Soon, the short break was over, and the second round of the tiebreaker was finally about to start. The moment Nepo pressed the clock, though, just as Sheva predicted, the Russian GM marched forward without hesitation. He went for the aggressive line of the Ruy-Lopez, taking up all the spaces in the black's territory.
It took a while, but slowly, Nepo gained a strong advantage. He even had a chance to break through Ding's stronghold defense, and once that happened, it would be hard for the Chinese contender to fight back.
Sheva frowned when he saw this. It wasn't the fact that Ding was at a disadvantage that worried him, but more of the man's psychological state. He had been following this event since the beginning, and occasionally, Sheva would see Ding trembling or even freezing in the middle of the game, showing that the man's mind was quite fragile.
It would be bad for Ding if somehow, he relapsed today.
