Hikaru Nakamura on Ding Liren: ‘Very concerned for him against Gukesh, world champ doesn’t look right, was literally shaking’

Ding Liren’s horror run of results after he became the world champion continued as he was forced to resign against World No 3 Hikaru Nakamura in 54 moves in a round 5 encounter at the Norway Chess tournament.

At the Norway Chess event so far, Ding has lost his last three games in the classical format itself: before losing to Nakamura, he was defeated by Alireza Firouzja (in round 4) and Fabiano Caruana (round 3). He held Magnus Carlsen to a draw but the world no 1 won in Armageddon later on. Ding’s game against Praggnanandhaa was a draw in the classical format with the Armageddon going the Chinese GM’s way, possibly the only bit of luck he has had so far in Stavanger. Things are unlikely to get any easier for the world champion as in the next round he faces Carlsen, who has now won his last two games at Norway Chess.

Hikaru Nakamura, Ding’s opponent on Saturday at Norway Chess, said he was concerned about Ding while he was playing the world champion. The American GM, who is a regular in the confessional booth at Norway Chess during games, made a few visits on Saturday as well. Nakamura said that while overall he was “happy with what was going on in the game”, he was a little concerned for Ding.

“I don’t know what’s going through Ding’s head. It’s a very, very strange situation to be in. You hear all the stories about Ding, this and that and the other thing! But I haven’t actually played him. Now seeing it in person, it is very clear that he’s not the same person he was back when I played him in 2022. Everything, including the body language, doesn’t feel right. I guess that’s one way of putting it. When you’ve played against these guys for so many years there are certain things you get used to. I would be very concerned for him for this upcoming World Championship match against Gukesh. He just doesn’t look right. Hopefully, he will be fine. Hopefully, he’ll be competitive. You still feel bad for the guy. He is the current world champion. It’s very, very awkward being in this situation, I think is what I would say,” Nakamura said.

He also added: “Ding definitely doesn’t seem like the same person. It’s awkward actually because I’ve played against him many times and we have been colleagues many times. He definitely doesn’t seem like the same person. Not sure if it was visible on the video but at some point I was struggling to keep my composure because at some moment he started bouncing up and down, he was shaking, like literally shaking. It’s very hard in a way when your opponent—it seems as though something’s wrong—it’s very hard to not feel bad for them!”

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