Ding Liren evened the score in game 12 of the World Chess Championship Match
Game 12 of the World Chess Championship Match could be the “death” of Ding Liren who suffered an inferior middlegame, but Ian Nepomniachtchi played too fast, and collapsed under pressure to lose a critical game. The score is now 6:6 with two more games to go.
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Ding Liren evened the score at 6:6 with two games to go after a fascinating game with all colors of emotions. The Chinese GM started the game with 1.d4 with the expectation to play the Catalan Opening, an opening which granted him the 100-game unbeaten streak between 2017-2018. Nepo chose to change the system and initiate the Colle System, but Ding wasn’t surprised as he said at the press conference.
Nepo’s opening choice went better than expected to create a dominant position in the middlegame. He wasn’t far from securing the game and therefore, most likely, the Match and the Title, when he started moving far too quickly in crucial moments as Ding was challenging his calculation and tactical skills.
Pressure was building up on Nepo who eventually collapsed on move 34 with a terrible blunder and lose the game. The more Nepo was realising he was losing, the more he was talking to himself, holding his head, showing expressions of disappointment, and despair. The Russian GM spent 17 minutes in order to find a desperate solution but three moves later he resigned in from of an emotionally stable opponent.
“To lose in a supposedly winning position is not the best thing to do. I decided to go for some forcing lines and met the consequences. At some point, the game was a big mess.” Nepomniachtchi said at the press conference.
