Ding drops crucial victory as Nepomniachtchi maintains lead in title match
After achieving a won position in the eighth game of the match, Ding Liren badly misplayed allowing Nepomniachtchi to draw and stay ahead in the race for the 17th world chess champion. The score is 4,5:3,5 for Nepomniachtchi In a stunning turn of events, Ding Liren squandered several chances in a winning position and ended up playing for a draw in the eighth game of the FIDE World Chess Championship match. In the Nimzo-Indian Defence, Ding Liren surprised his opponent with a sharp line, sacrificing a piece for an attack on the black king. Nepomniachtchi was caught off guard and, in the critical moment of the game, he misplayed by exchanging a bishop for a knight on e4 on move 22, entering a losing position. At that point, however, Ding made several bad decisions, ultimately squandering his huge advantage. Despite repeated opportunities handed to him on a silver platter by Nepomniachtchi, Ding failed to capitalize on any of them. By the time the two reached the first time control, the position was even but visually more dangerous for White. The momentum shifted, and Nepomniachtchi seemed to gain confidence as he sensed Ding’s grip on the game loosening. Ultimately, Ding managed to find solid moves to simplify the position to a drawn rook endgame. After four and a half hours of play and 45 moves, the two agreed on a draw. Ding’s own missteps led to his undoing, but Nepomniachtchi’s resourcefulness in finding great defensive moves such as 31…Qh4! And 37…Nxf2!! also deserve credit for this result which allows him to stay in the lead. In the words of Grandmaster Daniil Dubov: “The players have been playing roulette today… It doesn’t look to me as if this is Ding’s last chance to win a gem in the match.” A huge opportunity wasted by Ding and a lucky escape for Nepomniachtchi, who maintains the lead. Game nine of the match will take place on Friday, 21st April at 3 PM Astana time. Here follows a closer look at the eighth game of the match. Every single game in the match for the title of World Champion in chess is important but game eight in the duel between Ding and Nepomniachtchi in Astana meant more to both players. Game eight was a crucial turning point for both players, and the tension was palpable: if Nepo wins he extends his lead, if Ding wins the race is open. With the match at its halfway point, Ding had been trailing behind Nepo, evening the score twice before suffering a defeat in the seventh game. Now, Ding had to level the score again, for the third time. Playing catch-up is never easy, especially against a player like Nepomniachtchi, who got his third chance to extend the lead. If this match has shown anything so far, it is that the players are going for sharp play and a win in each game, without any hesitation or regrets, till the bitter end. That was also the case in game eight. The opponents tested a relatively rare line in the Rubinstein Variation of Nimzo-Indian, in which Ding was first to surprise his opponent with a rare 9.Ra2, recently introduced by GM Aram Hakobyan. Ding walked off the board after playing this move. Daniil Dubov made a point about this: “This is very typical for chess players. He played Ra2 and left the board, which means Ding is saying to Nepo: I know you had a clue about Bd3, I know Ra2 is good, and I know how a rare move this is, I know the engine doesn’t prefer this as White, and I know you’re out of the book”. Later in the post-game interview, Nepomniachtchi confirmed that he was aware of the move Ra2. Nepomniachtchi spent some time thinking and opted for the most natural move 10…b6. 10.e4 Played quickly by Ding. White is delaying his castle to seize the initiative in the centre. 10…Ba6 11.Bg5 h6 12.h4! The plan of the line Ding took, going for a sharp position, attacking Black’s kingside. Nepo spent six minutes thinking before taking on g5 and went for a forced line 12…hxg5 13.hxg5 g6 Ding also was taking his time. This was probably all in his preparation, but he was checking the lines. Black’s king is vulnerable on the h-file, and Ding has a chance to increase further pressure with f4. Ding restored the material balance and started spending more time on the clock for each move. 14…Qxf6 15.e5 Playing sharp, opening the space for the knight to jump to e4. “This position is a gift for Ding” said Dubov. Now Nepo got into deep thought. After 15…dxe5 Ding proceeded with 16.d5 sacrificing a pawn to which Ian reacted with 16…Ne7. According to chess engines 16…Rad8 was a worthy alternative. 17.d6 Played after 33 minutes. This was the best choice, preferred by the computer. The position is roughly equal, but White had momentum on his side. But, again, as in previous games, Ding was spending huge amounts of time. After a series of logical and well-calculated moves, the opponents reached the first critical position of the game. Ian played 22…Be4? This move gave a huge advantage to White. Nepo’s argument was that he believes that his knight is stronger than White’s bishop. He spent 20 minutes on the clock. Ian started feeling the pressure of White’s knight, the d6-pawn is getting better protected. Meanwhile after sensible 22…Rh8 Black is fine. “He panicked,” said Anish Giri when he saw Nepo taking the knight. 23.Qxe4 Nf5 24.Rd2! Improving his position further and keeping Black on the backfoot. Played instantly by Ding – and the engine also liked this move as the best one. Black can’t take on d6 because Qxe5 wins a piece. Taking on g5 by Black would give Ding a chance to create a masterpiece on board: 24…Qxg5?? 25.Qxe5+ f6 26.Qh2 Rh8 27.Rxh8 Rxh8 28.Qxh8+!! Kxh8 29.d7 and Black can’t prevent White from promoting his pawn! Just a few moves down the road, Ding got an overwhelming position but yielded to the temptation of making a natural but
Double crown for France at the Mitropa Cup 2023
France won gold medals in both the open and women’s sections at Mitropa Chess Cup 2023, organized by the Croatian Chess Federation in Mali Lošinj. Les Bleus successfully defended the titles won back in 2022. The closing ceremony featured some honourable guests: the Mayor of Mali Lošinj, Mrs Anna Kučić, and the President of the European Chess Union, Mr Zurab Azmaiparashvili. The President of Mitropa Chess Association, Mr Marco Biagioli, handed them a small presents from MCA. Croatia passed the baton to Germany, the country that will host the 2024 Mitropa Cup. Mr Biagioli also congratulated the Tournament Director, Mr Alojzije Janković, ECU Vice President and Croatian Chess Federation Secretary General, for the perfect organization. During the tournament, the Mitropa Chess Association Board held a meeting in Mali Lošinj, where many new projects were discussed and will be announced in the following weeks. All results and standing can be found in Chess-Results: Open section and Women’s section and on the official website: https://mitropa.chess.at/. Text: Aleksandra Dimitrijević Photos: Aleksandra Dimitrijević and Croatian Chess Federation
The World defeats Kazakhstan in a unique match
The World team emerged victorious over Kazakhstan in a thrilling three-day match featuring the best women players. Team World defeated Kazakhstan with 73:55 The third and final day of the match, “World vs Kazakhstan”, made up of top women players, ended with a Blitz tournament. After eight rounds of the rapid tournament played on Monday and Tuesday, Team World was in the lead with 34½:29½ . The Blitz match – consisting of eight rounds (like the rapid) was a chance for Kazakhstan to even the score. Team World, however, was better. They defeated top women players from Kazakhstan in all but one round (in the final, eighth round, the result was 4:4). The fight was much more vicious than the results suggest. On the first day team Kazakhstan lost three matches in a row, but on the second day, they came out swinging, taking four consecutive matches. But Blitz is always an open race where experience is more important than knowledge. Team World was made up of more experienced players, and that played into their hands. Dana Reizniece-Ozola, the Captain of Team World, was balanced in celebrating her team’s success, saying that “the final result doesn’t resemble the dynamics of the past three days.” “It was very tense for us, especially on day two, where we lost three out of four matches. The format was great – two days of rapid and one day of Blitz.” As the leader of her team, Reizniece-Ozola couldn’t help but notice something quite extraordinary: “Normally, they don’t play in one team. They are used to seeing their current teammates as challengers and competitors in world events, so it was great to see how they were glued together by team spirit.” Captain of team Kazakhstan, WGM Gulmira Dauletova (pictured below, left), said that despite the loss, the event was “a very important experience for Kazakhstan, especially for our young girls.” “This was a chance for them to show themselves to the world. And some of them – such as Alua Nurmanova, who won seven out of her eight games in the rapid – have made a name for them now,” said Dauletova. Indian GM and Harika Dronavalli, currently ranked as the 11th strongest women player in the world, said that this event was “a great initiative” and that “these steps are a start of something huge in the future. It’s really nice to start women matches, and we should appreciate that this was organised so wonderfully”. Kazakhstan native and the reigning two-time Women’s World Blitz Chess Champion, Bibisara Assaubayeva, was the best player in her team. Despite the defeat, she says this event was a great opportunity for Kazakhstan’s women’s players to play against the world’s best. “We have great chess players, but we are a young team and we need to play more against the strongest players in the world”, Bibisara said. The four-time women’s world champion and top-rated women’s player Hou Yifan was one of the stars of the event. Despite changing her life focus from chess to teaching, she has accepted to take part in this event which has taken the chess world by surprise. “In general, this event was well organised. It was a lot of fun, and there were very exciting moments. I enjoyed it very much except for my results. Blitz is more exhausting as it’s very fast and intense”, Hou Yifan said. In the Blitz Hou Yifan was on 50% (three victories, three defeats and two draws), which, for someone of her stature, is not a great achievement. However, “the point of this event isn’t in the result but in what it means for the promotion of chess in Kazakhstan and women’s chess in general”, as she noted. “One of the main reasons for this event is to encourage more young players to improve their chess skills, and it was great to contribute to that”, Hou Yifan said. The total prize fund was 50,000 USD and the winning team received 30,000 USD (20,000 USD equally shared by women players, 10,000 USD equally shared by youth players), while the other 20,000 went to the runners-up. There are already plans for a rematch either at the end of this year or the beginning of next. Text: Milan Dinic Photos: Anna Shtourman