The Big Bluff

John B. Henderson • April 21, 2023

As Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi continue to battle it out in the €2m FIDE World Chess Championship for Magnus Carlsen’s abdicated classical crown, many are wondering what the Norwegian top dog has been making of the match. The truth is probably not very much, because he’s been otherwise preoccupied with a seat in the Main Event of the 2023 Norwegian Poker Championship!


And it’s not just Carlsen who has been dealing with the big bluffs. In one of the most audacious bluffs ever seen in recent years in a world championship match, in game eight Ian Nepomniachtchi managed to somehow survive with a draw as he managed to fend off a deadly attack from Ding that finally broke the series of decisive wins in the 14-game contest in Astana, Kazakhstan.

First off, he was aided by Ding’s miscalculation, where he opted for the all-too-human move of 26.d7, overlooking the - admittedly, hard-to-find - silicone sure-fire win with the rook lift 26.Rd3! and the threat of flicking over with deadly intent to the h-file. But secondly and more crucially, Ding, after building up a won position, later squandered another clear win by being completely taken in by the Russian’s pure bluff that 32.Qxd8 allowed a repetition, which proved to be not only false but costly.


Ding Liren was understandably disappointed with the outcome. At the post-game presser, he explained that he didn't want to repeat the situation from game seven where he lost due to the time pressure. "I wanted to play quickly in time trouble, but today it's another story,” he bemoaned, before adding “A pity. It could have been a good game, but it didn't happen.”


And as Friday’s game nine ended in an entertaining draw (with no discernible errors from either player) following a fierce battle, you increasingly get the feeling that Ding missing that win in game eight could ultimately prove to be the pivotal moment in this rollercoaster match, as the Russian (playing under the neutral FIDE flag) takes a one-point advantage heading into the final five games.


Games 10 and 11 (of the scheduled 14) will be played on Sunday and and Monday and can be followed live on the official FIDE World Chess Championship site and also on all the usual top platforms.


Ian Nepomniachtchi | 5

½ 1 ½ 0 1 0 1 ½ ½

½ 0 ½ 1 0 1 0 ½ ½

Ding Liren | 4

GM Ding Liren - GM Ian Nepomniachtchi

FIDE World Chess Championship, (8)

E28: Nimzo-Indian Defence,

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.a3 A sort of hybrid Sämisch variation championed by Fabiano Caruana that is very aggressive - almost caveman-like - where White dares to compromise his own pawn structure early on, perhaps even sacrificing a pawn or two just to open up as many lines as possible to attack Black's king. 5...Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 d6 7.Ne2 c5 8.Ng3 Nc6 9.Ra2 b6 10.e4 Ba6 11.Bg5 h6 12.h4!? Very provocative, as early doors Ding is going for the jugular with the notorious Fishing Pole Attack theme more commonly seen at club-level against the Ruy Lopez Exchange variation.12...hxg5 13.hxg5 g6 14.gxf6 Qxf6 15.e5 There's no holding back now in such scenarios - to coin another poker phrase, Ding simply has to go 'all-in' now. 15...dxe5 16.d5 Ne7 17.d6 Nf5 18.Ne4 The pawn sacrifice and speculative play was all for vacating the ideal e4 square for White's knight to jump in to. 18...Qd8 19.Qd3 With the not-too-subtle Caveman threat of Qh3 and a brutal mate down the h-file. 19...Kg7 20.g4 Bb7 21.Rh3 Just moving out of the awkward and annoying pin down the long a8-h1 diagonal. 21...Nh4 22.g5 Bxe4?

A bad blunder, as Nepo underestimates the danger he's in. The correct call was 22...Rh8! 23.Qg3 Bxe4 24.Qxe5+ f6 25.Qxe4 fxg5 26.Rd3 and the position remains double-edged. 23.Qxe4 Nf5 24.Rd2 Rh8 25.Rxh8 Qxh8 26.d7?

It's hard to be critical with this being the all-too-human move to make - but our Silicone Overlords can see further in, and it cuts straight to the chase of hunting down the Black king with the cunning rook lift 26.Rd3! with the deadly threat of Rh3 and Qxe5+. This leaves Black in a quandary, where even the engine thinks it's all but over with 26...Nxd6

(The alternative is 26...Qd8 were this time 27.d7! is indeed the stone-cold killer, with the no answer to the easy win with Qxa8 followed by d8Q (or even 27...Rb8 28.Qxe5+ Kf8 29.Qxb8!) 27.Qxe5+ Kg8 28.Qxh8+ Kxh8 29.Rxd6 easily winning. 26...Rd8 27.Qxe5+ Kh7 28.Qh2+ Kg7 29.Qe5+ Kh7 30.Qh2+ After his heart-breaking meltdown of the previous game, Ding - although nowhere near the levels of time-trouble as in Game 7 - professionally throws in a couple of moves to get nearer to the 40-move time-control. 30...Kg7 31.Qc7 Qh4!?! (see diagram) An amazing big bluff from Nepo, who was simply just losing otherwise. 32.Kd1? And after just three minutes of thinking time on his clock, Ding falls for the big bluff by not taking the rook - and I don't really blame him, as any player would have the fear they had just walked into an almighty game-saving swindle. But you need to see an amazing sequence of moves easily found by the engines to realise that you can capture the rook with 32.Qxd8! as 32...Qe4+ 33.Re2 Qb1+ 34.Kd2 Qa2+ 35.Kd3 Qb1+ 36.Rc2 Qd1+ (Alternatively, if 36...Qxf1+ 37.Kd2 Nd6 38.Qh8+!! Kxh8 39.d8=Q+ Ne8 40.Qxe8+ Kg7 41.Qb8 Qxf2+ 42.Kc1 Qg1+ 43.Kb2 and Black runs out of checks.) 37.Ke4!! Just so difficult to see and actually execute in your head, as you analyse this difficult and tricky position in the heat of battle. 37...Qxc2+ 38.Bd3 Nd6+ 39.Ke5 Qxd3 40.Qf6+ Kh7 41.d8=Q Nxc4+ 42.Kf4 and Black has run out of check. 32...Qxg5 33.Kc2 Qe7 34.Bg2 e5 35.Be4 Nh6 36.Qxa7 Ng4 37.Bf3? The win all but evaporates for Ding with this additional error - the only way to keep his hopes alive of winning was 37.Kb3! Qg5 38.Qxb6! Qxd2 39.Qxd8 Nf6 40.Qe7! Nxd7 41.a4 and it is not easy to stop the a-pawn running up the board with the Nd7 and both the e5 and c5 pawns under attack. 37...Nxf2! Once again, kudos to Nepo, as this time this game-saving piece sac isn't a bluff! 38.Rxf2 e4 39.Re2 f5 40.Qxb6 Rxd7 41.Qb8

Retreating the bishop with 41.Bg2 offers no winning chances, as Black has the instant draw by continually attacking the queen with 41...Rb7 42.Qc6 Rc7 43.Qa4 Ra7 44.Qb3 Rb7 45.Qa4 (It's dangerous to try 45.Qa2? Qd7! 46.Rd2 Qe8 and Black is in command with the big threat looming of ...f4 and the passed pawns causing an almighty headache for White's disjointed pieces.) 45...Ra7 46.Qb3 Rb7 etc. 41...Qd6 42.Qxd6 Rxd6 43.Bxe4 The only option now is to return the piece and a drawing R+P ending, as 43.Bg2 Ra6 44.Kb2 Kf6 forces 45.Bxe4 anyway, otherwise Black's three connected passed pawns will offer genuine winning chances. 43...fxe4 44.Rxe4 Kf6 45.Re8 ½-½

The 42 Paradox

By John B. Henderson • October 2, 2023
Well, well, well. After rampaging his way through many of the finals and opponents throughout the 2023 Champions Chess Tour, Magnus Carlsen’s “final boss” reign came to a screeching halt in what proved to be an enthralling AI Cup Grand Final on Friday, as the favourite was beaten not once but in three games, and over two matches, by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who sensationally grabbed the last remaining spot in the Champions Tour Final in December. Earlier, Carlsen had defeated MVL in the final of the winners’ bracket, before the Frenchman gained the right to a rematch in the double-elimination contest by beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final of the losers’ bracket. In the Grand Final, buoyed up and firing on all cylinders, MVL beat Carlsen by a 2½-1½ score.

We'll Meet Again

By John B. Henderson • September 29, 2023
The self-proclaimed “final boss of chess” does what the final boss of chess does best of all: Magnus Carlsen beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final of the AI Cup winners’ bracket, the sixth and final leg of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour regular season, to reach yet another Grand Final in the novel double-elimination contest. But it wasn’t without an epic bare-knuckle street fight from both players, as MVL proved to be a worthy opponent for what looked to be an unstoppable Carlsen, who narrowly prevailed in the Armageddon to take the match 3-2. "This is the sort of thing that happens when you play Sicilians in every game," said a magnanimous Carlsen in victory after four fighting Sicilians left the match tied at 2-2.

Tiers For Fears

By John B. Henderson • September 27, 2023
Fans were treated to arguably the greatest online rivalry in chess history recently, with the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship Grand Final showdown between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura seeing the Norwegian narrowly snatch victory by a solitary win to end the American speed maven’s hopes of a sixth successive victory. But Carlsen’s narrow win left the salivating fans feeling they’d been denied seeing this epic gladiatorial speed contest going into overtime - but they didn’t have to wait long for the rivalry redux, as a couple of days later, both Carlsen and Nakamura went head-to-head yet again in the opening day of the AI Cup, the sixth and final leg of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour regular season.

Bossing It

By John B. Henderson • September 25, 2023
Magnus Carlsen more than lived up to his self-proclamation of being “The Final Boss of Chess” with a revenge-is-sweet narrow victory over fellow chess influencer Hikaru Nakamura, as he denied his long-time arch-rival a sixth successive Chess.com Speed Chess Championship title last Friday. Last year, it was Nakamura who narrowly squeaked home by one point - this time, in yet another thrilling match consisting of three different speed limits - 5+1, 3+1 and 1+1 (more commonly known as ‘bullet’) - between the two speed titans, it again ended with the same scoreline, though this time seeing Carlsen triumph by a solitary win after two pulsating hours of thrilling play, as he took the $150,000 2023 Speed Chess Championship presented by Coinbase, 13.5-12.5.

Death, Taxes, Magnus & Hikaru

By John B. Henderson • September 22, 2023
With a smorgasbord of online chess events out there now, the granddaddy of them all is surely the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship , with a $150,000 prize fund that determines just who is the best blitz and bullet players. It has become the perennial fan-favourite with arguably the best viewing experience - and the fans are set for yet another spectacular finale later today, as the two rivals who dominate the roll of honour, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, get set for another explosive showdown in the 2023 final. Friday’s final and commentary, free to view, starts at 14:00 ET (11:00 PT; 20:00 CEST; 23:30 IST) on Chess.com. Carlsen and Nakamura have won each edition since the inaugural Speed Chess Championship event in 2016 - Carlsen won the first two speed titles before taking a hiatus, only for Nakamura to rule the roost, winning four more times.

A Messi Kid

By John B. Henderson • September 19, 2023
India today is a land of amazing young talents and prospects in chess, with the country seemingly having a never-ending production line of prodigies rolling off the factory conveyor belt. But for some countries, such as Argentina, prodigies only seem to come around with all the regularity of Halley’s Comet . One of the first notable post-war chess prodigies was Oscar Panno from Buenos Aires, who became the first world-class player born in South America. In 1953, at the age of 17, he became only the second World Junior Champion , having won the coveted youth title ahead of a strong cadre of future elite-level Grandmasters such as Boris Ivkov (who in 1951 was crowned the first World Junior Ch), Bent Larsen, and Fredrik Olafsson.

The Great Rook 'n' Roll Swindle

By John B. Henderson • September 14, 2023
“Chess is a cruel game. We all know that feeling when your position has gone awry and everything seems hopeless. You feel like resigning. But don’t give up! This is precisely the moment to switch to swindle mode. Master the art of provoking errors and you will be able to turn the tables and escape with a draw or sometimes even steal the full point!” So wrote David Smerdon, an Australian chess grandmaster and one of his country’s leading behavioural economists, on the back cover of his witty and wickedly entertaining, not to mention the much-lauded and deserving 2020 ECF Book of the Year winner, The Complete Chess Swindler (New in Chess).

No Country For Young Men

By John B. Henderson • September 11, 2023
With the top teenage talents being overshadowed in the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid in Kolkata by a dominant performance from seasoned veteran Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, there were hopes of a homeland comeback in the follow-on Blitz tournament - and one looked to be on the cards, only for another “old guy”, this time Alexander Grischuk, crashing the teenage party by capturing the second, even faster speed title. Early doors, all eyes were firmly on Rameshbabu “Pragg” Praggnanandhaa, with his flying start of a perfect 5/5 on the opening day of the two-day double-round contest. But that was as good as it got for the 18-year-old Candidate-qualifier, who could only finish the day on 6.5/9, and despite being the sole leader, he held what looked a very slender half-point lead over nearest rivals Santosh Vidit and Grischuk, ominously the only unbeaten player.

My Indian Summer

By John B. Henderson • September 8, 2023
The past couple of years have proved to be a major one for India - not only a global player with world leaders descending this week in New Delhi for the G20 Summit and recently successfully landing a spacecraft on the moon but now also a fully-fledged chess superpower, with many exciting young talents set to make the country a dominant force for the foreseeable future. Many would even speculate that Indian Chess could well turn into a hegemony, in much the same way as the Soviets dominated the chess scene in the 1945 post-war period until its collapse and ultimate dissolution in 1991. The latest big chess tournament to be held in India coincides with the G20, with the fifth Tata Steel Chess India Rapid & Blitz - a spinoff from the larger Dutch super-tournament, the Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk aan Zee - taking place 5-9 September in Kolkata.

Me & The Kids

By John B. Henderson • September 4, 2023
The fifth and latest leg of the Champions Chess Tour , the Julius Baer Generations Cup more than lived up to its name with the world No.1, Magnus Carlsen, after overpowering Alireza Firouzja in the winners’ final, to effortlessly cruise his way into the Grand Final, declaring: “It’s just me against the kids now!” After three clean kills that included a brace of back-to-back 2½-½ victories over Iranian Amin Tabatabaei and his old title foe Caruana, Carlsen proceeded to sweep Firouzja 3-0 to reach the Grand Final of the contest - but it wasn’t lost on the “old man” that non of his old rivals were left in the competition, and that meant that Denis Lazavik (16), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (18), and Firouzja (20) were the only three left standing to see who would go forward to meet him in the Grand Final.
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