
China’s first world champion, Ding Liren, and opponent Ian Nepomniachtchi, spoke to the British newspaper about the World Championship match and what it was like behind the scenes. Here are some excerpts:
Ding Liren
- It turns out Ding has a nickname, "Silent Storm", “I am quiet,” he said, his voice rising barely above a whisper. “But then over the board …”
- Ding admitted he was depressed after the first game, recovered, and then entered another dip after having his opening preparation leaked.
- Ding's mental state at the start of the match was twitchy and the quality of his play poor. He moved out of the St Regis hotel because he was unhappy with his room, and confessed to being “a bit depressed” after the draw in the opening game, feeling there “might be something wrong with my mind” due to the pressure of the match.
- When Ding was crushed with the white pieces in the second game, some speculated that the match waslost. “Of course I was worried,” he said. “It was the most difficult stage. But many people helped me to overcome the problem. And after that I felt much better.”
- Ding held game three and managed to level the match at 2-2 when Nepomniachtchi blundered in game four. But the Russian continued to have the better chances, and when 6-5 ahead, should have put the match to bed in game 12 when he let a winning position slip after playing too quickly and then lost, allowing this opponent to level.
Ian Nepomniachtchi
- Nepomniachtchi has major sleep problems and came to Astana prepared. “I had some medicine to make sure I can fall asleep. And at 1am I found it had vanished." He said he hopes there was no sinister background to this.
- Nepo was generous in his praise for his opponent, and honest about his own failure to put his opponent away having led three times in the match. In the final tiebreak game the move 46...Rg6 has become chess lore.
- Nepomniachtchi said it was not enough to "be a good player and get good positions. You also have to strike and to deliver. It was unexpected to have such an early lead with such ease and also unexpected to see how underprepared he was. But despite having no real ideas, or deep preparation, he managed to put up a fight. And I should give him very huge credit for that. In some games he was nearly on the ropes, but managed to play very precisely which saved him many points.”

Ding spoke to EL PAÍS for 20 minutes in Astana. The article in the Spanish news outlet includes quotes from previous interviews Ding has done with Chinese media. He spoke with 15 different Chinese media outlets, and did not sleep “a minute” all night. “I only had time to take a shower,” he says.