World Championship, Game 10
Nepo holds with Black, clings to a one-point lead with four games to go.
It’s not yet desperation time for Ding Liren in his World Championship match with Ian Nepomniachtchi, but it’s getting there. Nepo is playing well, and his preparation with Black held up beautifully today. Game 10 started the same way as game 4, with 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6, but instead of 4.e3 Ding went for 4.e4 this time around. Black generally plays 4…Bb4 to avoid the fork trick seen in the game, 4…Bc5 5.Nxe5 Nxe5 6.d4, but Nepo was well-prepared. Black’s strategy in the line is to sac a pawn to reach a safe position with a much better structure, counting on White’s long-term weaknesses to guarantee a drawish ending.
That’s exactly how it went. White had too many weaknesses, and Black too much activity, for Ding to have any real winning chances - or in this case, even an advantage. The game was effectively over around move 33 or 34, and officially over after 45 moves, when nothing was left on the board but the players’ kings.
A very smooth draw for Nepo, who leads the best-of-14 game match 5.5-4.5. Game 11 is today/tomorrow (Monday), and it’s an absolute must-not lose situation for Ding. It’s not over, but he’s running out of time with only two white games left. Given that he has already bounced back twice in this match, and won a must-win game in the last round of the Candidates against Nakamura to earn the right to this match (given Magnus Carlsen’s abdication), his resilience and mental toughness should not be doubted. Still, he needs to get something from the opening, and time is running short. We’ll see; for now, he needs to hold with Black.
In the meantime, here’s today’s game, with my comments.