Nepo’s playbook

Ian Nepomniachtchi is back for more. The former world championship challenger left his rivals in the dust at the Candidates tournament in Madrid, seizing victory with a round to spare. So he will once again challenge Magnus Carlsen, in a world championship match slated for 2023. Or will he? A few weeks after beating Nepomniachtchi the first time around (in Dubai 2021), Carlsen stoked some intrigue when he stated: ‘It is unlikely that I will play another match unless maybe if the next challenger represents the next generation.’

‘Nepo’ does not fit the bill; at 31, he is the same age as Carlsen. Many (including me) still doubt that Carlsen will abdicate, although if he does, then the Candidates runner-up, Ding Liren, could find himself propelled into a world championship match against Nepomniachtchi.

Carlsen has often criticised the traditional format of the world championship match, so one plausible compromise would be an event with an altered format, perhaps including faster games.

In Madrid, Nepomniachtchi led from the start and was the only player to survive the event undefeated. Indeed, after he won the previous Candidates tournament in Yekaterinburg, the Russian noted that in the second half of the event ‘not losing’ was a key part of his strategy. He was not being facetious. As a commentator to earlier events, he had seen even the strongest players lose their equanimity amid the ups and downs. His playbook was much the same in Madrid. Punchy games in the first half, such as the one below, built him a commanding lead. In the second half, he steered his White games towards safety, conserving energy for his remaining games with the Black pieces.

Ian Nepomniachtchi–Jan-Krzysztof Duda

Fide Candidates (6), Madrid, June 2022

1 Nf3 d5 2 g3 Bg4 3 Bg2 e6 4 O-O Nd7 5 h3 Bh5 6 d4 Ngf6 7 c4 c6 8 cxd5 exd5 9 Ne5 This lunge looks premature, but the following exchange of all four knights serves to accelerate White’s development.