Ding is done now. Round 6 of the Candidates and he lost as Black against the sole leader Nepo who played a beautiful game. Nepo is +3 while Ding is in last with -2. That's a 5 point deficit with 8 games to go. Not mathematically eliminated, but for all practical purposes, he's done.
Nepo was feeling sick, and really wanted a quick draw. Ding came at him hard, which was good tournament strategy, but Nepo played very well. Nepo has to be considered the favorite at this point of the tournament.
Note: I watched part of the post-game conference, and Nepo is an extremely fast talker and analyzer. He talks much faster than I can follow. He would be an excellent opponent for Magnus.
Ding's fast-tracked his vaccine against the Caruana virus and it worked today!
