22 April 2023

Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren Draw Game Nine

The overall score is 5:4 in favour of the Russian GM.

Photo credit: Anna Shtourman / FIDE
Photo credit: Anna Shtourman / FIDE


Game nine has come as yet another display of how much engines have changed the way we think about "what is and is not fine" in chess. Tal, Fischer and Karpov's games have demonstrated that the Ruy Lopez is not the opening for Black to put up with a piece attack on the kingside, let alone to give up the h6-pawn! To the contrary, Ding Liren's position no means collapsed as a result of all the above happening in his game.

Thus, Ian Nepomniachtchi once again opened the game with the king's pawn move. Ding came back with symmetrical pawn move, dismissing the French Defence at least temporarily. However, as soon as there arose the initial Ruy Lopez setup, Liren abandoned his favourite 3...a6 for the Berlin lines with 3...Nf6. Are we going to witness this notorious endgame yet again? It was here in Astana, back in 2001, that the 13th world champion broke down his throne successor's "Berlin Wall" for the first time, and this game proved decisive in the contest for first place in that super-tournament of long ago. However, nostalgia evaporated to White's anti-Berlin with d2-d3.

The game went on to develop in line with modern theory, and opening up of the d-file gave rise to the typical Ruy Lopez setups, with White amassing his pieces on the kingside, and Black looking for counterplay at the opposite part of the board. There came a moment when Ding Liren seemed playing with fire yet again. "I am not a fan of 17...Rb8 as it leaves the a6-knight undefended in some lines. Likewise, 18.Nh4 gives White a clear game as opposed to that of Black's," Vishy Anand, the 15th world champion, mentioned online. However, the Chinese grandmaster drew the fire upon oneself in a conscious manner".

A hell of complications broke loose before long. However, it was not as crazy as that of the day before, and more or less controlled by both sides at that. A critical moment came about on move 26, when Black offered a sacrifice of exchange for a pawn. 

However, nothing of that materialised on the board as three minutes's deliberation ended in Nepomniachtchi's rejecting this continuation in favour of mass liquidation: the most principled 27.Bxb5!? gave way to 27.Bxe6. White would maintain slight initiative anyway. Immediately following the time control, the game transposed into the "three vs two pawns on the same flank" endgame with rooks and knights. White's winning chances were slim, objectively speaking, but he decided to test his opponent anyway because having to fight back from a position in which only two results are possible is invariably unpleasant from a psychological point of view.

Ian also managed to put his opponent up against a number of purely chess problems, which took the Chinese grandmaster almost an hour to sort out. Ding managed to stay clear all pitfalls, and the opponents agreed a draw on move 82. It has so far been the longest rally of the match that lasted nearly 6 hours. 

The overall score is 5:4 in favour of the Russian GM. Saturday, April 22, is a scheduled rest day at the match. Game ten is taking place on Sunday, April 23, with the GM of China 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.

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