‘He’s frozen’: Chinese star Ding Liren ‘malfunctions’ in world chess championship
A global sporting championship took another twist as Chinese star Ding Liren ran very low on time in a tense position.
Other Sports
Don't miss out on the headlines from Other Sports. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Chinese chess star Ding Liren has frozen at the board in a crucial moment, wilting under tremendous time pressure.
Playing in game seven of the world chess championship in Astana, Kazakhstan, Liren surprised many by using the French Defence against Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi.
The game quickly progressed into an extremely sharp position.
The Russian pointed his bishops towards the enemy king, creating big threats early.
Liren managed to find some strong defensive moves but quickly used up his clock.
Nepomniachtchi kept mounting the pressure and Liren gave up the exchange to hold off the attack and the position was dynamically equal.
With nine moves to make before the time control, Liren took an enormous amount of time.
The Chess.com commentators urged Liren to make his move.
“I’m about to jump out of my seat,” American grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky said.
“He’s frozen, it’s a tension thing. His body has frozen. He’s frozen completely,” Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri said.
“He’s under a minute, what is he doing?
“He broke, he broke. He malfunctioned, Ding broke.”
Liren was left with just 45 seconds when he finally moved - and he had eight moves to make before flagging.
When he finally did move, it was a huge blunder, 32. Rd2.
RELATED:
Russian smashed with ‘sick’ queen sacrifice
Russian destroys Chinese with Spanish
Telling sign exposes star’s damning blunder
Nepomniachtchi, with time left on his clock, took a free pawn and Liren’s position was untenable.
Liren threw in a spite check but Nepomniachtchi’s king was safe and Liren resigned after the move 37. Qxc3.
The commentators were stunned by the turn of events.
“His algorithm broke, his body language broke. He froze in a very weird way and just couldn’t make a move,” Giri said.
It was a sad meltdown for the Chinese star, who previously admitted to having emotional problems dealing with the pressure of the contest.
There’s still time for Liren to mount a comeback, which he has already done twice in the topsy-turvy match.
Originally published as ‘He’s frozen’: Chinese star Ding Liren ‘malfunctions’ in world chess championship
Australian history-maker’s retirement call
She made her Commonwealth Games debut as a 13-year-old and after making Olympics history twice, Melissa Wu is heading into retirement.
Aussie champ to test anti-gay laws
After outrage from the family of an Aussie star when the World Surf League confirmed an event in an Abu Dhabi wave pool she’ll hit the event this week as world No.1.