Chess-Psychological battle at heart of 'unusual' world championship match

GENEVA/PARIS : The play of chess grandmasters Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren, battling it out for the world title, has oscillated between touches of brilliance and uncharacteristic mistakes which their peers have attributed to flaws in their psychological stamina. 

    Grandmasters interviewed by Reuters described the world championship match, played in Astana, Kazakhstan as unpredictable and unusual with Nepomniachtchi leading 4.5-3.5 in the best-of-14 match.

    "All my predictions have been proven wrong so I gave up and will watch as a spectator," said grandmaster Peter Svidler, the eight-times Russian champion. "Everything that had seemed obvious to me has since been disproven."    

    Ding, who could become the first Chinese male to win the world title, began the tournament admitting he felt like there was "something wrong" with his mind. 

    He said he felt a "bit depressed" after his opening game tie with Nepomniachtchi, who has been blitzing some of his moves when Ding was under serious time pressure.    

    In the seventh game, Ding froze under time pressure, leaving himself less than three minutes to complete nine moves despite having been in a potentially winning position.

    "He's a very high-level player," former world champion Alexander Khalifman said of Ding. "But even before the match, I predicted that psychological strength was not his strongest attribute."

    Grandmaster Georgui Castaneda said Ding projected the image of a "very emotional and vulnerable person", and that Nepomniachtchi had his own psychological flaws to overcome.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISPOSITION 

    Khalifman, who has known Nepomniachtchi since he was a child, said the Russian's psychological disposition was similar to that of his Chinese