FIDE World Chess Championship Game 6: Ding crushes Nepo in London System, sets up queen sac for checkmate

New Delhi: Ding Liren outplayed Ian Nepomniachtchi to win game 6 of the FIDE World Chess Championship with the white pieces and with him striking back, the match stands at 3-3. Coming with yet another unique opening idea, Ding played London System and ended the game beautifully by setting up a queen sacrifice to mate the black king. The match has seen several comebacks and decisive games already.

It was for the first time that London System featured in a world championship game and Ding looked well prepared. The first critical moment came when Nepo played 14…Nd7 and offered a knight exchange, which was not great for him. Ding pushed his pawn all the way to a5 and with a6 already being played by Nepo, his dark squares got weak on the queenside for Ding to have a good pawn structure and jump in with his knight.

There was a clash of two ideas where Ding tried to place his knight on c5 and Nepo looked to push e5. The Chinese grandmaster mixed his plan with improving moves like Ra3 and h4, Nepo’s moves Qe7 and Re8 did not work there. Both players executed their plans on move 22 and Ding got a better position as his knight controlled important squares on the queenside and had a tempo on the b7 pawn.

GM Daniil Dubov: “22…e5 is either a very good move or White is just winning.” #NepoDing pic.twitter.com/0vUFYu1WWr

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 16, 2023

After exchanging his light-square bishop for black’s knight, white threw in h4 with a tempo on black’s light-square bishop. Nepo went for 27…Bc2 which was a mistake as Bd3 could have been a move to consider and a better option was to go with the line Rxe5, dxe5, Qd8, Qf3, Qd2 and then throw in the check on the white king.

However, on move 32, Ding played Rc5 and gave a chance to his opponent to bounce back with Qxc3. Nepo directly went for a Qc1+ check, which does not work because of white playing Qf3 and there are no more checks.

Nepo had a passed a-pawn which at the end landed on a2 but could not do anything. Ding went on with an attack and began his mating net with 41.d5. While the engine shows it to be a mistake, this is however a beautiful move for a human game as the pawn covers e6 and stops the king from escaping.

Ding took on c4 after calculation and White is now a pawn up.

“We should also not forget about the black king. It is still my favorite target,” adds Irina Krush. #NepoDing pic.twitter.com/MkHX09gFFG

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 16, 2023

The game went, d5, a2, Qc7, Kh7, Kg6, Rg8, Qf7 and Nepo resigned as he saw that the queen sacrifice and checkmate are inevitable.

Here’s how Ding leveled the match, opening with the London. Game 6 never disappoints ? #NepoDing pic.twitter.com/DuvFC1OWNL

— Chess.com (@chesscom) April 16, 2023

After the game, Ding Liren said that he was not sure which opening to play and the line they went for was not prepared by him. On the other hand, Nepomniachtchi called it his worst game ever. The next game will be played on April 18 after a rest day.