New Delhi: Ding Liren dodged a worse middle game and drew game 9 of the FIDE World Chess Championship in a long 82-move endgame against Ian Nepomniachtchi. There was some knight dance in the end before they decided to draw the game and the match stands at 5-4 in favour of the Russian grandmaster. They went for a solid Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense but Ian got the initiative and Ding was the one defending throughout the game.

On move 14, Ding placed his knight on a6 and that became crucial later in the game. On move 17, he went Rb8 which proved to be a mistake as the knight on a6 gets no squares to move and that knight on the rim really got dim. On move 20, Nepo sacrificed his dark square bishop with Bxh6 and launched an attack with 21.Kg6 as the f7 pawn was pinned by the light square bishop to the black king.

While Ian Nepomniachtchi’s pieces are dangerously surrounding Ding’s king, Black captures the b2 pawn. #NepoDing

What do you think about this position? pic.twitter.com/TquMz5gu7A

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 21, 2023

White exchanged his knight for the bishop on f8 and gave up his advantage with 23.Bg5, where ideas like Bc4 and Qe3 were much better for the attack. But Ding turned the tables in his opponent’s favour with Rb2-b5.

The biggest turning point in the match came when Nepo had a chance to capture Ding’s rook to be exchange up, but instead, he went for a bishop exchange, and the moves that followed, helped the Chinese grandmaster to equalise. Ding’s move 28…c5 curbed Nepo’s strong bishop and white going 29.Qe2 equalised the position.

Ding sacrifices his rook, but Nepo shocks everyone by trading bishops instead! #NepoDing pic.twitter.com/QzlgiDGrzp

— Chess.com (@chesscom) April 21, 2023

The players soon exchanged queens and a pair each of rooks and minor pieces. In a drawish knight and rook endgame, when they exchanged the rooks on e8, Nepo had the initiative with an extra pawn and active king. Ding played accurately and held his opponent for a draw and the rest day tomorrow will come in handy after a long and tiring game.

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