were Maulen Sagathanuly Ashimbayev, Chairperson of the Senate of the Parliament of Kazakhstan, and Alanna Berikkyzy, the FIDE World School Chess champion song girls under 9 years old.
White pieces were with the Chinese Grandmaster. The opponents opened into the 4. e3 Nimzo-Indian Defence already seen in this match. However, this time Liren developed his bishop to d2 on move five, which has blossomed into quite a popular line in recent years. Ian Nepomniachtchi reacted quickly and wasted little time in the opening, which cannot be said about his opponent.
At some point both opponents started creative play by opting for unorthodox continuations. White came out to fight, which especially became clear with Liren's launching a kingside attack and his own king remaining uncastled. However, this offensive turned around to Black's advantage, who went on to complete development and then threaten White's weaknesses. However, Nepomniachtchi then opted for safety first and the position equalised as a result.
The exchanges transposed into the endgame with rooks and minor pieces. At this point Ding Liren again lashed out with some inaccurate moves to compromise his pawn structure. A move later White gave up a pawn, but Ian's reaction, alas, was not quite up to the occasion. Then the position would swing from roughly equal to better for Black so that Nepomniachtchi's edge acquired seemingly decisive proportions at one point. However, the Russian committed an error nearing the time control move, and the Chinese GM managed to transpose into a down a pawn rook ending with the only moves. Notwithstanding the time pressure, White came up with the optimal setup to hold his ground in the ending that saw very long and close struggle.
The overall match score is now 7:7. The tie-breaker is scheduled on Sunday, April 30. First, the participants are to determine the strongest in a series of four games that feature the 25+10 time control format. If the score remains equal, two more games are to be played to the 5+3 control format. If the score is still equal, the opponents are to sort things out in two more games with the same control. If the champion is still undetermined, the GMs will need to determine the strongest in the "3+2" time control game. In case of a draw, yet another game is to be played to the same time control, and this procedure is to go on until the first player to win the game. The next game starts at 12:00 (Moscow time).
You can follow the match live broadcast on Match TV channels. Nornickel is the company that sponsors the broadcast in Russia.
The fan area sponsor for the World Championship Match is Rosseti Centre.
General partner of the CFR is PhosAgro.
Tournament page
Photo credit: Eteri Kublashvili
