Lifesaving draws, and a Huge Loss for Ding Liren in Round 12
Round 12 of the 2022 Candidates Tournament ended with a 7-minute draw in the Nepomniachtchi — Nakamura game, Teimour Radjabov won his game against Ding Liren, Alireza Firouzja escaped defeat by Jan-Krzysztof Duda, their fight as well as Rapport-Caruana game, ended in a draw!
Now Nepo only needs to draw in any of the next two games to guarantee himself another World Championship Match!
Geert Van der Velde, CEO of a FIDE partner company, made the ceremonial first move today in the game between Nepomniachtchi and Nakamura. 7 minutes later this game ended with a threefold repetition of the position in a well-known variant of the Spanish game.
Ding Liren needed a win today to fight for the first place but, Teimour Radjabov crushed him with Black in a very nervous game. Teimour found the winning move 21...Rxe3 and Ding had to resign after 26 moves.
Duda-Firouzja game was thrilling and ended in a draw although it could be a loss for the French grandmaster. Duda had an advantage that he seems to lose after 27...Rf2.
Fabiano Caruana — Richard Rapport was a drawish game despite the American grandmaster was desperately looking for a spicy variation.
Join our broadcast with GM Daniil Yuffa and GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko, on July 3rd at 13:00 UTC.
Round 13 Pairings:
Ian Nepomniachtchi — Richard Rapport
Hikaru Nakamura — Jan-Krzysztof Duda
Alireza Firouzja — Ding Liren
Teimour Radjabov — Fabiano Caruana
