Longgang Masters sees Giri and Liren lead

by Albert Silver
3/27/2017 – It has been a very balanced tournament so far, and if Harikrishna was the first to score a win in round two, in round three, he lost to Anish Giri, who thoroughly outplayed him in a Sicilian. Ding Liren also kept the screws tight on Peter Svidler with his bishops against knights. All games were drawn in round four, leaving Ding Liren and Anish Giri in the lead.

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It hasn’t been a terribly exciting event so far, it is fair to say. If there is one player who has gone out of his way to stir the pot it has been Ding Liren. In round one he drew Yu Yangyi sacrificing his knight in an endgame to keep the game going, though his compatriot held fast and they drew.

Ding Liren has been the main spectator attraction so far

In round three, he managed to emerge into an endgame with a rook and pair of bishops against Peter Svidler’s rook and pair of knights, with large open spaces for his artillery to fire. It should not have been enough, but it was clear that this was a game with only two results possible, a draw or a win for him, and after nearly forty moves, the Russian snapped and it was all over.

In round three he wielded his bishop pair against Peter Svidler with deadly force

Ding Liren vs Peter Svidler

[Event "DT News Cup Shenzhen 2017"] [Site "Shenzen"] [Date "2017.03.25"] [Round "3"] [White "Ding, Liren"] [Black "Svidler, Peter"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D15"] [WhiteElo "2759"] [BlackElo "2741"] [Annotator ""] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] 1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Nc3 b5 6. b3 Bg4 7. a4 {D15: Slav Defence: 4 Nc3 a6 and gambit lines after 4 Nc3 dxc4} bxc4 8. bxc4 Nbd7 9. a5 { White is slightly better.} e5 10. Be2 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 Bb4 12. Bd2 O-O $146 (12... exd4 13. exd4 Bxc3 14. Bxc3 Qe7+ {1-0 (34) Howell, D (2655)-Sarakauskas,G (2414) Reading 2017}) 13. O-O dxc4 14. Qe2 exd4 15. exd4 Bxa5 16. Qxc4 Rc8 17. Qxa6 Bb6 18. Be3 $1 c5 19. Na4 cxd4 20. Nxb6 Qxb6 21. Qxb6 Nxb6 22. Bxd4 Nc4 23. Rfd1 Rfe8 24. g3 h6 25. Kg2 Ne5 26. Be2 Re6 27. h3 Nc6 28. Ba6 Rd8 29. Be3 Rxd1 30. Rxd1 Ne5 31. Bb5 g5 32. Rc1 Rd6 33. Rc8+ Kg7 34. Ba4 Ra6 35. Bb3 Rc6 36. Ra8 Rc3 37. Ba2 {[#] Strongly threatening Bd4.} Rc2 (37... Rd3 $14) 38. Ra7 {White has been keeping the pressure of his powerful bishop pair, and is finally rewarded for his persistence.} Nc4 $2 {A fatal blunder as now after} ( 38... Ned7 $16 39. Bd4 Kg8 40. Ra8+ Kg7) 39. Bd4 $1 $18 {Black will lose material. The immediate threat is plain old Ra6, and Black cannot free himself with Kg6 since Bb1 would then win the rook.} Nd6 40. Rd7 Nb5 41. Rxf7+ Kg8 42. Bxf6 {[#] White threatens Rg7+ and mate.} Rxa2 43. Rg7+ Kf8 44. Rb7 1-0

Michael Adams and Yu Yangyi drew their game

Pentala Harikrishna faced a mirror of himself in the ultra-solid Anish Giri, but the Dutch player had other things in mind, and began to slowly outplay the Indian. His performance was immaculate, and at the end of the day, he stood on equal footing with Ding Liren with 2.0/3. Round four saw three uneventful draws, changing nothing in the standings.

Standings after round four

Links

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Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications.