[%c_effect f5;square;f5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] This move received high praise from Ding at the press conference.
1. d2d4  1... g8f6  2. c2c4  2... e7e6  3. g1f3  3... d7d5  4. h2h3 Much will be said about this curious and rare choice as early as move four, probably an influence of the creative GM Rapport, one of Ding's seconds. Of course, the idea didn't work in the game, but let's not be too quick to judge its merits. The job of studying openings for those who play White at the highest level is very difficult: you have to come up with ideas that your opponent hasn't studied much with the computer. In chess, as in other sports, it is easier to destroy than to create. For this reason, more and more exotic ideas are sought after. The move has no specific idea, but now we have to think about how the h2-h3 move affects Black's choice for different moves and transpositions, such as 4...c6, 4...Bb4+, 4...Be7, 4... c5 and so on. 4... d5c4 Nepomniachtchi decides to take the game to typical Queen's Gambit Accepted positions. The next moves are very natural and I believed that at some point the game would transpose to some position well known by theory, but it didn't. 5. e2e3  5... c7c5  6. f1c4  6... a7a6  7. e1g1  7... b8c6  8. b1c3  8... b7b5  9. c4d3  9... c8b7  10. a2a4  10... b5b4  11. c3e4  11... c6a5 [%c_effect a5;square;a5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] Interestingly, Ding had this position with White against Aronian in a blitz game in 2021, with the difference that the rook was on e1 and the pawn on h2. The move 11...Na5 works much better in the case of the present game, as this version is better for Black. Nepomniachtchi was evasive during the press conference when asked if he was familiar with this blitz game between Ding and Aronian, but my impression is that he was familiar with it and that helped him in making his decision. Black has other options as well: 12. e4f6 [%c_effect f6;square;f6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] Opening the g-file is a risky decision, as the combination of this file with a bishop on b7 can be very dangerous. 12... g7f6 [%c_effect f6;square;f6;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] Perhaps Ding underestimated the strength of this move, which weakens Black's structure for a good reason. This is a difficult move for chess players with a very positional style, but it's a natural one for someone who likes the initiative like Nepomniachtchi. 13. e3e4 [%c_effect e4;square;e4;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] This makes things worse. 13... c5c4 [%c_effect c4;square;c4;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] Despite handing over central control to the opponent, Black can now take the king to the queenside and start a threatening attack with all his pieces playing. 14. d3c2  14... d8c7  15. c1d2  15... h8g8  16. a1c1  16... e8c8  17. c2d3 [%c_effect d3;square;d3;type;Mistake;persistent;true] A bad decision. Ding probably wanted to bring the bishop to f1 and secure the king's defense, but he won't have time for that. 17... c8b8  18. f1e1 