The rollercoaster that is the 2023 chess world championship has taken another unexpected turn as Ding Liren again levelled the score.
The Chinese number one deployed the sleepy London system against his Russian opponent Ian Nepomniachtchi, gaining space on both flanks with pawn pushes.
The first key moment came as Liren exchanged bishop for knight with the move 26. Bxc4.
Liren then attacked Nepomniachtchi’s bishop as he thrust his pawn to h5 and the Russian hurriedly moved his bishop to the c2 square, a move criticised by Chess.com commentator David Howell as impulsive.
Liren grabbed a pawn on the b7 square and retreated his knight to the d6 square, relying on a tactical trick that would have won the queen.
As pressure mounted, Nepomniachtchi made his first big mistake with 32. Qc1+ instead of taking the c3 pawn and equalising the position.
Liren snatched a pawn, giving himself connected passers, as Nepomniachtchi began a rush to queen his pawn on the a-file.
Liren responded with the strong move 36. Bb1, repositioning his knight to attack the enemy king.
Nepomniachtchi continued to move his pawn as Liren’s forces surrounded the monarch.
With the stunning move 42. Qc7 Liren set up a combination with a queen sacrifice and checkmate.
“This is just so beautiful from a chess point of view, it is so satisfying,” commentator Anish Giri said. “It’s seriously sick, it’s sick stuff.”
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Liren swept in with his knight and queen, surrounding the black king, forcing resignation.
The Russian realised he was doomed and threw in the towel, not allowing the queen sacrifice to play out on the board.
Giri called Liren’s play “disturbingly beautiful” and described him as a “genius”.
“A beautiful finish from Ding,” Howell said.
The players are now tied with three points each.
The win means there have been four decisive games so far in the match, a bloodbath compared to previous years which featured Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, who declined to defend his title.
