[Event "FIDE Candidates Tournament"] [Site "https://lichess.org/study/fhBzjnqz/EEMBn16S"] [Date "2022.07.04"] [Round "14.3"] [White "Ding, Liren"] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2806"] [WhiteTeam "China"] [BlackElo "2760"] [BlackTeam "United States"] [Annotator "Aagaard"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "D32"] [Opening "Tarrasch Defense: Symmetrical Variation"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/fhBzjnqz/EEMBn16S"] [Orientation "white"] { [%evp 0,46,23,33,30,-9,5,4,9,6,37,11,13,14,28,28,27,26,33,27,27,46,47,47,35, 37,20,21,25,1,3,3,16,19,4,1,-3,-14,-8,2,0,0,19,16,31,18,25,35,34] Ding had to win on demand to ensure a second place finish along with a not entirely irrelevant reserve spot for the World Championship, should Magnus Carlsen decide that classical time-control chess is no longer interesting. His strategy for the game was entirely reasonable. He played a dull technical game without dynamics, allowing Nakamura to make his own mistakes without any special involvement from Ding. This is how Nakamura should have played against Radjabov, and how Caruana should have played against Duda. It often works more often than one would think; here, it worked too. } 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. e3 Nc6 6. a3 { Basically avoiding preparation. } 6... dxc4 7. Bxc4 a6 8. Bd3 b5 (8... cxd4 9. exd4 g6!? { could have given a game more typical to Nakamura's core strengths. }) 9. dxc5! { Dull as paint drying... which is the point. } 9... Bxc5 10. b4 Be7 11. O-O Bb7 12. Bb2 O-O 13. Ne4 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 f5 (14... Na5! { was simplest. Black is totally fine. }) 15. Bb1 Qxd1 16. Rxd1 Rfd8 17. Ba2 Kf7 18. h4 h6 19. Rdc1 Bd6 20. Rc2 Ne7 (20... a5!? 21. bxa5 Rxa5 { would be a reasonable simplification. }) 21. Nd4 Bd5 22. Bxd5 Nxd5 23. Rac1 { White has managed to create a tiny bit of pressure. } 23... Rd7 24. Nb3 Be7 (24... g6!?) 25. h5 (25. g3! $14 { was stronger. White occupies the c-line and will have all the pieces well played with Nb3-a5 soon. }) 25... Bf6 26. Bd4 { Also a strange move. The bishop will not be well placed on c5. } 26... e5! 27. Bc5 (27. Bb2 Nb6 28. Na5 Na4 { and Black is fine. }) 27... Bd8!? { A strange move. } (27... Rad8!? { would make a lot of sense and bit fine, but }) (27... g6! 28. hxg6+ Kxg6 { looks best. There is no reason why Black should be worse here. }) 28. Rd2 Nf6 29. Rxd7+ Nxd7 30. Rd1 Nf6 (30... Nxc5 { would be a desirable exchange. The rook endgame, which would not be too difficult to hold, is not far away after } 31. Nxc5 Be7! { and both 32.Rd7 and 32.Rd5 is met with 32...Kf6. }) 31. Bd6 Ng4 32. Bc5 Bh4 33. Rd7+ Kg8 34. g3 Bg5 35. Kf1 { Black has played a lot of weird moves, while White has steadily improved his position. We have arrived at what Gelfand referred to as the zone of one mistake. If Black makes another mistake, he will be lost. The computer still shows 0.00, but only with one move. } 35... Bd8? (35... Rd8! { held. The difficulty seems to occur after } 36. Rxd8+ Bxd8 37. Bd6 { , when the a-pawn is in danger. But it is an illusion. After } 37... e4!? { for example, Black holds: } 38. Nc5 Kf7 39. Nxa6 Ke6 40. Bf8 Kf7 41. Bc5 Ne5! 42. Nb8 Nc4 { and the a3-pawn falls. }) 36. Rb7 f4 37. gxf4 exf4 38. e4? (38. exf4! { was much stronger. After } 38... Nf6 39. Nd4 Nxh5 40. f5 Bf6 41. Ne6 { Black is dead lost. The knight on e6 is overpowering and the general domination total. White is threatening Ke2-f3-g4 as a start. This is not easy for Black to defend against. }) 38... Bf6? { Nakamura misses the chance to fix the f2-pawn and keep the white king out of the game temporarily with } (38... f3! { . This just holds. Black will play ...Bd8-f6, ...Ng4-e5, ...Ra8-e8 in a few possible move orders. A fun line goes: } 39. Kg1 Bf6 40. Nd4 Bxd4 41. Bxd4 g5! 42. hxg6 Rd8 { and White has no advantage. }) 39. Nd4! { Back on track. } 39... Re8 40. Kg2 Ne5 (40... Rxe4 41. Kf3 { would win a piece. }) 41. Nf5 f3+ 42. Kg3 Nc4 43. Be7! { White dominates. The a6-pawn and the g7-pawn are too weak. It is telling that earlier in the game Nakamura could have exchanged them, but did not. Now he is lost. } 43... Bb2 44. Kxf3 Bxa3 45. Kg3 Ne5 46. Bc5 Nf7 47. f3 Bc1 48. Ra7 Bd2 49. Rxa6 Be1+ 50. Kg2 Bc3 51. Ra7 Ng5 52. Ne7+ Kh8 53. Ng6+ Kg8 54. Ne7+ Kh8 55. Nd5 Bb2 56. Ra2 Bc1 57. Rc2 Ba3 58. Be3 { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0