Ian Nepomniachtchi Loses to Ding Liren in Game 12 of World Championship Match
The score is now 6:6.
April 26, Astana hosted Game 12 of the World Championship Match between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren. Dimash Qudaibergen, world-famous singer, composer, and a multi-instrumentalist made the symbolic first move.
Playing White, Ding Liren opted for the old Colle System, which has reached a new peak of popularity thanks to Vladimir Kramnik. On move six Ian Nepomniachtchi uncorked a new idea, and soon there arose a position with the Carlsbad-looking structure. White initiated some complications in the middlegame by trading his dark-squared bishop for the f6-knight to compromise the opponent's pawn structure on the kingside. Ding followed it by going after the opponent's king.
On move 19 White chose a dubious continuation, which landed Black in a superior double-edged position after some precise moves. With the white knight out of play on h5, Ding's attack stalled, and he ended up in a very cramped position with no active plan. White refrained from starting counterplay on the opposite side of the board immediately, thus allowing Black's queen on the kingside and then dropping a pawn. Black's advantage was seemingly taking decisive proportions, but going into the time trouble there followed mutual inaccuracies and errors. After the "exchange of courtesies" the position equalised all of a sudden, and then White went on to win a pawn and get a slight edge.
Shortly before the time trouble Ian Nepomniachtchi committed a blunder that landed him into an untenable position. The Russian player resigned on move 38, and the score has levelled to 6:6.
Game 13 is taking place on April 27, Thursday, in which the white pieces are with the Russian grandmaster. The next game starts at 12:00 (Moscow time).
You can follow the match live broadcast on Match TV channels. Nornickel is the company that sponsors the broadcast in Russia.
The fan area sponsor for the World Championship Match is Rosseti Centre.
General partner of the CFR is PhosAgro.
Tournament page
Photo credit: Eteri Kublashvili
