Accept the challenge. Chinese Ding Liren’s blood is also heating up. Behind that undaunted countenance lurks a wild and indomitable fighter. For the second time in this World Cup, in which he is making his debut, he masterfully defeated Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, without palliatives, who had also achieved a clear victory the day before. After his sixth game, he equals the World Chess Championship in dispute in Astana (3-3), after two victories each and two draws.
Ding Liren responded this day to the victory added on Saturday by Nepomniachtchi, after four hours of play and 44 plays, in which the Chinese beat his rival in a similar way to how he defeated him 24 hours before.
After an even opening, with White, Ding Liren prevented the Russian’s advance on the board and, although his advantage was threatened by his timing problems, he was favored by Nepomniachtchi’s impulsive moves, which deteriorated Black’s position.
Upon reaching the 40th move and the first time control, Ding Liren’s pieces won completely, now without timing problems, to add a victory that evens out the match, after which Nepomniachtchi assured that he had played one of his “worst games”, in which “almost all the plays were bad”.
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) recalled that the duel for the world championship between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi has already produced four decisive results in the first six games alone. And this data is historical. The last time it was seen was in the clash between Victor Korchnoi and Anatoli Karpov in 1981 and in the 1972 clash between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer.
This Monday will be a rest day and the confrontation resumes on Tuesday with the seventh game starting at 3:00 p.m. local time in Astana.
