Danzhou Masters: Duda the dauntless

by Aditya Pai
7/28/2018 – A brilliant win and an amazing miss were the highlights of the opening round of the 9th Danzhou Super Grandmaster Tournament. Continuing his great form from the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, Polish GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda registered an emphatic win over Vidit Gujrathi of India to take an early lead in the tournament. Bu Xiangzhi also had good winning chances against Samuel Shankland but messed up quite remarkably and had to settle for a draw in the end. An illustrated report with games.

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Duda takes early lead

The 9th Danzhou Super Grandmaster Tournament went underway at the Baiyun Havana Resort Hotel in the town of Luzhou Guangcun in China on Friday. Featuring a field of eight young and promising Grandmasters from around the globe, the event promises some exciting games in its course. The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with a 30-second increment from move one.

This year's line-up of the Danzhou Masters

This year's line-up of the Danzhou Masters | Photo: Official website

Round one saw most games end peacefully. Yu Yangyi versus Le Quang Liem and Wei Yi against Fedoseev were the first two games to finish and both were just dull draws. Bu Xiangzhi had some serious chances against Sam Shankland but missed opportunities led to an eventual draw. Jan-Krzysztof Duda was the only victor of the round who brought down Vidit Gujrathi of India and took an early lead in the tournament.

Vidit Gujrathi vs Jan Krzysztof Duda  

This was that one game which game really stood out from the rest of the pack, not because it was the only decisive game of the round but because Duda went for broke to carve out a win in this one.

Vidit is a very difficult opponent to beat. In fact, Vidit hadn’t lost a single game this year before this one. He is always well prepared and hardly takes too much risk. But Duda pounced on the first opportunity he got in the game to unsettle his opponent. 

 
Gujrathi vs Duda
Position after 23.Ra1

The Classical French seemed to have gone fine for both players. Neither side seemed to have anything to worry about. In the position above, white had just moved his rook to a1, trading off the only black piece that looked threatening. And after the obvious 23…Rxa1 24.Qxa1, Duda uncorked 24…Nxc3!

 
Gujrathi vs Duda
Position after ...Nxc3

Even though this does not lead to a forced win, this is, perhaps, what was needed to unsettle an opponent like Vidit. The computers can scream equality all they want but after 25.Bxc3 Nxb4 26.Qb1 Nc6, blacks queenside pawn duo looks menacing. Vidit countered well on the kingside but faltered soon afterwards.

 
Gujrathi vs Duda
Position after 40.Qh6

Here again, White is desperately trying to generate an initiative on the kingside. Duda came up with an ingenious solution to liquidate the position. He simply took the rook on g5 with his queen and then trapped the white queen with 41…Rg8. Quite incredibly, White is dead lost in this endgame despite being a whole piece up!

Vidit Gujrathi during his first round game against Jan-Krzysztof Duda at the Danzhou Masters 2018

Duda came up with a gnarly tactic to unsettle his ever-solid opponent | Photo: Official website

 
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1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 Qb6 8.Na4 Qa5+ 9.c3 b6 10.Bd2 c4 11.b4 Qa6 12.Nb2 b5 13.a3 first new move. 13.a4 has been played before. 13...Qb7 14.Be2 Be7 15.0-0 a5 16.Qe1 0-0 17.Rc1 f5 18.Nd1 Nb6 19.Ne3 Bd7 20.Bd1 axb4 21.axb4 Ra3 22.Bc2 Na4 23.Ra1 Rxa1 24.Qxa1 Nxc3!? Duda goes for an interesting piece sacrifice. 25.Bxc3 Nxb4 26.Qb1 26.Bxb4 Bxb4 27.g4 g6 28.gxf5 gxf5 29.Kf2± White should be better. 26...Nc6 27.g4 g6 28.gxf5 gxf5 29.Kh1 b4 30.Rg1+ Kh8 31.Ba4 Nxe5! 32.Nxe5 Bxa4 33.Bd2? Perhaps the critical mistake of the game. 33.Qa2 Be8 33...Bb3 34.Qg2± 34.Qg2 Bf6 35.Rb1∞ 33.N5xc4 dxc4+ 33...Qb5 34.Ne5 bxc3 33...Bd6 34.Qf1 c3 35.Be1 Bb5 36.Qh3 Bxe5 37.fxe5 Bd3 38.Rg5 Be4+ 39.Kg1 Qe7 40.Qh6 Qxg5+ 41.Qxg5 Rg8 42.Qg3 Rxg3+ 43.hxg3 This resulting endgame is lost. Kg7 44.Kh2 Kg6 45.Kh3 Kh5 46.Kh2 Bf3 47.Kg1 Kg6 48.Kf2 Be4 49.Ke2 Kg5 50.Kf2 Kg6 51.Ke2 h5 52.Kf2 Kf7 53.Ke2 Ke8 54.Kd1 Kd7 55.Kc1 Kc6 56.Nd1 Kb5 57.Ne3 Ka4 58.Nd1 Kb3 59.Ne3 Bd3 60.Bf2 Ka4 61.Be1 Ka5 62.Nd1 Kb5 63.Ne3 Be4 64.Kd1 f4 Duda goes for the final decisive breakthrough. 65.gxf4 h4 66.f5 h3 67.f6 h2 68.f7 h1Q 69.f8Q Bf3+ 70.Kc2 Qh2+ It's a mate. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Vidit,S2718Duda,J27370–12018C119th Hainan Danzhou GM1.4

Bu Xiangzhi vs Samuel Shankland

The man best known for having knocked out Magnus Carlsen from the World Cup last year, Bu Xiangzhi played an enterprising game with the white pieces against American GM Sam Shankland in the inaugural round. Giving up two pawns in a Fianchetto Gruenfeld, Bu generated some strong chances for himself in the middle game. By the 23rd move, he was even close to winning. 

 
Xiangzhi vs Shankland
Position after 22...exd5

Here, the Bu could have played 23.Nd3! and now, after 23…Nxd3, White has 24.Rb1. All of a sudden, the black queen is running out of squares. It can’t leave the long diagonal as Qe5+ would just be curtains and after 24…Qxc3 25.Rxd3 Qc6 26.Qe5+ Rf6, white is just clearly winning.

Bu missed this and played 23.Rxa6 instead which led to a more or less even position. But then Shankland again gave up an exchange, leaving himself with a rook and a knight against White’s queen and giving his opponent a winning position once again.

 
Xiangzhi vs Shankland
Quite surprisingly, Shankland gave up an exchange here with 31...Rxf4

But once again, Bu failed to capitalize on his opponent’s mistakes and went on to draw in about fifteen more moves.

Bu Xiangzhi and Samuel Shankland during their first round game at the Danzhou Masters

Bu Xiangzhi played enterprisingly but missed important serious winning opportunities against Sam Shankland | Photo: Official website

 
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1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.d4 Nf6 5.c4 dxc4 6.Qa4+ Nfd7 7.Nbd2 D73: Fianchetto Grünfeld: 5 Nf3 7.Qxc4 Nb6 8.Qb5+ Nc6 9.Ne5 0-0 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Qxc6 Rb8 12.0-0 Bb7 13.Qc2 Bxg2 14.Kxg2 Qxd4 15.Na3 0-1 (80) Gabuzyan,H (2571)-Ter Sahakyan,S (2563) Yerevan 2018 7...0-0 8.Nxc4 LiveBook: 6 Games c5 9.dxc5 White has an edge. Nxc5 10.Qa3! Nba6! 11.Bf4 Be6 12.Rc1 b5N 12...Bxc4= 13.Rxc4 Ne6 Predecessor: 12...Qd7 13.b4 Rfd8 14.Nfe5 Qb5 15.bxc5 1-0 (15) Garcia Medinilla,D (1894)-Ribeiro,N (1804) LSS email 2007 13.Nce5! White fights for an advantage. Rc8 14.0-0 b4 15.Qe3 Bxa2 16.Ra1 Bd5 17.Rfd1 e6 18.Bh6 Qf6
Better is 18...f6 19.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Ng4!+- Qxb2 20.Nfe5 f5 20...Bxe5± 21.Nxe5 21.Qxe5 Qxe5 22.Nxe5 Rfd8= 21...Qc3 21.Bxg7 Don't play 21.Bxd5?! exd5 22.Bxg7 Kxg7± 21...Kxg7 22.Bxd5 exd5
23.Rxa6 23.Nd3!+- and the rest is easy. Nxd3 24.Rab1 23...Nxa6± 24.Nd3 Qc3 25.Rc1
25...Qxc1+! 26.Nxc1 Intending Qe5+ and mate. fxg4 27.Nd3 h5 28.Qxa7+ Nc7 29.Nf4 Kh7 30.Qb7 b3 30...Kh6± 31.Qxb3+- Rxf4? 31...Rf7 was called for. 32.Qd3 32.Nxd5 Nxd5 33.Qxd5 Re7= 32...Rg8 33.Nxh5 33.Nxd5 Nxd5 34.Qxd5 Rgf8= 33...Ne6 32.gxf4 Endgame KQ-KRN Ne6 aiming for ...Rc1+. 33.e3 Rc5 34.Qb6 Rc1+ 35.Kg2 Ng7 36.Qb7 d4 37.e4 37.exd4 Black must now prevent d5. Kh6 38.Qb2 37...Rc3 38.e5 d3 39.Qd7 Rc4 40.Qxd3 Rxf4 41.Qd5 Threatens to win with e6. Rf8 42.Qd7 Re8 43.Qc7 Kh6 44.Qc1+ Kh7 45.Qc7 Kh6 46.Qc1+ Kh7 Precision: White = 69%, Black = 50%.
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Bu,X2712Shankland,S2727½–½20189th Hainan Danzhou GM 20181

Wei Yi vs Vladimir Fedoseev

Wei Yi did come up with a novelty in the Bogo Indian but it hardly led him anywhere. Fedoseev quickly broke in the centre in response after which the Chinese GM had to acquiesce to a mass exchange of pieces which led to a barren position. 

Vladimir Fedoseev playing against Wei Yi at the Danzhou Masters

Wei Yi and Vladislav Fedoseev agreed to a sedate draw in the opening round | Photo: Official website

 
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1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 Nbd7 8.Qc2 c6 9.Rc1 LiveBook: 24 Games. E11: Bogo-Indian Re8 10.b3N Predecessor: 10.Bf4 Nh5 11.Be3 Nhf6 12.Nc3 dxc4 13.Bg5 h6 14.Bxf6 Bxf6 15.Rd1 Qc7 16.Ne4 Be7 17.Qxc4 1/2-1/2 (46) Dubov,D (2696)-Khismatullin,D (2632) Sochi 2018 10...Ne4 11.Nc3 Nxd2 12.Nxd2 g6 13.Rab1 Qa5 14.e4 dxe4 15.Ncxe4 Reject 15.Bxe4 f5 15...f5 16.Nc3 e5 17.b4! Qd8 18.dxe5 Nxe5 19.Re1 Bf6 20.Rbd1 Bd7 21.Nb3 Qc7 22.Nc5 Rad8 23.Nxd7 Nxd7 24.Ne2 Ne5 25.Nf4 Qf7 26.c5 Kg7 27.h3 Rd7 28.a3 Rde7
White must now prevent ...Nf3+! 29.Nd3 Qc4 30.Qb1 a5 31.Nxe5 Bxe5 32.Qd3 Qc3 33.Qxc3 Bxc3 The position is equal. 34.Rxe7+ Rxe7= Endgame KRB-KRB 35.Rb1 axb4 36.axb4 Re2 37.b5 Bd4 38.bxc6 bxc6 39.Rf1 Bxc5 40.Bxc6 h5 41.Kg2 Kf6 42.h4 Rb2 43.Bf3 Rd2 44.Kg1 Kg7 45.Kg2 Kh6 46.Kg1 Precision: White = 54%, Black = 55%.
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Wei,Y2729Fedoseev,V2707½–½20189th Hainan Danzhou GM 20181

Yu Yangyi vs Le Quang Liem

Yu Yangyi against Le Quang Liem was the first game to finish and this was no barnburner either. Here again, a mass exchange of pieces right out of the opening led the players into an equal endgame. For argument’s sake, black had an outside passed pawn. A couple of more exchanges drifted the game into an endgame with bishops of opposite colour wherein the players promptly agreed to a draw.

Yu Yangyi and Le Quang Liem during their first round encounter at the Danzhou Masters

Yu Yangyi's game against Le Quang Liem was the first one to finish | Photo: Official website

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Bb4+ 5.Nd2 0-0 6.Ngf3 dxc4 E01: Catalan: Early deviations 6...b6 7.0-0 Bb7 8.b3 c5 9.Bb2 Nbd7 10.a3 Bxd2 11.Nxd2 cxd4 12.Bxd4 Rc8 13.b4 Qe7 14.Rc1 Rfd8 15.Qb3 dxc4 16.Nxc4 Bxg2 17.Kxg2 0-1 (55) Ding,L (2777)-Carlsen,M (2837) Riadh 2017 7.a3 Bxd2+ 8.Bxd2 Nc6 9.e3 LiveBook: 6 Games b5 10.b3 Bb7 11.bxc4 bxc4 12.Rc1 a5 13.Rxc4 Ne7 14.Rc5 Ne4N 15.Rc1 Bd5 16.0-0 Qd6 17.Ne5 Qxa3 18.Ra1 Qb2 19.Bxa5 Ng6 20.Qb1 Qxb1 21.Rfxb1 Nxe5 22.dxe5 c6 23.f3 Nc5 24.Bb4 Nb3 25.Rxa8 25.Bxf8 Nxa1 26.Bd6 25...Rxa8= The position is equal. 26.e4 Bc4 27.Bf1 Bxf1 28.Rxb3 Endgame KRB-KRB Bb5 29.Ra3 29.g4 looks sharper. g5 30.Be7 h6 31.h4 gxh4 32.Bxh4 Ra2 33.Bf2 29...Rxa3 30.Bxa3 KB-KB Kh8 31.Kf2 Kg8 32.Bc5 h5 33.h4 Ba4 34.Bb4 Bb5 35.Bc5 Ba4 36.Bb4 Bb5 37.Bc5 Precision: White = 58%, Black = 63%. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Yu,Y2762Le,Q2728½–½20189th Hainan Danzhou GM 20181

Standings after Round 1

Rk.NameRtg.Nt.Pts.n
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
TBPerf.
1
GM
GM
2737

1
GM
2718
1

Ø 2718
1/1
2737
1.0
1
0.00
3518
2
GM
GM
2762

1
GM
2728
½

Ø 2728
0.5/1
2762
0.5
1
0.25
2728
3
GM
GM
2729

1
GM
2707
½

Ø 2707
0.5/1
2729
0.5
1
0.25
2707
4
GM
GM
2728

1
GM
2762
½

Ø 2762
0.5/1
2728
0.5
1
0.25
2762
5
GM

1
GM
2712
½

Ø 2712
0.5/1
2727
0.5
1
0.25
2712
6
GM
GM
2712

1
GM
2727
½

Ø 2727
0.5/1
2712
0.5
1
0.25
2727
7
GM

1
GM
2729
½

Ø 2729
0.5/1
2707
0.5
1
0.25
2729
8
GM
GM
2718

1
GM
2737
0

Ø 2737
0/1
2718
0.0
1
0.00
1937
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

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Aditya Pai is an ardent chess fan, avid reader, and a film lover. He holds a Master's in English Literature and used to work as an advertising copywriter before joining the ChessBase India team.

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