[Event "FIDE Candidates Tournament"] [Date "2022.06.26"] [Round "8.2"] [White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Black "Ding, Liren"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2766"] [WhiteTeam "FID"] [BlackElo "2806"] [BlackTeam "China"] [Annotator "Aagaard"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C47"] [Opening "Four Knights Game: Scotch Variation Accepted"] [StudyName "2022 FIDE Candidates - Annotated by GM Jacob Aagaard"] [ChapterName "Nepomniachtchi, Ian - Ding, Liren"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/fhBzjnqz/ao28kTlD"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 { Nepomniachtchi also did this against Caruana in 2021, when he wanted to force a draw. } 4... exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8. exd5 O-O 9. O-O cxd5 10. Qf3 { The super drawish approach. } 10... c6 11. Bg5 Bd6 12. Rae1 Rb8 13. Nd1 h6 14. Bxf6 Qxf6 15. Qxf6 gxf6 16. b3 f5 17. Ne3 f4 18. Nf5 Bxf5 { If they had agreed a draw here, it would not have been offensive towards anything else than the 40 move rule. } 19. Bxf5 Kg7 20. g3 Kf6 21. Bd3 h5 22. Kg2 Rh8 23. Kf3 fxg3 24. hxg3 h4 25. Rh1 hxg3 26. fxg3 a5 27. a4 Bb4 28. Ref1 Rxh1 29. Rxh1 Ke5 30. Rh4 Rg8 31. Rg4 Rxg4 32. Kxg4 f6 33. Kf3 f5 34. Ke2 Bc3 35. Kf3 Bb4 36. Ke2 Bc3 37. Kf3 Bb4 { 1/2-1/2 The game is a draw. } 1/2-1/2