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After game two, which lasted 75 moves and over five and half hours, the players looked pretty tired coming to the board on day three. Ding Liren had spent very little time on analyzing his round two game and preparing for the third. Sleep was his solution to recharge his batteries and during the game he did feel more confident. Levon Aronian, on the other hand, did have a heartbreak, but he is experienced enough to understand that losing or drawing winning games keeps happening all the time, as he said in the interview after the game.
Both the players have found the going tough with the white pieces and today was no exception. Aronian with white began the game with 1.c4. Ding stuck to his classical QGD development. He played the same line that was played by Aronian against Ivanchuk with black in the fifth round of the World Cup. It was surprising to see that Aronian put his faith in this line that he played with black only a few days ago and had very little difficulty in holding. "I like to play the same opening with both the colours," was his explanation.
This opening is advocated by Daniel King in Powerplay 24 for Black — a repertoire against the Catalan. It can be strategically dangerous because the knight is coming to e5 and picking up the d7 bishop. After that it is a battle of two bishops versus central space. And I think Black does well in such position because he gets pieces off the h1-a8 diagonal and has a dark squared strategy with moves like ...b6,...Nd4 and so on.
Power Play 24: A repertoire for black against the Catalan
On this DVD Grandmaster Daniel King offers you a repertoire for Black against the Catalan, based around maintaining the rock of a pawn on d5. Keeping central control ultimately gives Black good chances to launch an attack against the enemy king.
Aronian's Qc4-d3!? is not so common! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Well, the point is that White would like to take on d7, but prevent Black from taking with the queen. And the other point, as Ding said after the game, is to prevent ...Bc6 because of Nxc6 Nxc6 and Qb5! which leads to a small edge for White. The Chinese GM continued unperturbed with his development and went ...Nc6 after Qd3. Aronian took on d7 with Nxd7 and after ...Nxd7 White continued Qb3.
Ding Liren trying to figure what exactly does Levon Aronian want to achieve with this move Qb3 | Photo: Amruta Mokal
After the game we asked Levon to explain his idea and he said, "White is just trying in some way to hamper Black's development. But in general Black is so solid, that it would already be an achievement to even get a small advantage."
Ding Liren continued with the normal move ...Be7 and Levon had to justify his idea of moving the queen four times in the opening! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
In general White didn't get much out of the opening. But Ding wasn't too pleased with his move 12...Rd8.
Aronian started to get a small pull out of the opening, but the opposite coloured bishops ensured that Black never really was in huge danger. The critical moment of the game was reached here:
According to Aronian and also Ding, White's Rc2 was inaccurate. While the Armenian was at loss as to what the improvement could be, the Chinese player did offer a variation beginning with 21.Bh3! Rc7 22.Rxc7 Qxc7 23. Bg2! with some pressure. Once Aronian couldn't find something tangible, it became clear that Black will easily hold the position.
Ding Liren's supplies during the round — Ferrero Rocher and a banana! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Chess legend, former Women's World Champion, and the first woman player to be awarded the GM title Nona Gaprindashvili was present in the press room. We decided to get her thoughts on the position after Aronian's Rc2. The energy with which she speaks and analyzes even at the age of 76 years is simply amazing.
Nona Gaprindashvili gives her thoughts about the position after 21.Rc2
There was an interesting incident which took place after the move 28...bxa5. Ding took the pawn and pressed the clock. While Aronian was thinking for his move, the Chinese GM offered a draw. Naturally disturbed, Aronian told Ding that he cannot offer a draw in his opponent's time. The Chinese player after the game said to ChessBase, "I was not aware about this rule. Henceforth I will be more careful."
This is a bit surprising to me that the top players would not be aware of this simple rule. I am not even sure if it is a rule, but just the fact that you shouldn't disturb your opponent when he is thinking during his time is a good enough reason not to offer a draw when it's not your move. Incidentally another 2750+ GM made the same error during this World Cup and was not aware of this 'rule'.
After three more moves Aronian correctly offered a draw and Ding accepted it. | Photo: Amruta Mokal
One of the most enjoyable part of my work at the World Cup 2017 has been to interview Ding Liren. The Chinese player is honest and tries to answer each of the questions to the best of his abilities. Through his analysis it is possible to learn a lot as to how a top ten player in the world is thinking, at the same time he gives us some important insights into Chinese chess.
When asked if he had adjusted to this new environment of the finals, Ding said, "This is not very new to me, because I have played many one-to-one matches in my hometown Wenzhou." It's true. Ding in the recent past has played four game matches against Wesley So, Alexander Grischuk and Anish Giri. I would say it's really a smart move by the Chinese Federation. By giving their top player such an opportunity to play matches against the best in the world, they have him prepared for the moments when it really matters.
Ding Liren on his thoughts after the draw in the third game of the finals
Levon Aronian speaks about his opening innovation, plans for the fourth game and how people coming to support him from Armenia is a big joy for him
The entrance of Hotel Biltmore where the finals is being held | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The grand lobby of the Hotel | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The dining room specially reserved for the players, officials and the chess fraternity | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The spread of buffet is quite nice | Photo: Amruta Mokal
After three games of the finals if there is someone who is not happy with the 1.5-1.5 score it is definitely Levon Aronian. In the second game he was clearly winning. "It was a blackout" as he described. There were many ways in which Levon could have won, but the one that was a straight line without too many branches was the move 53...Nb3+. And yes, we call the Nb3+ tree as one with less branches, but that's just in a relative sense. The variations after that are also very difficult to find during the game. I try to explain what exactly was going on:
Three games have been completed and Sagar Shah analyses Aronian's one winning chance
Does Ding Liren have an edge here because he is white? I do not think so. Mainly because Ding is a very solid player with the black pieces. He knows his limitations and it is extremely difficult to beat a strong player who plays chess in an objective manner. However, with the white pieces he is much more ambitious. While he has proven at this event that he has some amazing bit of preparation with white, he has also shown that it is possible for him to try a bit too hard and give his opponent some chances. Hence, according to me, the last classical game could really go either way.
Tiebreaks would surely be exciting and we can hope that the match reaches that point. But first we have the fourth classical encounter and with one wrong move the World Cup will be decided.
The infamous traffic of Tbilisi! All cars are heading towards Hotel Biltmore. If you are in Tbilisi make sure you come to the venue! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The finals of the World Cup 2017 has a different format from the other rounds. Instead of the usual two classical games, we will witness four. And in case of a 2-2 tie, the match will go into the tiebreaks on 27th of September. Levon Aronian has the white pieces in game one. The winner takes home USD 120,000 (net 96,000) and the runner-up receives 80,000 (net 64,000).
