Dramatic tiebreak expected in world chess championship match

After 14 classical games, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren are tied after a draw on Saturday.

In the lengthy Game 14 of the battle for the world chess title on Saturday, China’s Ding Liren held on in a precarious position to rescue a draw against Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi. A tiebreak matchup on Sunday will now decide what is being dubbed the most thrilling title match in decades.

A decisive outcome would have seen a new world champion crowned for the first time since 2013 with the score tied at 6.5 points apiece into the 14th and final game. Since Ding had the white pieces, a slight but crucial advantage in competitive chess, he had every chance to look for winning opportunities.

However, the Chinese grandmaster faltered, failing to present Nepomniachtchi with challenges right away, and then making several errors that gave his opponent an opening. The Russian appeared set to win the decisive game with the black pieces as Ding found himself in a worse position and time was running out.

On move 36, Nepomniachtchi faltered and gave up his advantage, though. After a subsequent piece exchange, the players established time control, leaving only a pair of rooks and pawns on the board to go with the kings. Nepomniachtchi possessed an additional pawn, but such a benefit is frequently inadequate to win, and Ding eventually managed to secure the draw after 90 moves and more than six and a half hours of play.

On Sunday, a series of four “rapid” games will be played because the two grandmasters are tied at seven points each. Each participant will be given 25 minutes, with an additional 10 seconds for each move. Two “blitz” games will be played in a mini-series with a time control of five minutes and three seconds added for each move if the tie is still unbroken. A drawing of lots will be used to decide the colors for consecutive blitz games if a winner is still unable to be determined.

In 2018, Magnus Carlsen of Norway prevailed over Fabiano Caruana of America in the ‘rapid’ tiebreak to win the title of world champion. The 2018 series, however, saw all of the traditional games result in draws, as opposed to this year’s match, which included an almost unprecedented six decisive games.

According to chess pundits, this year’s encounter was one of the most thrilling in recent memory. Former world champion Viswanathan Anand referred to the match as “a match for the ages.” The players have traded blows after blow, occasionally playing aggressively and superbly, but they have also made an unusually high amount of errors.

With just two games left in the match, Nepomniachtchi, who was already up by one point, gained a significant advantage in Game 12 and appeared to be on the verge of gaining a virtually unstoppable two-point lead. In contrast, the Russian strangely started to play quickly in a position with two advantages, giving up his lead before blundering into a losing situation.

The St. Regis Hotel in Astana, Kazakhstan, is where the game is being played.