Ian Nepomniachtchi suddenly whipped up a powerful attack midway through Game 9 of the FIDE World Championship match, but Ding Liren took some brave decisions and held on to make a draw after an endgame that stretched to six hours and 82 moves. Ian now leads 5:4 going into the final five games of the match, but Ding still has three games with the white pieces.
Game 9 of the 2023 World Championship match was a departure from the narrative of earlier games. It was the first game to stretch beyond 50 moves and feature a real endgame struggle, it was the first since Game 1 where a player had found themselves significantly worse but then defended well without allowing clear wins, and it was the first outing for the Berlin Defence in the match.Ding Liren’s choice of the opening was a display of confidence, since the moves that occurred in the game, 4.d3 (the Anti-Berlin) and 4…Bc5, had featured in ten of the leaked training games of Ding’s team. Magnus Carlsen’s head coach Peter Heine Nielsen noted that was something Fabiano Caruana had also done, going for a line of the Petroff Defence that had been revealed in a leak during the 2018 match. For most of the opening phase the burning question was why hadn’t Ding done this all along, since he’d come up with a new idea that looked to give him easy equality. 15…Qc7! was computer-approved.
“Ding’s preparation looks very effective indeed,” said Vishy Anand, and the idea, as Ding explained afterwards, was to get the queen out of the bishop’s path so that Black could develop with Bf8 and Nc5. Nevertheless, although Ding would make those moves, he caused himself huge trouble by delaying them.
Ian Nepomniachtchi took almost 20 minutes to play 16.Ba2!?, but that waiting move seems to have succeeded in getting Ding out of book. He should have dropped the bishop back to f8, but instead switched to 16…b5!?, then after 17.Qe2 he fell into his first long think of the day.
The b5-pawn is attacked, but defending it with 17…Rb8?!, as Ding did after 16 minutes, was a serious mistake. Nepomniachtchi suggested 17…Bf8!, sacrificing the pawn, and that was a move Ding had also been contemplating, but he said after 18.axb5 cxb5 19.Qxb5 Nc5 20.b4! he hadn’t see how to continue.
In fact 20…Nd3! is strong, with the white queen getting uncomfortable after 21.Rd1 Ba6!.
Ding confessed he’d totally missed that move and that the deeper idea behind 17.Qe2 had been to meet 18…Bf8 with 19.Qf3!, when all White’s pieces were suddenly massing against the black king.
There was no longer any easy solution for Ding, but in the sequence that followed he found the most tenacious defensive resources. 19…bxa4! was cold-blooded, inviting Nepomniachtchi’s 20.Bxh6!
Ian later lamented:
"Capturing on h6 looked so nice, but actually I never could find any decisive blow."
He had some regrets about not slow playing his advantage — he suggested 20.Ngf5 — but that doesn’t appear to be stronger, and his direct approach might have worked if Ding hadn’t responded accurately with 20…Nc5!. After that, 21.Ng6 again looks crushing, but there was no lethal threat, while Black had options.
Ding here decided there was nothing to stop him grabbing another pawn, and in fact after 21…Rxb2! 22.Nxf8 Rxf8 23.Bg5!? Nh7 24.Bc1 the computer was claiming Black had fully equalised, at least until he played 24…Rb5!? instead of 24…Rc2!
In the rest of the game, Ian and Ding played well and the game ended with a draw result
You can see the game here: https://www.chess.com/events/2023-fide-world-chess-championship/09/Nepomniachtchi_Ian-Ding_Liren
(source: Chess24)
