New Delhi: Game 8 of the World Chess Championship was all about blunders and missed moves as Ian Nepomniachtchi escaped a defeat against Ding Liren. The game ended in a draw and the match stands 4.5-3.5 in favour of the Russian grandmaster. The game was a see-saw in a rare Nimzo-Indian Defense: Samisch Variation.
Nepo blundered the game on move 22 but Ding gave him multiple chances to come back. There were multiple critical moments and the final position with the rook ending does not give the best description of what all happened in the game.
Playing with the white pieces, Ding went for another surprising opening choice and also played 9.Ra2 with far-sighted ideas to swing the rook to the king side. He sacrificed his bishop on g5 to get an open h-file for his rook and go for an attack, while Nepo played smart and went 13…g6 to give back the piece. With tension in the center, Ding managed to get a passed d-pawn for himself. While the game was still equal, Nepo’s 22…Be4 to exchange his bishop for the knight was the first big moment in the game as he gave a chance for the white rook and queen to jump in the attack.
Ding Liren almost immediately plays the best move, 24.Rd2. #NepoDing https://t.co/FZPEiPJHpi
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 20, 2023
Ding exploited the position and exchanged the rooks on h-file, but later went 26.d7, which gave Nepo a chance to back to bounce back. A big moment came in the game when Nepo left his d8 rook undefended against the white queen and went for 31…Qh4.
Here both players thought that there were perpetual checks and Ding went Kd1 rather than capturing the rook. However, the continuation 32.Qxd8, Qe4+ 33.Re2, Qb1+ 34.Kd2, Qa2+ 35.Kd3, Qb1+ 36.Rc2, Qxf1+ 37.Kd2 leads to the white king escaping the checks. Ding’s move brought the game to equality.
30…Qe4+ 31.Re2 Qb1+ 32.Kd2 Qb1+ 33.Kd3 Qd1+ 34.Rc2 is one of the most beautiful lines I can remember seeing. pic.twitter.com/GsT4rPbXl6
— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) April 20, 2023
Surprisingly, Ian chose 34…e5 rather than Kd4+ to cut the rook from the defense of the d7 pawn. While it sacrifices a piece, it was a Nepo-kind of move. Ding could not take any advantage as he went passive with his bishop.
After exchanging queens on move 42, Ding had to give up his bishop to counter the pawn chain on the king side. Going into a rook ending, the players agreed to a draw after white played 45.Re8.
After the game, Ian accepted that he played some moves overambitiously and also said, “one inaccurate move and you can lose, but I guess such is chess.”
