16 April 2023

Ian Nepomniachtchi Takes Over Ding Liren in Game Five

The overall score is 3:2 in favour of the Russian GM.

Winter has made its way back into the city of Astana. Never feeling cold in the city wearing a T-shirt, today you regret leaving gloves and a warm hat behind in Moscow. Banks of snow grew up overnight as if out of nowhere, and that part of glass roof facing away from the wind of the tent hosting the world championship match venue was also covered in a dense layer of snow. As is a custom already, Ian Nepomniachtchi showed up first, about 15 minutes prior to the start of the clock. He put a bottle of water on a designated table, signed the scoresheet, looked around, then at the ceiling, and smiled. "Winter's spite is vain..." There even made its way into the playing hall some dedicated devices, similar to snow cannons usually installed on ski slopes. However, this equipment is designed to perform exactly the opposite task of pumping warm air.

Playing white, Ian would give a usual freedom to the guest of honuor in terms of choosing the symbolic first move. The well-known boxer Serik Sapiyev, the 2012 London Olympic champion, had already come to the match and played in a simul against Vishy Anand. Sapiyev sent a pawn to d4 without any hesitations. However, it didn't dwell there for long: Ian put it back in favour of e2-e4, as in game one.

It is Ruy Lopez yet again but with no trades on c6 this time, which was likely no more than just to feel out your opponent. Ian opted for the anti-Marshall d2-d3 setup, designed for a lengthy manoeuvering battle. White blitzed out his opening moves, obviously following his home preparation, while Ding Liren was burning his clock time and again. Black seemed quite reliable with all pieces in the game and his only exposed d5-square easily defensible. However, Ian would maintain initiative with the entire depth behind his plan starting to unfold only by move 25, at which point he drastically increased control over the light central and kingside squares.

Ding Liren must have realised only too late as to how dangerous his seemingly safe position was indeed. He did reroute and opened his bad bishop's diagonal from b6 by moving the c5-pawn to c4, but the bishop would fire into air from that position," whereas white's knights were patiently waiting in their wings. Black's decision to exchange on f5 on move 29 was apparently a decisive error. It goes against the grain to tolerate your opponent's knight on such an outpost, but this exchange gave White the open e-file, which he followed by mounting the queen on d5 and gaining an overwhelming advantage in space.

Ian's conversion performance was energetic and flawless. The 35.Kf1! manoeuver with the subsequent break on the kingside proved very strong, in which the mainline (which, however, remained behind the scenes) involved White's sacrificing his knight.

It was this idea that Ding Liren might have missed somewhere in his calculations. And when he did recognise it, satisfactory defence was to be had no longer. Black only managed to somewhat delay the inevitable by exchanging queens. However, the endgame knight still dominated the bishop, and White had no problems creating a passed pawn, which was supported by all pieces, including the king. Ding recognized his defeat on move 48.

Ian Nepomniachtchi: "I was more or less happy about the opening: White never claimed any substantial advantage, but could count on a long game to come. After Black moved his bishop to b6 (a very risky manoeuver, in my opinion) I realised that if I managed to carry out h4-h5, my position would be by far superior. Black could have probably defended better, but White would have maintained pressure anyway. I think he overlooked this g4-g5 and rook lifting to g4 idea in time trouble, and at this point White was nearly winning already.

I believe that one of the most challenging choices for me was between 24.c4 and 24.h5 as both continuation deserved consideration. Likewise, I think of 35.Kf1 as not an uninteresting move: it sometimes comes handy to remove the king from the long diagonal away from any potential checks. Meanwhile, 36.Re4 seems to give Black a hard time defensively as the offensive is about to begin.

Ding Liren: "Now, right after the game, I think the critical moment was me playing 29...Nxf5 – I should have played 29...Qf6 instead. I overlooked the g4-pawn idea, which is extremely powerful. Besides defending the f5-pawn, White also grabs space on the kingside, which cuts down on my choice of continuations drastically. He has delivered a very good game, and I was merely a defender.

Thus, Ian Nepomniachtchi has again grabbed the lead in the match with the 3-2 score in his favour. Game six is taking place on Sunday, April 16, with the GM of China having the white pieces. The game begins 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.

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