Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi scored a third victory in his World Chess Championship duel against China’s Ding Liren on Tuesday in Astana, giving him a 4-3 lead and regaining the lead for the third time.
This world championship, already unusual by the refusal of the best active player and defending champion Magnus Carlsen to participate, continues to surprise. Where the games between the best players end most of the time in a draw, it is the fifth duel out of seven that ends in a victory for one of the two players.
Never has an International Chess Federation World Championship seen so many victories in the first seven duels since the legendary match between Soviet Boris Spassky and American Bobby Fisher in 1972.
The game was crazy from the first move played by Ding, who surprised his world by opposing his opponent with a so-called “French” opening for the first time in the competition, to his last. The Chinese Grandmaster had nevertheless obtained a balanced position but, also very rare at the highest level, found himself short of time with only 45 seconds to play eight moves.
As paralyzed in front of the chessboard during the last minutes, he made a bad choice and immediately gave up. Ding had already explained at the beginning of the competition that the pressure of the event weighed heavily on him.
Halfway through, the advantage is for Nepomniachtchi, who won three games, two draws and two defeats. However, the Russian player started once more with white, which gives a slight advantage.
Wednesday is a rest day, before two new games on Thursday and Friday.
