[Event "Candidates Tournament"] [Site "Ekaterinburg"] [Date "2020.03.17"] [Round "1"] [White "Ding, Liren"] [Black "Wang, Hao"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A22"] [WhiteElo "2805"] [BlackElo "2762"] [Annotator "Edouard,Romain"] [PlyCount "90"] [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"] 1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 Bc5 {The latest fashion against the English Opening, when here 4.Nc3 is supposed to be critical.} 4. d3 $5 (4. Nc3 c6 5. Nf3 $5 { Ding had two games against other moves and equalized comfortably.} (5. e4 O-O 6. Nge2 d5 7. cxd5 cxd5 8. exd5 Na6 9. a3 Nc7 10. O-O Ncxd5 11. Nxd5 Nxd5 12. d4 exd4 13. Nxd4 Bb6 $11 14. Qb3 $6 Nf6 15. Rd1 $4 Bxd4 16. Be3 $6 Qb6 { 0-1 Shankland,S (2705)-Ding Liren (2811) Internet 2019}) (5. e3 O-O 6. Nge2 d5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. d4 exd4 9. Nxd5 cxd5 10. exd4 Bb6 $11 {1-0 (50) So,W (2754) -Ding Liren (2805) Zagreb 2019}) 5... e4 6. Nh4 d5 7. cxd5 (7. d4 $5 {was played by Nepo, but shouldn't be a big problem, although in that game Anand completely collapsed as Black:} Be7 8. cxd5 cxd5 9. O-O O-O 10. f3 exf3 (10... Nc6 $5 $13) 11. Rxf3 Nc6 $6 (11... g6 $5 $13) 12. Nf5 Ne4 $6 13. Rf1 Bf6 14. e3 Nxc3 15. bxc3 Be6 16. Rb1 Qd7 17. e4 $1 $16 Rfe8 $2 18. Nh6+ $1 Kh8 19. Rxf6 $1 gxf6 20. Qf3 Kg7 21. exd5 Bxd5 22. Nf5+ {1-0 Nepomniachtchi,I (2773)-Anand,V (2757) Kolkata 2019}) 7... cxd5 8. d3 Ng4 9. O-O g5 {Here White seems to have two appealing choices.} 10. d4 $5 {This was the beginning of Anton's brillancy against Grischuk.} (10. dxe4 $5 gxh4 11. Bf4 hxg3 (11... O-O $1 {should be critical according to the engine.}) 12. Bxg3 Bd6 13. Qd3 Bxg3 14. Qxg3 $16 { ½-½ (35) Caruana,F (2822)-Van Foreest,J (2644) Wijk aan Zee 2020}) 10... Be7 (10... Bb4 $5 {might be critical - although the position is surely full of line, here the engine suggests, amongst other moves, to go} 11. Nf3 $5 exf3 12. exf3 {followed with Re1+ or f4, with very interesting compensation.}) 11. h3 Nxf2 $6 12. Rxf2 gxh4 13. Qb3 $1 hxg3 14. Rf4 Nc6 15. Qxd5 f5 16. Bxe4 $1 fxe4 $2 (16... Qxd5 {was required, but after} 17. Bxd5 {White is just better.}) 17. Qh5+ Kd7 18. Be3 $1 Qg8 19. d5 Nd8 20. Nxe4 Qg6 21. Qe5 Nf7 22. Rxf7 Qxf7 23. Rc1 Rf8 24. Bg5 {1-0 (24) Anton Guijarro,D (2674)-Grischuk,A (2759) Douglas 2019}) (4. e3 O-O 5. Ne2 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. O-O {was just fine for Black in Shankland,S (2705)-Ding Liren (2811) Internet 2019, although here I think Black should just have played} Nc6 {with a very healthy position.}) 4... O-O ({ Earlier Ding had to face} 4... d5 {and although Black equalized, there were surely a bunch of options for White to try to get a small advantage:} 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Nc3 Nb6 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. O-O O-O 9. a3 (9. b3 $5) 9... a5 10. Na4 (10. Bd2 $5) 10... Nxa4 11. Qxa4 Nd4 12. Nxd4 Bxd4 13. Bd2 c6 14. e3 Bb6 15. Bc3 Re8 $11 {1-0 (42) Ding Liren (2811)-Grischuk,A (2759) Khanty-Mansiysk 2019.}) 5. Nc3 c6 6. Nf3 d6 (6... Re8 {with ideas like ...Bf8 and ...d5 would allow} 7. Nxe5 $5 { which generally gives good positions to White, e.g.} Bxf2+ 8. Kxf2 Rxe5 9. d4 Re8 10. Rf1 $14) 7. O-O Re8 (7... a5 8. b3 Re8 9. e3 Bf5 10. h3 h6 11. Bb2 Bb6 {was completely fine for Black in Giri,A (2776)-Anand,V (2757) Kolkata 2019, although Black lost on time in a winning position on move 44.}) 8. Na4 Bb4 9. a3 Ba5 10. b4 Bc7 11. e4 a5 12. Bb2 Na6 $5 {There was nothing wrong with 12... h6, 12...Be6 or 12...Bd7 either.} 13. b5 cxb5 14. cxb5 Nc5 15. Nxc5 dxc5 16. a4 Bg4 17. Ra3 Nd7 18. h3 Bh5 {In the next four moves Ding maneuvred very nicely to get rid of light-coloured bishops. But Black's positions remains very solid. } 19. Qb1 $5 b6 20. Nd2 Nf8 21. Bf3 Qg5 (21... Bg6 {made sense, but once on g6, it is unclear whose light-squared bishop is the worst one. Furthermore, Qd1-Bh5 could happen at some point.}) 22. h4 Qg6 (22... Qxd2 23. Bxh5 Ne6 24. Bd1 {followed with Bb3 would be a risky bet for Black.}) 23. Qd1 Bxf3 24. Qxf3 h5 25. Qf5 Rad8 {Wang Hao decides not to change the pawn structure.} (25... Qxf5 26. exf5 f6 {was the other option: the white knight got a nice square on e4, but it isn't a better one than c4, and White has only one knight!}) 26. Qxg6 Nxg6 27. Kg2 f6 28. Nc4 Kf7 29. Bc1 Rd7 30. f4 $2 {A terrible blunder, completely atypical from Ding.} (30. Be3 $5 {would keep a very light plus, although it would be difficult to break Black's defence.}) 30... exf4 31. Bxf4 Nxf4+ 32. gxf4 f5 $1 {A very nasty surprise. Suddenly, White has all the weaknesses, and Black can enjoy an amazing pieces coordination.} 33. e5 Re6 34. Kf3 Rg6 35. Ne3 Ke6 36. Rd1 Bd8 37. Ra2 Rd4 $6 (37... Bxh4 {should have been played. After} 38. Rh2 Rg3+ 39. Ke2 g5 40. Nc4 Rd4 41. Nxb6 Rxf4 42. Nc4 { Black has a few ways to sac an exchange, and White will have to be extremely precise if he wants to hold.}) 38. Nc2 Rd5 39. Ne3 Rd7 40. Rdd2 $4 {One of the worst possible moves, when Black has actually given White an opportunity to escape!} ({After} 40. d4 $1 {it is Black who should be careful:} Rxd4 (40... cxd4 $2 41. Rc2 $3 $18) 41. Rxd4 cxd4 42. Nc2 Kd5 43. Nxd4 $1 Kxd4 44. Rd2+ { and the rook endgame is drawn but slightly easier for White.}) 40... Bxh4 41. Rg2 Rg4 {Surely what White had missed. Again, completely unusual for Ding Liren!} 42. Rh2 g6 43. Nxg4 fxg4+ 44. Ke3 Be7 45. Rac2 h4 0-1