20 April 2023

Game Eight Between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi is Drawn

The overall score is 4.5-3.5 in favour of the Russian GM.


"White to win" – this is the motto of the World Championship Match in Astana once we choose to disregard the first three games of long ago played prior to the start of the second winter in Kazakhstan. Taking place following yet another day off, game eight was seemingly heading in that direction for quite some so as to become no exception to the above motto either. (By the way, in case you want to know the reason behind so many rest days at the middle of this event, please check FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky's interview). However, Ian Nepomniachtchi managed to refute this favourite quote by master Vsevolod Rauser via summoning some extraordinary resourcefulness. 

Playing white, Ding Liren remained true to the queen's pawn move. However, it immediately became clear that there would be no London system, which had brought the Chinese grandmaster a confident victory in game 6 and was a one-time weapon, most likely. On the other hand, we have witnessed yet another opening: the classical Nimzo-Indian Defence. However, we have seen its ultramodern interpretation, backed up by deep computer preparation. 

Commenting on the match for the Russian-speaking audience, GM Alexander Shabalov highlighted the fact of inquisitive minds having come across on one of the game servers a whole match with two anonymous chess players testing the same line as in today's game. The usernames were allegedly traced to their true identities, them being Ding Liren and his second, Richard Rapport! The question begs asking, though: why test a secret weapon into the public realm? Ding Liren disclaimed any knowledge of that at the press conference. 

Game eight resembled game four to a surprising extent: white created a strong pawn center with doubled c-pawns and then sacrificed one his pawns to carry out a central break. In doing so, Ding burned quite some clock, but it was probably just recollection and double-checking of his home prep. Ian would be up to the challenge and play with computer precision for quite some time, but then miscalculated and his error on move 22 landed him in an extremely difficult position. White's passed pawn made it to the 7th rank, and the black king felt extremely uncomfortable with the dark squares in his camp exposed hopelessly. 

However, when the home preparation has finished and the over-board play started, Ding made an inaccuracy and allowed his opponent to breathe more freely. This is when the most exciting part of the game started. Ian probably recalled the saying "the road to success is fraught with risk!" and offered a whole rook on that altar. He was indeed poised to deliver a perpetual check, but on closer examination the white king could escape from the checks. This is why the rook could (and should!) have been taken. Liren missed something in his calculations, took his opponent at his word and opted for yet another continuation, which neared Black to half a step away from equality. Truth be told, the way to equality defied easy finding.

Black's play was not quite up to the occasion, which gave Ding a chance to tip the scales to his side again. However, in trying to leave the opponent with no counterplay whatsoever, the Chinese grandmaster missed a spectacular knight sacrifice, thanks to which Black managed to get rid of the most dangerous passed pawn and blunt his opponent's bishop.

On passing the time control the smoke quickly cleared: the exchange of queens persuaded White to give back his extra piece to neutralise Black's connected passed pawns, and the opponents ended up agreeing a draw in an equal rook ending.

The overall score is 4.5:3.5 in favour of the Russian GM. Game nine is taking place on Friday, April 21, with the Russian GM having the white pieces. The game begins 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: Stev Bonhage, FIDE