Chess: Ding and Nepomniachtchi go to the wire as speed shootout looms
Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi drew the 13th and penultimate round of their world championship match in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Thursday as the prospect of another draw on Saturday and a speed shootout for the crown on Sunday loomed closer. Nepomniachtchi, 32, again opened with the Ruy Lopez but stood worse in the middle game until Ding, 30, spoiled his advantage and opted to halve by threefold repetition of position, saying later: “It was still some kind of dark ocean position, so I didn’t go further into it.”
The final outcome now depends on Saturday’s 14th and final classical game. If the score is then 7-7, they go to rapid and blitz tiebreak games, the chess equivalent of a penalty shootout, on Sunday. Play begins at 10am BST, and the official website with grandmaster commentary is worldchampionship.fide.com. The games can also be watched on chess.com, chess24.com and chessgames.com.
The speed tie-break, if needed, will consist of four 25-minute games, with a 10-second increment from move one. If they are still tied, up to two pairs of 5+3 games will be played. If tied again, they go to single 3+2 games, with colours reversed each game, until there is a winner.
Deciding the crown by rapid and blitz games has happened four times previously, following a change in title rules which used to allow the champion to keep his title after a drawn match. Vlad Kramnik v Veselin Topalov in 2006, Vishy Anand v Boris Gelfand in 2012, Magnus Carlsen v Sergey Karjakin in 2016, and Carlsen v Fabiano Caruana in 2018 were all decided by speed tiebreaks.
Anand and Carlsen were renowned for their skills at fast chess, This time Ding, who ranks No 2 to Carlsen in rapid, has a slight edge in the ratings, but the outcome may be determined more by who has the better nerves under extreme pressure.
Ding dramatically levelled the scores at 6-6 when he recovered from a lost position in Wednesday’s errorstrewn game 12, where a computer analysis showed 21 inaccuracies, mistakes, missed opportunities or blunders and which culminated in Nepomniachtchi’s
massive error at move 34.
The howler, which brought gasps of disbelief from the online commentators, gave away a free pawn and opened up his defences to an invasion by Ding’s army. Nepomniachtchi spent all but two minutes of his remaining time seeking a way out, and slumped in his chair as he realised his position was hopeless.
The Russian’s greatest strength, his speed of thought in sharp tactical positions, became a weakness as he blitzed out errors and the final blunder. Fabiano Caruana, the 2018 title challenger, was scathing in his chess.com commentary. “I don’t understand this decision to rush every move. It’s a world championship,” he said. “You have one or two chances in your lifetime – how can you play every move like it’s a Titled Tuesday game? These are responsible decisions to make.”
The drama of game 12 was a total contrast not only to game 13, but also to the 10th and 11th games, which were drawn on Sunday and Monday after relatively calm play.
Carlsen, Norway’s world No 1, who has abdicated his world champion crown after a 10-year reign, never had such drama and reversals of fortune in his five title matches. There were long stretches of draws in 2016 and 2018, and even in 2021 there were five draws before the marathon 136-move sixth game and Nepomniachtchi’s subsequent collapse.
The gap between Carlsen and his rivals was not fully translated into overwhelming match results. Instead, his clear superiority on tie-breaks at faster time rates became a kind of goal difference, a potential threat which tempted opponents to overpress in the classical section.
The combative approach by both players in Astana, a clear contrast to Carlsen’s matches, has split chess fans, with some delighted by the increased fighting spirit but others displeased by the higher percentage of errors.
Will Carlsen be tempted into a comeback against whoever wins in Astana? It seems highly unlikely. The 32-year-old played only 40 classical games in 2022, the smallest number of his career apart from the pandemic-affected 2020. His current schedule for 2023 also plans for only around 40, starting next month with his home tournament of Stavanger. It is possible that he will add the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, from which he withdrew in controversial circumstances last year following his loss to Hans Niemann, where the fallout included a still unresolved lawsuit.
Instead, Carlsen is giving priority to the online Champions Tour of rapid and blitz games, although he will be absent from the next Tour event, the ChessKid Cup, a five-day knockout starting on 22 May. The No 1 has a growing interest in poker. He has always said that he plans to retire from chess by his 40s, so 2023 could be viewed as the early stages of a winding down.
3865: 1 Rd6! Qxd6 2 f3+ Kh5 3 Kh3 (threat 4 g4 mate) g5 4 Rg7! with 5 g4 mate or 4…g4 5 fxg4 mate or 4…Nf6 5 g4+ Nxg4 6 fxg4 mate. Black can avoid mate by 1...Nc5 2 Rxd3 Nxd3 or by 1...Qe4 2 f3+ Qxf3, but then has a hopeless ending.