Round 7,8 and 9 Recap: Nepomniachtchi in a dominant position!!!
The 2023 World Championship between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren continued after the rest day. Here I am back with Round 7,8 and 9 Recap. The three Rounds saw a lot of drama and dominant play from both sides. With 5 more games to go after Round 9, Ian Nepomniachtchi has a decisive lead in the championship. The scores were leveled between the contenders.
But a lot more drama was yet to be witnessed before the conclusion of the first half and the beginning of the second half of the championship.
ROUND 7
Both players were at the same level before entering Round 7. However, Ding Liren won the previous Round before this, so all eyes were on him as he appeared to have fought back Nepomniachtchi every time he took the lead in the championship. The players began the game with the French Defence where Nepomniachtchi played with the white pieces and Ding Liren had the black pieces.
Ding's opening had given Nepomniachtchi positional momentum which allowed him to play aggressively while Ding had to play passively and precisely to avoid losing his pieces. Ding played accurate moves most of the time but had to consume a lot of time. Nepomniachtchi on the other hand was always ahead adding both positional and psychological pressure on Ding as he spent most of the time in his chair looking at the position. The biggest turnaround was at move 33. Ding who had 11 minutes in his clock kept thinking of a move and his time came down to 2 minutes. Ding had explained in the post-match interview that the position was losing for him and he was looking for a way to play. After being low in time, Ding quickly made a move that turned out to be a blunder. Nepomniachtchi won a pawn and got a stronger position and with no time left Ding resigned and Nepomniachtchi got the lead by the end of this Round.
The Annotation and Analysis for Game 7 is provided by GM Harikrishna Pentala (2704):
This time again Ding had to battle his psychology but he lost that and then he lost the game. Things were looking hard for Ding because Nepomniachtchi was in a favorable position with his lead by the end of the first half of the championship. Ding's psychology always put him behind most of the time in the championship.
ROUND 8
The beginning of the second half of the tournament was not going to be easy for Ding after a difficult loss in the previous Round. However, Ding was going to play with the white pieces and managed to defeat Nepomniachtchi many times in the previous rounds to equalize the score. Whether it was going to be the same story this time was yet to be seen.
Ding opened with 1.d4 and continued to be Nimzo-Indian. Ding's position looked very aggressive by move 19 because of the mistakes made in the position by Nepomniachtchi and was expected to be in the driver's seat for the rest of the game. In this match, both sides managed their time well and there were no signs of any time pressure. The big moment in the game was at move 31, Ding could have taken Nepomniachtchi's Rook and he would be having a winning advantage. But Ding avoided the rook capture and made a mistake in the next move which lead the position to being equalized and the game ended in a draw.
The Annotation and Analysis for Game 8 is provided by GM Harikrishna Pentala (2704):
The result was frustrating for both Ding and his supporters as he missed a great chance to level the score. Nepomniachtchi got away with a draw and would be on the happier side. Ding despite ending up in a draw was always on the plus side throughout the game and there was no moment in the game where Nepomniachtchi had a great position.
ROUND 9
There was always drama surrounding both players. During Game 8 it was reported that Ding's preparation was discovered. The question was whether Ding's team would avoid the lines and variations from the leaked preparation.
Nepomniachtchi opened the game with 1. e4 and the game was followed by the Berlin Defence. Interestingly Ding never won with the black pieces in this championship before this Round. So there was a kind of thrill among the audience to witness Ding's first win the black pieces.
As the game progressed the position looked very scary for Ding as one mistake would have resulted in him losing the game. Nepomniachtchi kept attacking but Ding's defense this time was strong and Nepomniachtchi's attack slowly went away with each passing move in the position. However, entering the last phase of the middlegame Nepomniachtchi still had a favorable position and was looking to press for a win. But Ding Liren stood his ground and after a tense endgame, the game concluded in a draw after 82 moves making it the longest game of this championship.
The Annotation and Analysis for Game 9 is provided by GM Harikrishna Pentala (2704):
Ding managed to survive the game where he appeared to be in trouble most of the time. The last three games were filled with a lot of drama in the background and exciting matches. After a potential discovery of preparation, it would be interesting to see how Ding's team would tackle the situation. Nepomniachtchi always had a lead and was never behind Ding at any moment in this championship. Nepomniachtchi currently leads 5 – 4, with 5 more games still left to play. Nepomniachtchi has a real advantage going into the upcoming rounds. Even though it will not be easy for Ding to make a comeback after his leaked prep and continuous failures with his psychological battle, there is still scope for his comeback. Everyone is optimistic that Ding still has a chance of getting the title. If Ding makes a comeback in the future Rounds with everything going against him, it would make this a comeback of the ages.
