Learning From The World Championship

What club players can take away from the key moments in the match

It’s not easy to relate to chess at the world championship level. The skill of the players is so otherworldly that it can be hard to follow what’s going on, let alone apply it to your own game. But the recently concluded world championship was more relatable than most. Both players at times struggled with the tension of the match and made uncharacteristic mistakes. Of course, being two of the absolute best players in the world, they often played brilliantly as well.

But it’s the mistakes and moments of vulnerability that offer the biggest opportunity for those looking to improve their game on a more human level. This week we’re reviewing three of the biggest moments from the world championship and what all chess players can learn from them.

Know the typical ideas in your openings

In round 6 the London made its first appearance in a world championship match and Ding won a very nice game with the White pieces. According to the computer, Nepomniachtchi didn’t play especially badly (95% accuracy), but in the post-game he was very critical of his performance. Other top grandmasters like Caruana and Carlsen also called it out as a poor game.

I got a better sense of what they were talking about after watching the game recap by Gata Kamsky. Kamsky played the London before it was cool and knows it inside-out. What emerges in this recap is that while Nepo didn’t make any outright blunders, he made a lot of positionally suspect decisions that put him in tough spots.

Take this position on move 14. White is (maybe) threatening to clamp down on Black’s queenside pawns with a5. Is this a big deal? Nepo evidently didn’t think so, because he ignored the threat with 14… Nd7. But according to Kamsky the structure with a5 is heavily favorable for White, so Black should play a5 himself to prevent it. Kamsky didn’t have to calculate anything to figure this out, it’s just something he knows about typical London structures. Ding knew it too: he exchanged on d7 and pushed a5. This sequence didn’t register as a huge swing in the computer evaluation, but it created a long-term weakness that made Black’s game harder and White’s game easier.

If you watch Kamsky’s recap you’ll see there were a lot of moments like this. Ding just had a better handle on how to play this structure: where to put the pieces, which pieces to trade, which pawns to advance, etc. I’ve noticed that when I lose a game where I didn’t make any blunders and my opponent “played perfectly,” if I review the game really honestly, I realize I made my opponent’s life too easy because I didn’t understand what I was trying to do in the position. It was easy for them to play perfectly (or close to it) because I didn’t put them under any pressure or stop their main ideas.

That’s more or less what happened in this game. Ding absolutely played an excellent game, but his task was easier than it should have been because Nepo made a lot of small mistakes. Ding already knew the broad strokes of how he could win in this structure; he just had to figure out the details.

Calculate the forcing lines…but if they don’t work, choose a quiet option

This position was one of the key turning points of the match. As Black, Ding had been playing excellently in a complicated game. But here he spent 4 of his remaining 9 minutes on 31… h4. Objectively this move is not yet a mistake, but it was the first step down a bad path. After 32. gxh4 he spent most of his remaining time, going under 1 minute on the clock, on 32… Rd2. Finally, after 33. Re2 he blundered with 33… Rd3? allowing White to take the c5 pawn for free. After that his position was lost.

What stands out to me about this sequence is that Ding played three forcing moves in a row and they led directly to a losing position. The thing is, this was completely unnecessary. In the initial position Black is doing fine. He’s down an exchange, but in return he has a pawn and well centralized pieces. White’s c3 pawn is a permanent weakness and if it advances Black will get control of the d4 square. All in all, Black’s position is completely fine. There are many acceptable moves. Probably the most human would be 31… Kg7 getting the king off the back rank and defending the position.

Based on Ding’s moves and how much time he spent, I think he over-calculated in a position that wasn’t really about calculation. This often happens when you mis-evaluate the position, when the result you expect (or want) isn’t matching up with the lines you’re calculating. I actually don’t know whether Ding overrated or underrated his position. He might have thought his position was so good he “deserved” to win by force, or so bad that he was looking for a desperate exit strategy. The reality is in between: Black’s position is fine, maybe even a touch better, but there is no good way to force the action.

I want to clarify something here: I’m absolutely not saying, “Don’t calculate.” If there are forcing lines in the position, you have to calculate them! If you have a line that wins by force that’s certainly something you want to know about. But if the lines you’re calculating don’t lead to the desired result, you need to accept that and play a quiet move.

Note that the initial evaluation is also an important variable. If you’re down a rook and your opponent is about to consolidate their position, yeah, you better try something forcing. But if your position is fundamentally fine, two of the worst things you can do are to burn too much time on the clock or go for a forcing line that doesn’t work.

Quickly check the forcing lines, but if they don’t work, play a reasonable move and wait for your moment.

Don’t make or accept draw offers

If you followed the match at all you undoubtedly remember this moment. The players had already repeated moves a few times and if Ding moved his king out of check the game would have ended in a draw. But he chose to continue the game by blocking with the rook. Nepo went astray two moves later and the rest is history.

There’s a lot of psychological power in turning down a draw offer. By playing Rg6, Ding sent a clear message: “I want to beat you right now.” This seemed to unsettle Nepo, perhaps leading to the losing mistake. In this case the draw offer was implicit, but the same principle applies even more for explicit draw offers.

I always advise my students to reject draw offers. There are many reasons for this. One is that chess is a zero-sum game: what is good for your opponent is bad for you, and vice versa. If your opponent is offering a draw, that means they think a draw is a good deal for them… which probably makes it a bad deal for you.

If you take a longer perspective, considering your chess journey as a whole rather than just one game at a time, the case against accepting draw offers is even stronger. By accepting draws rather than playing the game out to its natural end, you’re missing out on valuable practice. This is especially true if you take draws in better positions against higher rated opponents. In this case, you’re robbing yourself of the chance for your greatest triumphs, the victories you’d remember for years to come.

Then you have to consider the habits you’re building. If you always take the easy way out, pretty soon you’ll become the kind of player who’s looking for an easy way out. In contrast, the more you practice fighting chess, the more fearless you’ll become. You’ll realize that winning or losing one game isn’t the end of the world and there’s another battle right around the corner.

Finally, put the shoe on the other foot and consider who you’d rather play against: someone who will always take a quick draw, or someone who fights to the bitter end. You want to be known as a fearless fighter, someone who’s really tough to play against.

I’ve seen time and again in my student’s games that the player who’s more confident and aggressive tends to come out on top, even if their position is not objectively better or their moves are not the most accurate. Someone who plays to win has an enormous advantage over someone who plays not to lose. You might as well start practicing playing to win right now.