Nepomniachtchi leads Dinh Lap Nhan in the world finals
After the draw on the first day, Dinh took the white piece and made a new move on the fourth move. The Chinese player said that this move was suggested by his assistants, but he did not play well and fell into a weak position right after the opening. After 17 moves, the computer judged Nepomniachtchi to have a small advantage, but the world number six player Anish Giri commented: "Ding will be crushed".
Nepomniachtchi is known for his fast, good attack. In the words of Giri, the Russian player "can give his opponent a chance to win, but never miss his own". What Giri commented was revealed later, when Nepomniachtchi experimented on move 20, in exchange for an offensive advantage in all areas of the board.
Dinh is not only inferior on the chessboard, but also loses time. After 26 moves, the world number three player took 118 minutes, an average of more than 4.5 minutes for a move. In the next 14 moves, he had only two minutes left, no extra time. The difficult situation caused Dinh to ask to lose in move 29, because he could not stop Nepomniachtchi from granting the rank, and his time was only 46 seconds.
This was Nepomniachtchi's first victory, in the 13th game in chess final history. In the 2021 final, he lost to Magnus Carlsen after 11 games, without winning a game. This time meeting Dinh in the final, the world's number two player took a 1.5-0.5 lead, before entering the first day of rest.
The 2023 World Chess Final will take place from April 9 to April 30 in Astana, Kazakhstan, with 14 standard games. Each player has 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, an additional 60 minutes for the next 20 moves, and an additional 15 minutes for the rest of the game. From move 61, each player will have 30 extra seconds after each move. Two players play 14 games, but whoever reaches 7.5 points first wins.
Nepomniachtchi won the right to the final after winning the Candidates 2022, originally expected to challenge Carlsen's Chess King. However, the number one player in the world refused to defend the throne because he did not agree with the boring format with 14 standard chess games. Carlsen wanted the match to combine standard chess and fast or flash chess to increase the attractiveness. The player is a five-time world champion in the old format, and he thinks it's time to give up the throne after 10 years of dominance.
Because Carlsen was no longer defending the throne, the Candidates runner-up was promoted to fight Nepomniachtchi in the world final, which was Dinh. Before the match, Nepomniachtchi was the number two player in the world with Elo 2,795, and Dinh was third with Elo 2,788.
