Ian Nepomniachtchi has taken the lead on day two of the World Chess Championship.
The Russian dominated the second match against Ding Liren in Astana and is now a point ahead of the Chinese early on.
The finalist from 2021 also benefited from an unfortunate opening by the grandmaster from China, which “Nepo” knew how to counter directly with the first move and thus made up for the disadvantage of the black stones. After 29 moves, Ding gave up the match.
In the first game, the opponents, who are playing for the title in the absence of the permanent world champion Magnus Carlsen, who was absent due to motivation problems, agreed on a draw after almost five hours.
After the match, Ding reported having trouble concentrating and said he felt much better after moving to another hotel. He had previously stayed in the same house where the matches take place.
Nepomniachtchi is considered the favourite
A duel between Nepomniachtchi, winner of the 2022 Candidates Tournament, and Carlsen was initially planned. With his renunciation, the Second Thing moved up. It is the second World Cup for Nepomniachtchi, in 2021 he lost significantly to Carlsen. Ding plays his first world championship.
Nepomniachtchi is considered a slight favourite. The 32-year-old won the majority of the 73 games played so far against Ding, most of which took place online due to the pandemic.
New World Champion no later than April 30th
The game was the second of a maximum of 14 and a potentially decisive tiebreak. This would take place on April 30th, the game will be played daily at 11 a.m. German time. There should also be a total of seven rest days.