Ding Liren is not alone in Astana, as usual, but he could still do better. The great Chinese master has arrived at the World Cup in Kazakhstan accompanied by his own demons. After the first game against Ian Nepomniachtchi, a draw, the world title contender confessed the unspeakable in elite sport, that he felt "depressed" and under "too much pressure". An absolute disaster in the most mental sport there is. In the second game, with white, he collapsed and lost. There are 12 chances left to match, but it looks bad for him.
"I'm not happy; I'm a bit depressed. During the game, I felt a flow of inconsistency. In the first part I couldn't concentrate and think about chess. My mind was full of memories and feelings. I couldn't calculate because of the pressure of the departure". It was not a bluff, as was seen in the second game. It is known that last year he broke up with his girlfriend, but later he assured that he had a good friend. The problem, at least, is not just sentimental. The long periods of isolation that he had to endure during the pandemic have taken their toll on him.
The truth is that Ding Liren has arrived in Astana with an assistant, the Romanian (formerly Hungarian) Richard Rapport. He has signed him to try to harness his creativity. In fact, in this Monday's game, the Chinese candidate's fourth move was a new move, an experiment that didn't go well. "The idea was good, but the game was a disaster," he admitted.
"I remember when Kramnik asked me to invent new plays, but that they were good," recalled the Spanish Miguel Illescas on Twitter. Good or not, when the Chinese stopped playing what was prepared and had to improvise, it was seen that his mental state was not adequate for a championship of the most demanding level.
The Russian grandmaster, who had a chance to win in the first game, did not miss his second chance. This Tuesday the first day of rest will take place, which will give Ding some quarterback. He will have to try to repeat his comeback from the last Candidates tournament. In Madrid, he also started badly and then had an excellent tournament finish, enough to achieve second place, which after the resignation of Magnus Carlsen now allows him to face a unique opportunity to be proclaimed world champion.
In front of him, he not only has a chess player as good as him. Nepo is said to have access to the Zhores supercomputer, belonging to the Skolkovo Institute of Technology. Hence Ding's eagerness to play little-known lines, which he has hardly been able to prepare for the Russian. In modern chess, it is common among grandmasters without access to such powerful computer equipment to resort to online services, which allow the use of highly advanced computers to be rented to test their ideas before trusting them in real games.
To all this, Carlsen has not shown too much interest in the duel between Nepo and Ding. His disdain seems even excessive. "I don't care who wins," he assured. He also has no plans to follow the games very closely. "I'll probably do it, but I don't think I'll change my routines. I'll see them later, that's for sure," he said like someone who doesn't watch a football game and is content to look for the replays of the goals.
It is not without its poetic side that in his last game as world champion, the Norwegian lost against the American Hikaru Nakamura due to a carelessness with his mouse. A management error, common in rapid chess, caused him to lose his queen and therefore the game.
In Kazakhstan you don't play with a mouse and mistakes are not just accidents. That is why they hurt more and it is much more difficult to recover afterwards. The only good news for Ding Liren is that the World Cup has just started and there is more time to come back.
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