The world chess championship match has been turned on its head after a masterpiece by Chinese challenger Ding Liren put him back on even terms with Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Liren unleashed his prep using the English Opening: Four Knights Variation and for the first ten moves followed a game played by his second Hungarian Richárd Rapport more than a decade ago.
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Liren initiated a positional pawn sacrifice with the move 15. c5, unleashing an attack near the king and building a strong centre while Nepo’s knight remained dim on the rim.
Nepomniachtchi eventually repositioned his knight to the d4 square but was stunned when Liren found a powerful exchange sacrifice. Nepomniachtchi was now complexly lost.
Nepomniachtchi’s ear was visibly red as he quickly realised the enormity of his mistake.
“I have a good angle here on his ear, it is red. I can tell you red ears is one of the signs of blunders. My ears turn red right away when I blunder,” Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri said in the commentary for Chess.com.
Liren’s knight moved towards the f5 square, a deadly outpost that former world champion Garry Kasparov once referred to as “knife f5”.
Nepomniachtchi was left horrifically constricted, boxed into his corner by the advanced pawns and knight.
Liren won the exchange back after the move 37. d6 but Nepomniachtchi’s exposed king wasn’t long for the world.
The crafty move 46. Qg7 left Nepomniachtchi in virtual zugzwang and the Russian resigned after the brutal move 47. Qf8, which removed the queen blockade, paving the way for promotion.
Nepomniachtchi’s blunder to allow the exchange sacrifice was a huge turnaround for Liren, who was trailing after being beaten by Nepomniachtchi earlier this week.
It was also a big confidence boost for the Chinese number one who earlier admitted to being badly impacted by nerves.
“I would like to thank my friends, they cheered me up and they helped me to deal with my emotional problems, and now I feel more comfortable on this stage,” he said.
“At some point I thought I might have some problem with my mind, but in the end it’s not as serious as I expected.”
The chess.com live stream was marred when an admin posted a comment from the chat “LETS GO IAN Z” (sic), a reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Nepomniachtchi himself has spoken out publicly against the invasion and was one of 44 Russian chess players to sign an open letter sent to Putin demanding an end to the conflict.
