Ding Liren’s First Success at FIDE Candidates Tournament
The leaders are Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Wang Hao
The capital city of the Urals staged Round 3 games of the FIDE Candidates Tournament on March 19. Following an underwhelming start, GM Ding Liren of China has scored his first victory. Giri – Vachier-Lagrave, Grischuk – Wang Hao, and Alekseenko – Nepomniachtchi have ended in a draw.
Ding Liren (China) – Fabiano Caruana (USA) 1-0
The game opened with a sharp line of the Slav Defence, in which White did not castle but moved his king to f2. On move 9, Caruana uncorked a poisonous novelty involving a pawn sacrifice, which escalated the tension even further. Several moves later, Black gave up another pawn for the initiative, banking on the unsafe position of the white king. However, Caruana's follow-up plan was incorrect, and Ding managed to consolidate by giving back one of his two extra pawns. The Chinese GM got a huge advantage.
Aware of his precarious situation, Caruana decided to put some oil into the flames towards the time control by sacrificing a piece. However, the American failed to generate real threats as Ding Liren calmly weathered the storm and scored a confident victory after the time control move.
Ding Liren, “My opponent played so quickly, and I was down more than one hour after the opening. I do not know where he went wrong. During the game I was very worried about my position and by my opponent's blitzing out the moves. Nevertheless, I managed to score in the end. I try not to think about previous defeats and play each game as though from a clean slate.”
Anish Giri (Netherlands) – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) 1/2-1/2
The European GMs opened with the 5. Bd2 line of the Grunfeld Defense. Up until Black’s move 15, the opponents followed in the footsteps of E. Tomashevsky – I. Nepomniachtchi played in 2018. The center opened to massive exchanges in the middlegame, and the endgame with the rooks, white bishop vs black knight was slightly superior for Giri due to better pawn structure. However, Black managed to make his pieces active, and White had to put up with the three-fold repetition on move 30.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, “I had to figure out something over the board, and I felt the position was quite dangerous for me. I am happy that I managed to find this way of playing that simplified into a slightly worse endgame without coming under attack.
Anish Giri admitted that he somehow did not recall this particular line, although he kept in mind 10 similar ones. “It must have been the 11th, joked the GM. - I think it was slightly better for me in the end, but I did not see how to improve my position.”
Alexander Grischuk (Russia) – Wang Hao (China) 1/2-1/2
The grandmasters were battling it out in the sideline of the Petroff Defence, seen in a recent duel between M. Vachier-Lagrave and D. Andreikin. A quiet maneuvering struggle saw the queens exchanged off as early as move 18. White's bishop pair advantage made his position more promising. Having exchanged bishops, Grischuk continued to build up pressure, but at one point missed a tactical blow 34...Ne4, leading to the liquidation of minor pieces. As in most rook endgames, the drawish tendency outweighed any other factors. The game ended in a draw after Black's move 49.
Alexander Grischuk, “I think I was close to winning as I had a clear advantage. The thing is, I saw this knight e4 trick several moves ago, but it was not working back then. This is why I completely forgot about it, and later when Wang Hao removed his king the trick already worked for him.
Wang Hao agreed with his opponent: “My position was difficult indeed. I was lucky that my opponent was in time trouble and that I managed to get away with 34…Ne4.”
Kirill Alekseenko (Russia) – Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) 1/2-1/2
The Russian derby opened with the French Winawer, a rare guest in the modern tournament repertoire of top players. Black managed to solve his opening problems and put his opponent to some pressure. Nepomniachtchi noted after the game that he had had a strategically promising position out of the opening. “I wanted to take a chance in this game, otherwise we would have seen some other opening,” added the GM.
In the middlegame, Alekseenko went for the exchange sac, taking advantage of the black bishop's awkward placement. It was cut off from the game on a4, and the vulnerable opponent's king in the center was also playing into his hands. White launched an offensive on the kingside, and Black had to hide his monarch at the opposite side of the board. Towards the time control, a very complex fight requiring much calculation began all over the board, as a result of which Alekseenko reached the black king to deliver a perpetual check.
Standings after Round 3:
1-3. Ian Nepomniachtchi, Wang Hao, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – 2;
4-5. Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Grischuk – 1.5;
6-8. Ding Liren, Anish Giri, Kirill Alekseenko – 1;
Friday, March 20, is a rest day.
Round 4 pairings:
Fabiano Caruana (USA) – Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia)
Wang Hao (China) – Kirill Alekseenko (Russia)
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) – Alexander Grischuk (Russia)
Ding Liren (China) – Anish Giri (Netherlands)
The organizers of the FIDE Candidates Tournament are the International Chess Federation (FIDE), the Chess Federation of Russia (CFR) as well as the Government of the Sverdlovsk Region and the Chess Federation of the Sverdlovsk Region.
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