World Championship, Round 13
A shaky draw for both players leaves the match tied going into the last game.
After the horror of game 12, Ian Nepomniachtchi had to get his emotions under control before his last white game of the match. Despite the huge missed opportunity of game 12, culminating in a painful loss, the match was still even and there was still everything to play for. The most important thing was not to collapse, and he didn’t.
Still, there were some shaky moments, but then that was true for Ding Liren as well. The game was another 6.d3 Ruy, and Nepo varied from game 5 with the extremely unusual 10.Be3. It doesn’t look like a dangerous move, but it’s not a risky one either, and its rarity made it a decent surprise for a single game.
Ding reacted well, and his 16…Nc4 was especially good. Nepo’s 18th and 19th moves were inaccurate, and he would have been under annoying pressure had Ding played 21…Rb8. Instead, 21…Re5 and then 23…Qe7 let Nepo off the hook, and after 28…Nb4 it was White who enjoyed a significant edge. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t find 33.a5, aiming to bring the bishop to the beautiful d4 square via b6. Missing that, his edge was minimal, and he settled for a repetition as the players reached the time control.
So, it’s 6.5-6.5, with Ding having the white pieces in the final Classical game on Saturday. (Friday is a rest day.) If that’s drawn, the match will end on Sunday with rapid games followed, if necessary, by blitz games. (In brief: first, a best of four game mini-match at a 25’+10” time control, then two 5’+3” games, then two more 5’+3” games, followed by single 3’+2” games with the players taking turns with White until someone wins. It will be a sudden death finale, but not Armageddon.) But first, we’ll have Saturday’s game, and in the meantime, here’s Thursday’s game, with my notes.