World championship match in Astana

[Matt Mackenzie]

Do people think the other Chinese chess GMs will be inspired by this and feel they too can become World Champion? The likes of Wei Yi, Wang Hao, Yu Yangyi, for example? Or will the focus be on the team events? It would be quite something if China could hold all the main individual and team titles at the same time.

This will surely be a big boost for "Western" chess in China, which still trails the native variant for popularity amongst the masses.

[Roland Kensdale]

If Ding had lost the match he was going to retire from chess. Interview here.

Ding had the body language of someone being interviewed online, who by accident is in the same room as the interviewer.

He trained in Law, retiring from Chess might mean practising Law in China, which must be a surreal experience.

[Roland Kensdale]

95 min interview with Anand where he goes through key moments in the match, though most analysis is brief.

Anand says that Nepo as Black was often creating chances, playing for 3 results, where a White victory may have been more probable. Other players would have headed for slightly worse but sterile positions.

Having Rapport as a second may been like a midlife crisis for Ding (perhaps because of a contrast in styles).

Nepo moving quickly may have been a sign of lack of confidence (forgot the explanation for this).

He reported Caruana's joke that Nepo playing Bd7 followed soon after by Bf5 (losing a tempo) in an early game, may have been him playing fast to rush to the toilet.

Anand says he will stop referring to Ian as Nepo, perhaps because Ian doesn't like it, though did he start saying Nepo just for the match commentary?

https://youtu.be/c1m_9_zehPA

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Anand says he will stop referring to Ian as Nepo, perhaps because Ian doesn't like it, though did he start saying Nepo just for the match commentary?"

"Nepo", as in "nepo baby", is now used as an insult, so maybe that's it, or he just doesn't like his name being abbreviated?

[Roland Kensdale]

"Nepo", as in "nepo baby", is now used as an insult, so maybe that's it, or he just doesn't like his name being abbreviated?

Strange, heard that phrase for the first time on TV yesterday, but didn't link it to Nepo. His English is very good so he may have heard it. I thought maybe he prefers his surname to be used in full. I am sure he is Ian to his colleagues.

[Mick Norris]

Ding NIC interview

And then, all of a sudden, Ding said that he would tell me anyway who was the other person that helped him. It was Vakhidov, Jakhongir Vakhidov from Uzbekistan, a member of the Uzbek team that sensationally won the 2022 Olympiad in Chennai. They had met at the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee last January, where Vakhidov had been helping the Uzbek talent Javokhir Sindarov (17). They had talked and it was decided that Vakhidov would remain behind the scenes during the match and send him opening ideas from home.

The revelation that Vakhidov had helped him was remarkable not only because you don’t expect a grandmaster who is relatively unknown outside Uzbek chess circles to play a role during a world championship match. What struck me even more was the last-minute nature of the decision to enlist him only months before the match.
While Ian Nepomniachtchi relied on an extensive well-oiled team of seconds and advisers that had known each other for a long time, Ding Liren more or less randomly composed his team after two conversations at the closing ceremony of the Tata Steel tournament – asking Richard Rapport and … yes, Jakhongir Vakhidov!

[LawrenceCooper]

Not strictly connected to the match but Ding has withdrawn from St Louis rapid/blitz events and the Sinquefeld Cup. I do begin to wonder if we will see him at a chess board again. https://twitter.com/GrandChessTour/stat ... 8626336938

[Jonathan Rogers]

Well, not to give up hope. He might play a rematch for the world title with Nepo in twenty years. He could probably get away with the same white repertoire too.

[Matt Mackenzie]

I wonder how much this extended break is down to the incessant chatter that he is not a "real" champion?

[Jonathan Rogers]

I wonder how much this extended break is down to the incessant chatter that he is not a "real" champion?

My guess would be not much, because I seem to recall him saying during the match that he was going to quit if he had lost, but now that he had won, he would have to carry on. "What an astonishing to say" I thought at the time; and if he was really was thinking about quitting, presumably because he was no longer enjoying it, why (money making apart) would the burden of being champion make a difference?

[Matt Mackenzie]

I suspect the sniping doesn't help in motivating him, it might do with others but Ding doesn't seem to be that sort of person.