World Chess Championship: China’s Ding Liren bounces back to win fourth game

China's Ding Liren won the fourth game of the World Chess Championship to draw level against Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Thursday. This was Liren's first victory of the championship. Nepomniachtchi won the second game while the first and third game ended in draws. The score is now tied 2-2.

Having suffered defeat in just 29 moves against Nepomniachtchi in the second game, there were questions about Liren's ability to bounce back, but the 30-year-old's victory has set up the contest nicely. Nepomniachtchi was forced to resign on his 47th move after three hours and 50 minutes of play on Thursday.

Playing with white, Liren opened with the Two Knights system and managed to achieve an advantageous position. He took control of the centre, dictating terms and forcing Nepomniachtchi to be extremely precise with his moves.

The Russian wasn't able to come up with the desired response. In the middle game, move 28 to be precise, he ended up blundering by moving knight to d4 when moving a pawn to g5 to defend his f4 pawn would have been more prudent.

Liren played his pieces right from thereon, closing out a well-deserved victory.

“It was a very intense game. I think I misjudged the position and thought it was quite nice for black. Still, it was more or less playable, until I just lost my focus,” Nepomniachtchi said after the match. Talking about how he will handle the loss, he said: “I will surely discuss it with my team tonight. It is a long match, and we are just at the beginning.”

The Russian qualified as the title challenger after winning the Candidates tournament without a defeat. Liren was confirmed as his opponent after reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway pulled out because he was not interested. Carlsen scored a crushing win over Nepomniachtchi in Dubai two years ago and had said he would not play if he didn’t feel challenged.

The fifth game will be played on Saturday.

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