GM Ding Liren - GM Ian Nepomniachtchi

FIDE World Chess Championship, (12)
D04: Queen's Pawn game (Caro-Kann by transposition)

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Anything goes when you get to the latter stages of a world championship match and you are looking for something to surprise your opponent. This Colle-type QP was also used by Magnus Carlsen to surprise Sergey Karjakin in their 2016 title match. 3...c5 4.Nbd2 Ding is still keeping all his options open here - he could be going for a Colle-Zukertort with b3, Bb2 and Bd3, or play c4 and something more mainstream - or even, as happens in the game, a transposition into the Caro-Kann Exchange Variation! 4...cxd4 5.exd4 Qc7 6.c3 Bd7?! I am really struggling to understand this move - in one sense it is preventing Bb5+, but the natural square for this bishop is either f5 or even g4. Or, as Fabi Caruana puts it better: "I think I can only come up with one explanation for this move, which is that he picked up the bishop & as he was moving it suddenly he felt the urge to sneeze & before it could go to f5 or g4, some useful square, his hand released it on d7, where it does absolutely nothing"! 7.Bd3 This is basically now a Caro-Kann Exchange variation, a line that became all the rage to play as White after being used by Bobby Fischer to beat Tigran Petrosian in the epic USSR v The Rest of the World Match in Belgrade. The only difference is that White usually plays a later Nbd2 to allow the dark-squared bishop to come out first. 7...Nc6 8.O-O Bg4 9.Re1 e6 10.Nf1 Bd6 11.Bg5 O-O 12.Bxf6 More usual you will see 12.Bh4 with the plan of dropping back to g3 to trade off the bishops, as White attempts to secure control of the vital e5-square. 12...gxf6 13.Ng3 f5 Also possible was 13...Kh8 to quickly double rooks on the open g-file - and also note that dangerous is 14.h3?! as Black has the tempting shot 14...Bxh3! 15.gxh3 Bxg3 16.fxg3 Qxg3+ 17.Kh1 Rg8 18.Qe2 Qxh3+ 19.Nh2 Rg3 20.Bc2 f5 where the engine will tell that this is just digital queenside castling with "0.00", but in reality it doesn't take much for White to find himself wandering into trouble here.14.h3 Bxf3 Also, an interesting try was 14...f4!? where after 15.hxg4 fxg3 16.fxg3 Bxg3 White is forced into 17.Qd2 Bf4 (Definitely not 17...Bxe1?? 18.Qg5+ Kh8 19.Qf6+ Kg8 20.Ng5 Rfd8 21.Rxe1 and the Black king can't avoid being mated.) 18.Qf2 Bg3 19.Qd2 Bf4 and a repetition. But with Nepo in the lead and looking to be edging his way to victory, then surely this would have been the ideal scenario for him? 15.Qxf3 Ne7 16.Nh5! Kh8 17.g4!?

Given that Ding needs to win, this wildly lashing out approach is exactly what he needs to play - it's do-or-die stuff and hang any of the consequences for his own king's safety with the g-file opening up.17...Rg8 18.Kh1 Ng6 19.Bc2 Nh4 The immediate 19...Qe7! heading to h4 was more problematic for White. 20.Qe3 Rg6 With Rag8 looming large, this position is starting to turn into a potentially dangerous minefield for Ding. Nepo is unquestionably in control and shouldn't loses this - but funny things can happen under pressure. In golf it is called the "yips", as witness poor Doug Sanders blowing the British Open at St. Andrews in 1970 by missing an easily two-foot putt on the final green. 21.Rg1 f4! Nepo must have felt that the title was surely heading his way at this stage. 22.Qd3 Qe7 Of course, the engine shows no nerves or sign of the yips, as it quickly finds the brave here of 22...f5! that all but forces White to play a move he really doesn't want to, namely 23.f3 Qe7 24.Raf1 Rag8 25.Qd2 Qg5! 26.Bd1 (Urgently needed, as 26.gxf5?? sees White getting quickly mated with 26...Qxg1+ 27.Rxg1 Rxg1+ 28.Kh2 Nxf3#) 26...fxg4 27.fxg4 Nf5! and it is difficult to see how White can ever survive the tsunami about to hit his king. 23.Rae1 Qg5 24.c4? This just compounds Ding's mounting problems. 24...dxc4 25.Qc3 Ding is reduced to some spurious swindle or other down the long a1-h8 diagonal, as 25.Qxc4? Nf3 26.Bxg6 hxg6! 27.Qb3 Nxe1 28.Rxe1 gxh5 is just losing. 25...b5 26.a4 b4 Not a blunder per se, but the solid 26...a6! would have left Ding clutching at straws with 27.d5+ e5 28.axb5 axb5 29.Ra1 Rag8 and left sitting in Death's Waiting Room. 27.Qxc4 Rag8 28.Qc6 Bb8?? Just when Nepo has Ding at his mercy, the chess yips kick-in to turn a win into a stone-cold loss! The clinical kill was 28...Nf5! hitting d4 and forcing 29.Rd1 Qh4 30.Qf3 Ng3+!! 31.Rxg3 fxg3 32.Bxg6 Qxh3+ 33.Kg1 gxf2+! 34.Kxf2 (Unfortunately 34.Qxf2?? goes down in flames to 34...Qxg4+ and White can resign). 34...Qxf3+ 35.Kxf3 fxg6 36.Ng3 Rf8+ 37.Kg2 Rf4 and Black picks off more pawns for an easy win.

29.Qb7? The tension builds big-time, as Ding doesn't see that 29.Bxg6! Nxg6 30.f3! is winning, as 30...Qh4 is easily answered by 31.Re2! and Black can't play ...Qxh3+ because of Rh2. 29...Rh6 Once again, the brave and - likely - winning move to find was 29...Nf5! 30.Be4 Rf8? The right move was 30...f3 - but Nepo wants to play ...f3 without allowing Qxf7. Unfortunately, there's a little snafu. 31.Qxb4 Unbelievably, Nepo overlooked this move hitting his rook.

31...Qd8 It goes without saying that it's 's never a good sign when your best attacking pieces retreats all the way back to its starting square! 32.Qc3 Now, as the pendulum swings wildly once again, Ding does have hopes of something - anything - happening down the long a1-h8 diagonal! 32...Ng6 33.Bg2 Qh4 You just think that there has to be something there for Nepo - but Ding has all the bases covered now. 34.Re2 f5??? (see diagram)The ultimate brain fart, as Nepo could visibly be seen cursing himself for overlooking that Ding can play 35.Rxe6 winning. And in the annals of bad moves ever played in all the world championship matches, this has to rate right up there as being one of the worst - and made all the more by the fact that only a few moves ago, Nepo was winning! Instead, after 34...Rg8, White was only marginally better. 35.Rxe6! Probably pinching himself here, Ding can't believe his luck as he makes no mistake by moving in for the kill - and you only had to look at Nepo's face to see it was almost as if all the blood was being drained from him from the head down. 35...Rxh5 This is the only way to stop the mate on g7 after d5+ - but it only delays the inevitable by a couple of moves. 36.gxh5 Qxh5 37.d5+ Kg8 38.d6 1-0 Nepo resigns faced with 38...f3 39.Bf1 Qh6 40.Re8!! Rxe8 41.Bc4+ mating.