Grandmaster games · FIDE World Championship 2023, rapid tiebreak 2023
Ding's Self-Pin for the Title
One repetition away from blitz, Ding pinned the rook to the king with 46...Rg6, refused the draw, and won the world title in the last rapid game.
The setting
Astana, 30 April 2023. Carlsen declined to defend the title, so Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren played for it. Fourteen classical games ended 7-7, and the first three rapid tiebreak games (25 minutes and 10 seconds a move) were drawn. In game four Nepomniachtchi had White. A draw meant blitz, where many expected Nepomniachtchi, very fast at the board, to be the favourite. Ding won and became the first Chinese world champion.
Why study it
A world title decided by one decision. With little more than a minute on the clock and a repetition on the board, Ding played 46...Rg6, pinning the rook to the king, because the king on h7 was safe and the c-pawn could run. Live both minds: Nepomniachtchi, a pawn up for most of the game and certain the position could not be lost, and Ding, who kept pushing passed pawns until the one moment that mattered. Stockfish shows how close it was: 48.Qf4 and 59.Bxg7 would both have held.
Live it from inside a mind
Each player speaks in the first person, in a voice of their own: what they see, what they fear, the lines they calculate, why they choose. Switch minds at any move.
Ian Nepomniachtchi
White · Russia (FIDE flag) · 2795 at the time · peak 2795
Winner of the Candidates in 2021 and again in 2022, number two in the world and rated 2795, the peak of a career. Famous for very fast, intuitive play. This was the second title match in a row, after losing to Carlsen in 2021.
Ding Liren
Black · China · 2788 at the time · peak 2816
Thirty years old, the first Chinese player to pass 2800 (a peak of 2816 in November 2018). Ding reached the match as runner-up of the 2022 Candidates, after Magnus Carlsen declined to defend the title. This game made Ding the 17th world champion.
The last rapid game, and I have White. Three draws, so a draw here means blitz, where I am quick and comfortable. But I do not want to wait for blitz: with White I will play a real game, a quiet Ruy Lopez where I pick the moment to open it.
Three draws, and this is the last rapid game. I have Black. A draw means blitz, where Nepomniachtchi is faster than me. I will not force anything, but if I get a position where I can play on safely, I will play on.
The game in 7 chapters
- 1
The Anti-Marshall and 13.Bb1 moves 1–15
Nepomniachtchi avoids the Marshall with 6.d3 and 8.a4. Ding takes a pawn on a4 and chases the bishop to a2, and 13.Bb1 sends the bishop back to the long diagonal towards Black's king. Ding answers with ...Qe8, ...c5 and ...Nc6, and White wins the a4 pawn back.
- 2
Ding strikes in the centre moves 16–24
16.Nc3 lets Ding take space with ...a5 and ...Be6. Nepomniachtchi's knight reaches c4, and Ding breaks with ...d5 at once. After 20.Bd2, Stockfish's ...Nf4 would have given Black a strong attack; Ding trades on c3 and c4 instead, and White is left with doubled c-pawns. Ding's bishop goes to c7, and ...f5 prepares ...e4.
- 3
The e-pawn breaks through moves 25–34
Both sides regroup: rooks to the centre, Ding's queen to g6 and then d6. 29...e4 gives a pawn to open the bishop's diagonal and free e5 for the knight. The knight lands on d3, is traded for the bishop, and after the rooks come off on e1 Ding's queen takes on c4. White is a pawn up, on f5.
- 4
An extra pawn, then level moves 35–45
35.Ra1 lets Ding take back the f5 pawn; Stockfish preferred 35.Rd2. Nepomniachtchi's queen goes to c6 and e8, and Ding wins the c3 pawn, which leaves Black a pawn up. 42...Qe2 is a precise defensive move that covers f2 and e8. Nepomniachtchi starts checking on e4 and d5.
- 5
The self-pin moves 46–48
46.Qe4+ repeats the position for the second time. Instead of ...Kg8 and a draw, Ding plays 46...Rg6, pinning the rook to the king. 47.Qf5 lets ...c4 come, and 48.h4, with two minutes on the clock, allows 48...Qd3. Only 48.Qf4 held.
- 6
Running pawns, and a second chance moves 49–58
Ding's c-pawn reaches c3, but in time trouble 53...Rd6 lets the rooks come off and White is back in the game. Nepomniachtchi's queen gets active again, and by move 58 Stockfish rates the position level once more.
- 7
The last mistakes moves 59–68
59.Qc7, missing 59.Bxg7 and perpetual check, lets 59...Qg6 shut the checks out. The c-pawn reaches c2, 62...h5 stops White's kingside pawns, and 63.Kf1 walks into ...Be5 and ...Qf5. The a-pawn reaches a2, and Nepomniachtchi resigns after 68...Bxf4.