Russian grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi won the second game of the match for the World Chess Crown. He beat the Chinese grandmaster Ding Liren. The Russian played with black pieces. In the middle of the game, he seized the initiative, Liren made a mistake and resigned after the 29th move.
The first game of opponents ended in a draw. Thus, after two games, Jan leads with a score of 1.5 – 0.5.
A player is awarded 1 point for a win in a game, and 0.5 points for a draw. The winner is the one who scores 7.5 points. In total, you can play 14 games of 120 minutes each.
The match was supposed to be between reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen and challenger Nepomniachtchi. However, in the summer of 2022, Carlsen announced that he would not defend the title, which had been his since 2013.
Ian Nepomniachtchi was among 44 Russian chess players who in March 2022 signed an open letter to Vladimir Putin condemning the war against Ukraine.