[Event "2024 FIDE World Championship"] [White "Gukesh D"] [Black "Ding, Liren"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Round "11"] [Annotator "Sundararajan Kidambi"] [Result "1-0"] [Date "2024.12.08"] [ECO "A09"] [WhiteElo "2783"] [BlackElo "2728"] [PlyCount "57"] [GameId "2120864391092453"] [EventDate "2024.??.??"] [Source "ChessBase"] [TimeControl "40/7200:1800+30"] 1. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:04]} (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. d5 b5 5. Bg5 exd5 6. cxd5 h6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8. Qc2 c4 $5 (8... d6 9. e4 a6 10. a4)) 1... d5 {[%emt 0:00:30]} 2. c4 {[%emt 0:00:07] Gukesh goes for a sharper Reti than he had done before} d4 {[%emt 0:01:14]} 3. b4 {[%emt 0:00:07]} c5 {[%emt 0:00:21]} 4. e3 $5 {[%emt 0:00:07] [#] This perhaps came as a surprise for Ding. The reversed Blumenfeld is not what is seen at top level often, leave alone a match for the World Championship!} Nf6 {[%emt 0:38:17] A natural move after 38 minutes of thought! Hikaru was very very wary of this kind of time management.} 5. a3 {[%emt 0:00:07] This was again instantly blitzed out by Gukesh, showing clearly that he was in his preparation. Apparently this was shown to him by his team of seconds just the previous night. Logically its a very decent move, trying to play the most flexible move in a reversed Blumenfeld!} Bg4 {[%emt 0:22:13] By this moment Ding had spent more than one hour on the clock!} 6. exd4 {[%emt 0:00:13]} cxd4 {[%emt 0:00:11]} 7. h3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Bxf3 {[%emt 0:05:28]} 8. Qxf3 {[%emt 0:00:08]} Qc7 $5 {[%emt 0:00:17] [#]} 9. d3 $6 {[%emt 0:05:26] Played only after five minutes of thought while having a lead of one hour on the clock! As Gukesh mentioned he sort of mixed up his lines. But this also showed that he did not understand the position very well, and had hoped to play this position over the board only.} (9. c5 $1 {was clearly the way to continue with Bc4 or Bb5 depending on the situation.Here the move a3 is very useful for White to protect the pawn on b4.}) 9... a5 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 10. b5 $2 {[%emt 0:00:25] and this was blitzed out} (10. bxa5 {seems better from positional viewpoint, but clearly this was not his idea.}) 10... Nbd7 {[%emt 0:00:03][%csl Yc5] This position is known from similar Blumenfeld in reverse. Black has complete control of dark squares and especially the c5-square. Two knights and bishop guarantee control of dark squares. The fact that White's light square bishop cannot contribute to this fight presents a sad picture.} 11. g3 {[%emt 1:00:17] Gukesh thought for one hour over this move! In modern times perhaps the longest think over a move. He mentioned that he initially thought he was better, but later would have perhaps understood that his position was really in a spot of bother.} Nc5 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 12. Bg2 {[%emt 0:07:25]} Nfd7 $1 {[%emt 0:06:48] Ding plays for a maximalist approach! He is playing for win of the d-pawn rather than just continuing with his development and just letting the structure do its thing! Personally I would have considered this position strategically lost for White.} (12... e5 13. O-O Bd6 $15 {[%CAl Ye8h8,Yf6d7] was a very simple option, and as Magnus pointed out Black can have never any sort of problems in these positions and he can play by hand which would have suited Ding's time situation.}) 13. O-O {[%emt 0:03:27]} Ne5 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 14. Qf4 {[%emt 0:04:29]} Rd8 $1 {[%emt 0:01:46] [#]} 15. Rd1 $2 {[%emt 0:01:15] Objectively this was a bad move, but the position looks extremely hard to play. The point is he is not able to defend the d3-point and so he apparently had to sacrifice it already with} (15. Nd2 $1 Ncxd3 16. Qe4 Nc5 17. b6 $1 {hoping that dynamism and open lines should compensate the loss of material.}) 15... g6 $6 {[%emt 0:02:35] Perhaps the pivotal moment of the game. Ding continues to look for strong tactical ideas quite uncharacteristically, when simple moves would have sufficed.} (15... e6 16. Bb2 Qd6 $5 {was Peter Leko's suggestion which would have retained all strategic trumps and would have won the game!} (16... Rd7 $5 17. Bxd4 Ncxd3 18. Qe3 Rxd4 19. Qxd4 Bc5 $19 {being black's idea})) 16. a4 $1 {[%emt 0:13:01] from here on Gukesh fought back amazingly.} h5 {[%emt 0:08:13]} 17. b6 $1 {[%emt 0:01:29] Perhaps this was the idea that Ding missed. White is giving up the b-pawn to create space for his pieces and also to eliminate the knight on c5!} Qd6 {[%emt 0:12:00]} (17... Qb8 {and here apparently White has the highly unnatural} 18. Qd2 $1 {It remains to be seen whether White had seen this or wanted to continue with} (18. Ba3 Nexd3 19. Qf3 Ne5 20. Qe2 {and apparently White is completely alright after he keeps giving pawns to activate pieces. Very easy :-)}) 18... Nb3 19. Qb2 {sacrificing the exchange and creating counterplay where its even not worse for White apparently.}) 18. Ba3 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Bh6 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 19. Bxc5 {[%emt 0:00:42]} Qxc5 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 20. Qe4 {[%emt 0:00:04] Now White got a very nice reversed Benoni} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:54]} 21. Na3 {[%emt 0:00:59]} Rd7 {[%emt 0:03:05]} 22. Nc2 {[%emt 0:00:43]} Qxb6 {[%emt 0:01:09]} 23. Rab1 {[%emt 0:01:44] White is actually a pawn down but his activity and coordination are excellent! Black's bishop on h6 is suddenly hitting thin air. Players were getting into their biggest time trouble ever in the world championship and it was surely not easy for black.} Qc7 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 24. Rb5 {[%emt 0:01:41]} O-O {[%emt 0:00:04]} 25. Na1 $1 {[%emt 0:01:06] Psychologically an unexpected move for Ding after which he collapses, the more natural move was} (25. Rdb1 Rb8 {but the knight jumps were hard to handle in time trouble.}) 25... Rb8 {[%emt 0:06:18]} (25... Nb4 26. Nb3 b6 27. c5 {Ding felt that this position was very difficult for him.}) 26. Nb3 {[%emt 0:00:06]} e6 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 27. Nc5 {[%emt 0:01:10]} Re7 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 28. Rdb1 {[%emt 0:00:20]} Qc8 $2 {[%emt 0:00:27] finally Ding made a tactical blunder in what he perhaps thought was already lost.} (28... Nb4 29. Nxb7 $16 {White is much better, but not yet winning.}) 29. Qxc6 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 1-0 [Event "EU-ch 9th"] [White "Sanikidze, Tornike"] [Black "Gajewski, Grzegorz"] [Site "Plovdiv"] [Round "3"] [Result "1-0"] [Date "2008.04.23"] [ECO "E10"] [WhiteElo "2458"] [BlackElo "2601"] [PlyCount "61"] [GameId "2120944941412924"] [EventDate "2008.04.21"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "BUL"] [SourceTitle "CBM 124"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2008.05.28"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2008.05.28"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. d5 b5 5. Bg5 exd5 6. cxd5 h6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8. Qc2 d6 9. e4 a6 10. a4 b4 11. Nbd2 Nd7 12. Nc4 g6 13. Bd3 Bg7 14. O-O O-O 15. Rae1 Re8 16. Nfd2 g5 17. Kh1 Ne5 18. Nxe5 Qxe5 19. Nc4 Qf4 20. Re3 a5 21. Rf3 Qh4 22. Rxf7 Kxf7 23. Nxd6+ Kg8 24. Nxe8 Be5 25. g3 Qh5 26. f4 Bd4 27. Qxc5 Bxc5 28. Nf6+ Kh8 29. Nxh5 Bh3 30. Rc1 Be3 31. Rc6 1-0 [Event "Bundesliga 0506"] [White "Postny, Evgeny"] [Black "Nisipeanu, Liviu Dieter"] [Site "Germany"] [Round "8.1"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Date "2006.01.28"] [ECO "E10"] [WhiteElo "2571"] [BlackElo "2707"] [PlyCount "65"] [GameId "2120944941412926"] [EventDate "2005.10.21"] [EventType "team-tourn"] [EventRounds "15"] [EventCountry "GER"] [SourceTitle "CBM 111"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2006.04.04"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"] [SourceQuality "1"] [WhiteTeam "Eppingen"] [BlackTeam "Kreuzberg"] [WhiteTeamCountry "GER"] [BlackTeamCountry "GER"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. d5 b5 5. Bg5 exd5 6. cxd5 h6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8. Qc2 c4 9. a4 Bb4+ 10. Nc3 bxa4 11. Rxa4 a5 12. e3 O-O 13. Bxc4 d6 14. O-O Nd7 15. Na2 Rb8 16. Nxb4 axb4 17. Nd4 Nc5 18. Ra7 b3 19. Qe2 Bf5 20. Qf3 Rb4 21. Rc1 g6 22. Bf1 Kg7 23. Rc4 Rfb8 24. Rxb4 Rxb4 25. Qf4 Be4 26. Qxf6+ Kxf6 27. Nc6 Ra4 28. Rxa4 Nxa4 29. Bc4 Bc2 30. Nd4 Nxb2 31. Bxb3 Bxb3 32. Nxb3 Ke5 33. Kf1 1/2-1/2