Thirteenth game of chess crown match ends in Nepomniachtchi’s equalization

Astana, April 27 – The great Russian coach Ian Nepomnyashchy played a draw with the Chinese Ding Liren in the thirteenth match of the World Chess Crown Match, which takes place in Astana.

The match in which the Russian played with the white pieces ended after moving 39. The score in the confrontation became 6.5-6.5. The fourteenth match will be held on Saturday, and the Black Russian will play.

Nepomniachtchi became a candidate for the chess crown after winning the Candidates Tournament in 2022. Since the Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen refused to defend his title, Nepomniachtchi’s opponent was Ding Liren, who finished second in the Candidates Tournament.

Nepomniachtchi is 32 years old, the Russian with 2795 points is second in the FIDE ranking, and 30-year-old Ding Liren is third (2788). The Russian is the winner of the last two Candidates tournaments, in 2021 he lost in the match for the chess crown to Carlsen (3.5-7.5).

The winner of the match is the player who gets 7.5 points first. A total of 14 games are planned using classic time control, and after every two games there is a rest day. In the event of a tie after 14 games, the winner will be decided by tiebreaker.

The prize money for the match is 2 million euros, to be distributed between the winner and the loser in the ratio of 60% to 40%. If the champion is determined in a tiebreaker, then he will receive 55% of the amount, and the loser – 45%.