[Event "2023 FIDE World Chess Championship"] [Site "Astana"] [Date "2023.04.30"] [White "Ding Liren"] [Black "Ian Nepomniachtchi"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "GM Elshan Moradiabadi"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "A14"] [Opening "English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Neo-Catalan Declined"] [StudyName "2023 World Championship"] [ChapterName "Ding Liren - Ian Nepomniachtchi (rapid game 3)"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/46lbOGuJ/tGlW5XFO"] [Orientation "white"] { [%evp 0,65,17,27,14,-7,-13,-13,21,9,25,-10,-16,-10,-2,-16,-2,2,23,27,24,24,22, 44,36,27,55,51,47,47,44,21,57,27,27,21,46,47,47,47,49,33,52,47,52,47,47,52,49, 42,43,48,40,45,42,38,43,42,41,38,37,37,41,37,38,41,44,42] } { Annotations by GM Elshan Moradiabadi } 1. Nf3 { The only uneventful game of the match. Ding plays a Reti, for which Nepo was prepared. The most recent game in this well-known line was played between Nakamura and Wesley So. Ding tried something different on move 17, but Nepo knew how to react. He correctly gave up a pawn to disentangle in his pieces and then forced a rook trade to achieve a drawn opposite-colored bishop ending. } 1... d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. c4 O-O 6. b3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Bb2 Nc6 9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Bf6 12. Qd2 Nf4 13. gxf4 Qxd2 14. Nxd2 Bxb2 15. Rad1 Bf6 16. Nc4 Rb8 17. Ne5 (17. Nd6 b6 18. Be4 Rd8 19. Nxc8 Rbxc8 20. Rxd8+ Bxd8 21. Rd1 Bf6 22. Rd7 a5 23. e3 g6 24. Rb7 Bd8 25. Bd3 Kf8 26. Bc4 a4 27. Kg2 axb3 28. axb3 { and the players agreed to a draw in Nakamura – So, Chess. com, 2023. }) 17... Rd8 18. Rxd8+ Bxd8 19. Rd1 Be7 20. Nd7 Bxd7 21. Rxd7 Kf8 22. Bxb7 Rd8 23. Rc7 a5 24. Rc4 Bb4 25. Rc2 Rd2 26. Rxd2 Bxd2 27. e3 Bb4 28. Kf1 Ke7 29. Ke2 Kd6 30. Kd3 Be1 31. Ke2 Bb4 32. Kd3 Be1 33. Ke2 { 1/2-1/2 The game is a draw. } 1/2-1/2