Ding goes for an aggressive attack with white with 12.Ng5, but Nepo defends well and ends up in a much better position. However after some imprecise play from both sides, Ding finally finds the brilliant defense resource of 37.Rh8 and 38.b6 to get into a rook endgame where he was down a pawn, but it was objectively a draw with proper defense.

Nepo pressed on for long, hoping to induce a blunder from Ding and end this match before the tiebreaks, but Ding puts up a stubborn defense and secures the half-point. The match now goes on to the rapid tiebreaks.

If you have the Reddit PGN viewer browser extention, you can view the game below, or you can go to Chess24 to view it.

[pgn] [Event "FIDE World Chess Championship 2023"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2023.04.09"] [Round "01"] [White "Ding, Liren"] [Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2788"] [BlackElo "2795"] [TimeControl "5400 30"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd2 d5 6. a3 Be7 7. Nf3 c5 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. Qc2 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nbd7 11. Rd1 Be7 12. Ng5 h6 13. h4 Qc7 14. Be2 Rd8 15. Rc1 Nf8 16. Nge4 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Qxc2 18. Rxc2 Bd7 19. Bb4 Bxb4 20. axb4 Bc6 21. Nc5 Bxg2 22. Rg1 Bd5 23. e4 Bc6 24. b5 Be8 25. Nxb7 Rd4 26. Rc4 Rd7 27. Nc5 Rc7 28. Rc3 Rac8 29. b4 Nd7 30. Rcg3 Nxc5 31. bxc5 Rxc5 32. Rxg7 Kf8 33. Bd3 Rd8 34. Ke2 Rc3 35. Rg8 Ke7 36. R1g3 e5 37. Rh8 Rd6 38. b6 Rxb6 39. Rxe8 Kxe8 40. Bb5 Rxb5 41. Rxc3 Kd7 42. Rf3 Ke7 43. Rc3 a5 44. Rc7 Kf6 45. Rc6 Kg7 46. Ra6 Rb2 47. Kf3 Ra2 48. Kg3 h5 49. Ra8 Ra1 50. Kg2 a4 51. Ra5 f6 52. Kf3 a3 53. Ra6 Kf7 54. Ke3 Ke8 55. Ke2 Ke7 56. Kf3 Ra2 57. Ke3 Ra1 58. Ke2 Kf7 59. Kf3 Ra2 60. Ke3 Ke7 61. Kf3 Kd7 62. Rxf6 Rb2 63. Ra6 Rb3 64. Kg2 Kc7 65. f4 exf4 66. e5 Kb7 67. Ra4 Kc6 68. Ra6 Kb5 69. Ra7 Kb6 70. Ra8 Kc5 71. Ra6 Kb5 72. Ra7 Kb6 73. Ra8 Kc6 74. Ra6 Kd7 75. Kf2 Ke7 76. Kg2 Re3 77. Kf2 Rg3 78. Kf1 Rc3 79. Kf2 Re3 80. Kg2 Kd7 81. Kf2 Kc7 82. e6 Kd8 83. Ra7 Ke8 84. Kg2 Rxe6 85. Rxa3 Rg6 86. Kf2 Rg4 87. Ra5 Rxh4 88. Kf3 Ke7 89. Rf5 Ke6 90. Rxf4 Rxf4 * Ke3 Ke7 * 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]