From hiding in the restroom to capitalising on Nepo’s blunder: Ding Liren finds a way back in World Championship

Before the 2023 World Chess Championship began, Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi was asked FIDE what his secret for success was.
“Just like in the movie Kung Fu Panda, there is no secret ingredient in my soup. I tried not to put in any secret ingredients. That’s probably the only trick,” he smiled.
His opponent across the board, Chinese GM Ding Liren, has clearly discovered the secret ingredient. Just three days back, chess analysts were predicting a short World Championship after Ding came apart at the seams, losing Game 2 to Nepo. Until that stage, like a poster boy for Murphy’s Law, everything had gone disastrously for him.
He moved hotels a day before Game 1, he was in a terrible shape mentally until Game 2 with his mind being plagued “strange things”, and, his own admission, he had taken to “hiding in the restroom” between games. He summed up his mental state as being “depressed” (maybe not to be taken literally since English is not his first language).Even in the lounge area for the first two games, he was clearly uncomfortable, wrapping himself in a thickly-padded jacket, hands in pocket.
At one point on Tuesday’s rest day, his team wanted to summon a doctor to take a look at him.
Tuesday seemed like it was a decade ago on Thursday as Ding resuscitated his hopes to become the 17th World Chess Champion winning Game 4 on Thursday to draw level at 2-2 in the 2023 World Championship encounter.
So complete has been his turnaround in the last two days, that he revealed that he had moved back into the hotel room he had walked out of at Astana’s St Regis just last week. The same hotel is also the venue for the World Championship games.
“I started to get used to the hotel,” grinned Ding, who said he couldn’t remember exactly how many nights he had spent in a different hotel.
In games 3 and 4 too, he spent a majority of the time hunched over the chessboard on the stage under the glass dome of the playing hall called the Winter Garden rather than seeking cover in his private lounge from the world’s gaze.“Yes, clearly I feel more comfortable (about playing in a World Chess Championship game),” he said.
In the press conference both players were asked whether winning a game at the World Championship feels different from winning in other tournaments.
“I already forgot (what winning at the World Championship was like),” said Nepo, disappointment writ large on his face.
As much as the result came about due to a change in Ding’s demeanour, it also owed a great debt to Nepo blundering.Viswanathan Anand, who was doing commentary for FIDE for the fourth consecutive game, said: “This was insane! I don’t think Ian’s position was so terrible just three moves ago. He just went knight f5, knight d4 (in the 28th move)… everything without thinking! Is he nuts!”
As the camera panned on both players, who seemed to realise that the momentum had swung, Anand added: “He (Nepo) has the look of a man who knows he has missed something. Ding knows he’s equalising. You can see it in his face. It’s a gift to have an opponent suddenly fall apart like this.”
The skirmish went on for another 19 moves, before Nepo resigned.
“I would project Ding to be a massive favourite in the match after this game. I would give him like an 80 percent chance (of becoming the 17th world chess champion). The only thing Ian has going for him is that the score is still even at 2-2,” said Grandmaster Anish Giri, who was analysing the game for Chess.com.