After blundering his round four game, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi staged a comeback on Saturday, April 15, as he scored an important victory as White against GM Ding Liren to take the lead 3-2. In game five, Nepomniachtchi broke away once again as he exploited his opening and time advantage to put pressure on Ding until the Chinese world number-three made some decisive mistakes and collapsed before the time control. World Chess Championship: Ding Liren strikes back with a victory Astana to host 2023 FIDE World Chess Championship Match Earlier last week, on Thursday, April 13, the Chinese Grandmaster scored his first victory in the World Chess Championship match against Nepomniachtchi evening the score at 2:2. In game five, Nepomniachtchi blitzed out his first 20 moves and finished with 1 hour and 22 minutes on the clock when Ding resigned after 48 moves and three hours and 15 minutes of play. In the anti-Marshal line of the Ruy Lopez, both sides quickly played the opening but the position that transpired in the middle game seemed to be more suited to Nepomniachtchi’s style of play. Nepomniachtchi made an h2-h4-h5 advance on the kingside, which was a foundation for the future attack on the kingside while Ding was on the defensive. In the positional reshuffling that followed Ding could not find the best plan and White gradually inched his way towards a better position. Nepomniachtchi was close to losing that advantage at one point, but Ding could not see all the best moves and gradually handed an even bigger edge to White. With better-positioned pieces and more initiative, White started knitting a mating net around Black, preventing him from any counter-play. As they reached the first time control after 40 moves, Black was completely lost. Ding decided to continue defending and go for an endgame, but it was futile. Game six will take place on Sunday, April 16, at 3 PM Astana time.
