Ian Nepomniachtchi had a chance to play on against risky play by Ding Liren in Game 11 of the FIDE World Championship match in Astana, but instead he decided to liquidate everything for a draw. That leaves him leading by a point with just three games of the match to go, though Ding Liren will still have White in two of them.

Ian Nepomniachtchi was taking no risks in Game 11 | photo: Stev Bonhage, FIDE

Replay the live commentary from Fabiano Caruana, Tania Sachdev and Robert Hess, as well as the post-game press conference.

Replay Game 11 with computer analysis

We’re into the last week of the World Chess Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan, and for now it feels like the calm before the storm. Game 11’s fourth draw in a row took just under two hours and left Ian Nepomniachtchi with a 6:5 lead going into the final three games.

Ian Nepomniachtchi understandably decided it wasn’t the time to try something new as he played 1.e4 for the 5th time in six games. Ding Liren’s French Defence remains a one-off try in Game 7 as he returned to his trusty 1…e5. He was asked afterwards if it hadn’t been time to try the Sicilian.

I think it was too early to play something like the Sicilian at that point. There are three games ahead. In the Candidates I won in the last game, so anything can happen in the last three rounds.

Ding also didn’t play the Berlin, which had seemed to work out well in Game 9, but went back to his more regular 3…a6 response to the Ruy Lopez. The players followed Game 5 until Ian Nepomniachtchi deviated first with 8.a3 instead of 8.c3.

That was a move Ian had used to beat Ding Liren in Round 6 of the 2020 Candidates Tournament in Ekaterinburg, shortly before the pandemic forced the tournament to be interrupted for over a year. That was something on Ding’s mind.

When he played a3 I recalled that game — it was a very bad memory for me.

This time instead of 8…0-0 Ding went for 8…Na5 and said, “I guess my play was much better than last time”.

Ian once again put a knight on d5, with things getting critical after the rare 14.Qd2 and then the new move 15.Ng5 in this position.

Ding took the radical decision to respond 15…c4!?, which got Ian thinking for the first time in the game. The Chinese star explained his reasoning:

I played c4 and after c4 he always has the chance to [liquidate] to the endgame, but instead of c4 if I play anything else then f4 comes, I will be in danger of getting worse, so I don’t think I have so many chances today.

Ding may have been seeing some ghosts, since although after a move like 15…Bd7 or 15…Bc8 the reply 16.f4! is strong, it’s not a particularly good response to another natural move, 15…Nc6. In that case 16.f4 would be met by 16…Ne7! and Black is no worse. The move in the game was a bold method of restricting the a2-bishop.

It was the kind of position that could easily go wrong fast for Black, but it turned out Ding had at least most things figured out. After 16.Nxe6 fxe6 17.Ne3 he played the strong 17…Bh6!, denying White an easy advantage, and then after 18.Rad1 he found the less than obvious best move in the position, 18…Rb8!

He’d rightly foreseen that the key was not to defend the c-pawn but to be ready with counterplay along the b-file.

Here Nepomniachtchi took a decision that was motivated by the match situation and, instead of maintaining the tension with 19.Qe2, he captured the black c-pawn with 19.dxc4. He said afterwards:

I’m not quite sure I was right just to take on c4, because somehow I thought I will at least get this 3 vs. 2 rook endgame, but unfortunately 3 vs. 2 never happens. Black has enough time to make sure White won’t get an extra pawn, so probably this was a little bit premature, but anyway I think Black is very solid. Perhaps I should have played it slowly, Qe2 instead of dxc4, so this was perhaps not the best decision, but anyway I don’t think it was something very serious for White.

Heavy is the head that almost wears the crown... | photo: Stev Bonhage, FIDE

After 19.dxc4 Nxc4! 20.Bxc4 bxc4 the decision to exchange queens with 21.Qxd6 was the moment it was crystal clear we were heading for a draw, since e.g. 21.Qe2!? might still have kept the game alive.

Things were happening fast, and after 21…Qxd6 22.Rxd6 Bxe3 23.fxe3 Rxf1+ 24.Kxf1 Rxb2 the point of 18…Rb8 was clear.

Once again we got a position where one side had a nominal advantage of an extra pawn, but once again it was a simple draw. The players wasted little time in ending things, with a 3-fold repetition on move 39 circumventing the need to wait until move 40 before offering a draw.

The players needed to get the arbiter's approval | photo: Stev Bonhage, FIDE

With the recaps having to be earlier and earlier we got what was surely the first chess recap filmed from a golf course.

From the post-game press conference it was clear that neither player had too many complaints about the game. Ian Nepomniachtchi was one game close to winning the match, but the question of whether he’d already done the hard part got a predictable response!

Ian, whose last World Championship match ended in 11 games, would like to end the count now.

For Ding Liren it’s just the opposite. Asked what he would change about the match he replied, with a smile, “now I think the tournament can be even longer!” In general, he was in good spirits, and planning to use the rest day to come up with something to surprise his opponent.

Will he go all-in in Wednesday’s Game 12, even though a loss would all but guarantee Ian the title? What’s certain is that the finale of the match is going to be unmissable.

When you need a big idea for the final games but leaked your best tries in online blitz games | photo: Stev Bonhage, FIDE

Don’t miss all the action from 15:00 local time (5am ET, 11:00 CEST, 2:30pm IST)!

See also:

• Official website
• Nepomniachtchi-Ding Liren World Championship match games
• The Ding-Nepomniachtchi Opening Press Conference
• Ding Liren survives scare in Game 1
• Nepo wins World Championship game at 13th attempt
• Ding Liren passes acid test in World Championship Game 3
• Ding Liren pounces on blunder to win Game 4
• Nepomniachtchi retakes the lead with Game 5 win
• Ding wins Game 6 of World Championship rollercoaster
• Ding Liren freezes and loses heartbreaking Game 7
• Ding Liren blows huge chance as prep leaks online
• Ding survives scare after "Caruana gambit" in Game 9
• Nepomniachtchi holds Game 10 draw to close on title