FIDE World Chess Championship Game 2: Nepo crushes Ding with black pieces to go 1.5-0.5 up

New Delhi: Ian Nepomnichtchi beat Ding Liren in game 2 with the black pieces to take a crucial 1.5-0.5 lead in the match. The Chinese grandmaster played inaccurately as soon as he was out of the books and the game ended in just 29 moves where he was forced to resign in a worse position. Ding had his opening prepared where he brought a new idea but Nepo crushed him, and this is not be an exaggeration.

It was an Anti-Nimzo-Indian Defence or more like a Queen’s Gambit Declined structure and an opposite side castling game. Ding made an inaccuracy on move 12 and just could not play good chess after that. Game 2 was chaotic and with extreme time trouble towards the end, Ding had to give up the fight.

Liren came up with a new idea of playing h3 on move 4 and surprised everyone. White playing 10.a4 made the game exciting as Nepo also extended his queen’s side pawns. 12.Nxf6+ came as the first inaccurate move for Ding, which gives an open g-file for Nepo’s rook, which he took advantage of later on. Ding went for a tactical move 17.Bd3, offering his light-squared bishop, which could not be taken as black’s queen would hang, and that move took him into deep trouble.

This is how Nepo claimed an early 1½-½ lead in a brilliant second game at the FIDE World Championship! #NepoDing pic.twitter.com/cXiBzeuUxd

— Chess.com (@chesscom) April 10, 2023

On move 20, Nepomniachtchi gave up an exchange to grab a pawn and have an even better position. Bringing back the white knight to f3 proved to be a blunder as Nepo exchanged a knight for bishop and grabbed another pawn and by then, Ding’s queen was also somewhat misplaced in the corner and the knight on f3 blocked its way back into the game.

In the end, Nepo scored a victory with a passed c-pawn and by practically trapping Ding’s rook.

Ian Nepomniachtchi earns his first win in a FIDE World Championship match ? #NepoDing pic.twitter.com/uJDag3fHSM

— Chess.com (@chesscom) April 10, 2023

After the game, Nepo noted that after he played f5, the position was playing itself and white did not have much to do. On the other hand, Ding called his game a ‘disaster’. He probably is not doing well mentally as he acknowledged after game 1 that he could not concentrate and had some memories in his head.