Game of the Week #563: Ding Liren vs Ian Nepomniachtchi

by Merijn van Delft
4/13/2023 – In his “Game of the Week” show #563, Merijn van Delft does what most chess fans do these days: He takes a look at the World Championship match between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren. Merijn analyses Nepomniachtchi's win in game 2 and discusses what makes Nepomniachtchi the favourite, and how Ding should continue the match. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.
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Game of the Week #563

While everyone thinks it's a pity that Magnus Carlsen is no longer defending his World Championship title and the match between the World's number 2 and 3 is not drawing the same type of attention, it remains a very fascinating thing to follow.

Nepomniachtchi started in the match as the favourite, and indeed Ding Liren suffered a loss as early as game 2. We will discuss what makes Nepomniachtchi the favourite, how he managed to win the second game and how Ding should continue the match.

Warm-up question: What would you play here with White?

 
Ding Liren - Ian Nepomniachtchi, World Championship Match 2023, Game 2
Position after 11...Na5

This week’s show

In this opening Black opts for active piece play and is not afraid to fight for the initiative from an early stage. One of the many good features of this opening is that Black is often the side which controls the pace of the game.

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Merijn van Delft is an International Master from the Netherlands who lived in Hamburg for many years and is currently based in Amsterdam. After scoring a GM norm in 2017 he is eager for more. His ChessBase show on Wednesday evenings has been running for over ten years now.
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