The World Chess Championship is wide open again after a fast-paced game. The Chinese Ding Liren won the third last game against his Russian rival Ian Nepomniachtchi on Wednesday in the Kazakh capital Astana and thus equalized to 6: 6. It is therefore clear that the title fight will go over the maximum number of 14 games. The 13th duel will already take place on Thursday (11 a.m. / CEST).
In a hectic game, both grandmasters played relatively quickly and missed better moves in several situations. In the final phase of the match, however, the Russian made a big mistake, which put Ding on course for victory. After a total of 38 moves, the now hopeless Nepomniachtchi gave up and Ding was the winner.
It didn’t look like it at first. “I thought my position was better after the opening. But after my opponent played a number of good moves, I felt like the tables had turned. I was about to lose, so I tried to complicate the game with some tactics,” said the 30-year-old Chinese. Apparently with success.
On the other hand, opponent Nepomniachtchi was disappointed. “In the meantime my position looked as if I would win. But even if you’re on the right track, you have to be precise to the end. And obviously I wasn’t precise enough today,” he said after the game.
A win is worth one point, and a draw gives each player half a point. Whoever reaches 7.5 points first wins. In the event of a tie, the tiebreak will be decided on April 30th. Nepomniachtchi had won the 2022 Candidates Tournament, Ding had finished second. Because permanent world champion Magnus Carlsen from Norway did not compete due to a lack of motivation, the two play out the world champion title.