[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "Ekaterinburg"]
[Date "2020.03.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,Michal"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2020.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.04.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.04.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
{[%evp 0,79,19,29,30,23,17,17,17,-20,0,3,26,-4,20,28,24,-2,13,18,18,30,19,-3,1,
8,9,17,15,15,23,19,26,-17,-17,3,11,-10,-14,7,-1,-2,-15,-10,-15,-8,-17,-20,-18,
-14,-8,-2,7,14,93,82,41,41,52,66,96,102,108,90,221,193,169,155,158,158,158,171,
149,97,148,186,194,201,199,196,211,211]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4
Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3 {A popular plan. White keeps his
bishop on the a2-g8 diagonal, and his knight can go directly to c3 instead of
d2-f1-g3 etc.} O-O 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Ba2 Be6 {Black gets rid of White's active
bishop.} 11. b4 Bxa2 12. Rxa2 Nc6 13. Bg5 {White fights for the d5 square for
his knight. This line was recently examined in CBM 194, annotations to
Vachier-Lagrave - Ding Liren by GM Romain Edouard.} Qd7 (13... Ng4 $5 {and}) (
13... Nd7 {are played here, too.}) 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Nd5 a5 {This is actually
a prophylactical move against a3-a4. Black even agrees to double his kingside
pawns to prevent that.} ({After} 15... Bd8 16. a4 $1 {White keeps initiative
on the queenside.} (16. c4 Nd4 {leads to a position similar to the game but
more solid for Black due to his a6 pawn, e.g.} 17. Ne3 (17. Nxd4 $5 exd4 18.
Rc2 c6 19. Nf4 Bg5 20. Ne2 Bf6 {(R.Edouard)} 21. Nc1 $5 {[%CAl Yc1b3]}) 17...
Nxf3+ (17... a5 $5 $11 {R.Edouard}) 18. Qxf3 Bg5 19. Nd5 Rfb8 20. Qg3 Qd8 21.
cxb5 axb5 22. Rc2 {1/2 (71) Motylev,A (2668)-Tomashevsky,E (2706) Izhevsk 2019}
Rb7 $13 {A.Motylev}) 16... Ne7 17. Ne3 (17. Qd2 Nxd5 18. exd5 Rb8 19. axb5 axb5
20. Qc3 Re8 $13 {1/2 (28) Lamard,G (2365)-Gozzoli,Y (2587) Salon-de-Provence
2017}) 17... Rb8 (17... c6 {1-0 (36) Ni,H (2670)-Xu,M (2302) China 2018} 18.
axb5 cxb5 19. Qa1 Qb7 20. c3 $14) 18. axb5 axb5 19. c3 Qe6 20. Ra6 (20. Qb1 d5
21. exd5 Nxd5 22. Nxd5 Qxd5 23. Re1 Bf6 24. Rae2 c5 $1 25. Nxe5 cxb4 26. Qxb4
Bxe5 27. Rxe5 Qxd3 $11 {1/2 (34) Anand,V (2785)-Aronian,L (2804) Bilbao 2014
CBM 163 [CB]}) 20... c6 {1/2 (57) Nakar,E (2478)-Viswanadha,K (2372) Forth
Worth 2017} 21. d4 $14) 16. Rb2 {A new idea. White avoids exchanges and
prepares c2-c4.} (16. Nxf6+ {is principled, of course:} gxf6 17. Rb2 (17. Nh4
$6 axb4 18. Nf5 Kh8) 17... axb4 18. axb4 f5 19. Nh4 $1 f4 20. Nf5 Kh8 21. d4 {
leads to a critical position, which happened in a number of games:} f6 (21...
Rg8 22. Rb3 Rg5 23. dxe5 Nxe5 {1-0 (40) Bacrot,E (2722)-Gretarsson,H (2565)
Internet 2018} 24. Qd5 $5 Rag8 25. g3 $14 {R.Edouard}) 22. Qd3 (22. f3 Ne7 $11
{1/2 (34) Bakhmatsky,V (2446)-Kravtsiv,M (2645) Rivne 2016}) 22... Ne7 (22...
d5 $5 {may be enough for equality}) 23. Nxe7 Qxe7 24. Qxb5 exd4 25. Qd3 Qe5 26.
b5 Rfe8 27. b6 cxb6 28. Rxb6 Rac8 29. Rb4 Rc3 30. Qxd4 Rxc2 31. Qd1 $14 {
1/2 (100) Dominguez Perez,L (2751)-Tomashevsky,E (2701) Baku 2014}) ({Other
options:} 16. Ra1 Bd8 17. c3 Ne7 18. Nxe7+ Bxe7 19. Qb3 Rfb8 $11 {0-1 (41)
Cornette,D (2391)-Kravtsiv,M (2636) Cappelle-la-Grande 2016}) (16. c4 Ne7 $1
17. Rc2 (17. Qb3 $6 bxc4 18. Nxe7+ Bxe7 19. dxc4 axb4 20. axb4 Qc6 $1 21. Re1
Rxa2 22. Qxa2 Ra8 $15 {1/2 (90) Vachier Lagrave,M (2780)-Ding Liren (2801)
London 2019}) 17... axb4 $5 (17... Nxd5 18. cxd5 axb4 19. axb4 Ra4 20. Qd2 Rfa8
21. Rfc1 Bd8 22. h3 $14 {1-0 Carlsen,M (2837)-Ding Liren (2774) Saint Louis
2017}) 18. axb4 bxc4 19. Nxf6+ gxf6 20. dxc4 Ng6 21. c5 Rab8 22. cxd6 cxd6 23.
Rc4 Rb5 24. Ne1 d5 25. Nc2 Rd8 26. exd5 {½-½ (26) Hovhannisyan,R (2601)
-Kravtsiv,M (2685) Batumi 2018}) 16... axb4 (16... Bd8 $6 17. c4 $1) 17. axb4
Bd8 18. c4 Nd4 (18... Ne7 $5 {, avoiding doubling pawns, deserves serious
attention.}) 19. Nxd4 exd4 20. Qc2 Re8 {Black doesn't rush to play ...c7-c6.} (
{In case of} 20... c6 21. Nf4 {[%CAl Rc4b5]} Qb7 $5 (21... Rb8 $143 22. Ra1 {
[%CAl Ga1a8]}) 22. Ne2 Bf6 23. Rc1 {White keeps some pressure.}) 21. g3 {
A useful luft.} bxc4 {A risky operation. White activates his queen now.} ({
An active waiting move like} 21... Ra3 {was more to the point. If} 22. cxb5
Qxb5 23. Nxc7 {then} Bxc7 24. Qxc7 Rxd3 25. Qxd6 Rxe4 $11) 22. Qxc4 c6 23. Nf4
Bg5 24. Ne2 d5 {That was Black's idea but White obtains a dangerous passed
pawn.} 25. exd5 cxd5 26. Qb3 $14 h5 {Black must create kingside counterplay.}
27. b5 {[%mdl 32] White advances this pawn, with a possible idea to trade it
for Black's 2 d-pawns. In that case, btw., ...h7-h5 can become a weakening
move.} (27. h4 $2 Bxh4 $1 28. gxh4 Rxe2 $1 29. Rxe2 Qg4+) 27... h4 $6 (27...
Rab8 28. b6 Rb7 {was more solid.}) 28. b6 h3 $6 (28... Rab8) 29. Kh1 $1 {
Exactly! White parries Black's threats by setting up his knight on g1, if
necessary. Black's h3 pawn becomes a weakness, instead of strength; moreover,
it will be the classical "second weakness", in addition to White's passed
b-pawn.} Reb8 30. Rfb1 $6 (30. Qb5 {is more energetic:} Qf5 31. Ng1 (31. Nxd4
Qg4 {is less clear}) 31... Rb7 32. Re1 {[%CAl Re1e8]} Kh7 33. f4 Bf6 34. Qc6
Rab8 35. Rb3 {, and Black is in trouble.}) 30... Bd8 31. Qb5 {Of course, the
exchange of queens would be deadly for Black.} Qg4 $2 (31... Qf5 $142 $1 32.
Nxd4 Qg4 $1 33. b7 (33. Qxd5 $143 Bf6 $1 34. Rb4 Bxd4 35. Rxd4 Rxb6 $3 36.
Qxa8+ Kh7) 33... Ra7 34. Qe8+ Kh7 35. Qxf7 Bf6 $1 (35... Qxd4 $2 36. Qh5+ Kg8
37. Re2 $18) 36. Rb4 Bxd4 37. Qxd5 Ra5 $1 38. Rxd4 Rxb7 $3 39. Qxb7 Qxd4 40.
Qe4+ Qxe4+ 41. dxe4 Ra2 $1 42. Kg1 Re2 43. Kf1 Rxe4 {, and Black miraculously
survives in this endgame, e.g.} 44. Re1 Ra4 45. f3 Kg6 46. Kf2 Kh5 $1 47. Re5+
(47. g4+ Kh4 48. Re5 Ra2+) 47... g5 48. f4 Ra2+ 49. Kf3 Ra3+ 50. Ke4 Rxg3 $3
$11 51. hxg3 $140 h2 52. Rxg5+ Kh6 {[%CAl Yh2h1] Finding this over the board
is out of human abilities, of course.}) 32. Qxd5 $2 {White gives his opponent
a second chance.} (32. Qe8+ Kh7 33. Qxf7 {was absolutely winning, e.g.} Rxb6 (
33... Bf6 34. Ng1 $18 {[%csl Gb6]}) 34. Rxb6 Bxb6 35. f3 Qg5 36. Nf4 $18 {
[%CAl Rf4h3,Rf4d5]} Ra7 37. Ne6 $1) 32... Ra5 $1 33. Qc6 $2 {Consequent but it
was better to turn away:} (33. f3 Rxd5 34. fxg4 $16) 33... Rc5 $2 {Another
miss.} (33... Rxb6 $1 34. Rxb6 Qxe2 $1 {, and White has nothing better than}
35. Rb8 {but after} Re5 $3 36. Rxd8+ Kh7 {[%CAl Re2e1,Re2f2] he must play} 37.
Rh8+ (37. Rg1 Qxf2 {[%CAl Re5e2,Re5e1] can be even dangerous for him}) 37...
Kxh8 38. Qc8+ Kh7 39. Qxh3+ Kg6 {[%CAl Re2d3]} 40. Qf1 Qf3+ 41. Kg1 Re2 $11)
34. Qe8+ Kh7 35. Ng1 {White has consolidated his position keeping his passed
pawn.} Rxb6 {A desperate piece sacrifice.} 36. Qxd8 {Perhaps it was
technically better to decline it:} (36. Rxb6 Bxb6 37. Qxf7 $18 {[%CAl Yf2f3]} (
{but not} 37. Rxb6 $2 Rc1 38. Qe4+ Qxe4+ 39. dxe4 d3 40. Rd6 Rd1 {, and White
can't untie his pieces})) 36... Rxb2 37. Rxb2 Rc1 38. Qh4+ $8 Qxh4 39. gxh4 Rd1
40. f3 {Black resigned a bit too early.} ({After} 40. f3 f6 ({or} 40... Kh6)
41. Rb4 Rxd3 42. Nxh3 Rxf3 43. Kg2 Rd3 {White still had a lot of work to do to
convert his extra knight.}) 1-0
