Harikrishna takes half point edge to final
That Harikrishna is leading the Shenzhen Masters heading into the final round is not itself surprising, but what is remarkable is that he's doing so despite having lost two games!
After a seventh round of three draws, Richard Rapport dealt Harikrishna his second loss of the tournament in round eight and allowed Anish Giri to pull equal with two rounds to play. Since Giri beat 'Hari' in round two, the Dutchman has the tiebreak advantage should the finish on equal points — the first tiebreak is 'direct encounter'.

Rapport sporting a smart red suit | Photo: cca.imsa.cn
The realization of White's small material advantage (two flank pawns) was difficult.
The black king controls the h-pawn, while his minor pieces prevent the a-pawn's advance. If necessary, Black can also sacrifice a piece and aim for a draw of one piece against two (without pawns).
The White knight obstructs his own pawn on the a-file and is also dominated by the black bishop. Important now was 57...♚g8 58.♔g6 ♞e5+ 59.♔f6 ♞c6 60.♗b6 ♝e5+ 61.♔xe6 ♝c3 and so on, or 57...e5 58.♔f5 e4 59.♔xe4 ♝e7 etc., would also have been sufficient.
But Black instead let the White knight out of prison: 57...♝a3?. There followed 58.♘b8 ♝c1+ 59.♔h4 ♚e8 60.♗c7 ♝e3 61.a6 ♘a3 62.♔g4 ♞b5 63.♗f4 ♝c5 64.♘c6 ♚d7 65.♘e5+ ♚e8 66.h6 ♝f8 67.h7 ♝g7 68.♔h5 1-0
Giri drew with Ding Liren to tie for the lead, with momentum on his side.
Results of Round 8
Harikrishna showed his resilience in the penultimate round, however, and he went after his opponent's Petroff Defence in yet another queenless middlegame. Eventually Harikrishna won a pawn and in the endgame the players reached this position:
Black played 51...♞c5 and after 52.♗e4+ he faced an unpleasant choice: He decided to swap the minor pieces with 51...♞xe4+, but the rook ending is straightforwardly lost: 53.♖xe4 ♜a7 54.♖a4 ♚c5 55.♔g3 ♚b5 56.♖a2 h5 57. f4 1-0
52...♚d4 was no better, as there would follow 53.♗b7 and the a-pawn runs next.
IM Sagar Shah annotates the game in full
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nd3!? Nxe4 5.Qe2 Qe7 6.Nc3 6.Nf4 Nc6 7.Nd5 Nd4 6...Nf6 6...Nxc3 7.dxc3 Qxe2+ 8.Bxe2 Nc6 9.Be3 7.Nf4 c6 8.d4 Qxe2+ 9.Bxe2 d5 10.0-0 Bd6 10...Bf5 11.Re1 Be7 12.Bd3 Bxd3 13.Nxd3 11.Bd3 0-0 12.Nfe2 Ne8 12...Nbd7 13.Bf4 Bxf4 14.Nxf4 Re8 15.f3 Nf8 16.h4 h5 17.Rfe1 Bd7 18.Kf2 g6 19.b4 Rxe1 20.Rxe1 Re8 21.Rb1 Ne6 22.Nxe6 Bxe6 23.b5 Rc8 24.bxc6 Rxc6 25.Rb3 Kf8 26.Ne2 Rc7 27.Nf4 Bd7 28.Ke3 Ke7 29.Kd2 Kd6 30.Rb1 b6 31.Re1 Rc8 32.Ra1 Ba4 33.Nh3 Nh7 34.Nf4 Nf6 35.Ne2 Bd7 36.a4 Ne8 37.Nc3 a5 38.Nd1 Nc7 39.Ne3 Ne6 40.c3 f5 41.Bc2 f4 42.Nd1 g5 43.hxg5 Nxg5 44.Rb1 Rb8 45.Nf2 h4 46.Nd3 h3 47.gxh3 Nxf3+ 48.Ke2 Ng5 49.Nxf4 Nxh3 50.Nxh3 13.Re1 Nd7 14.Bf4 Nb6?! 14...Bxf4 15.Nxf4 Ndf6 15.f3! a5 16.a4 Bd7 17.b3 h6?! 18.Nd1 g5 19.Bxd6 Nxd6 20.Nb2 Rac8 21.Kf2! Na8 21...c5?! 22.dxc5 Rxc5 23.Nd4± 22.h4! f6 22...gxh4 23.Rh1 h3 24.Rag1± 24.g4 f5 23.Rh1 Kg7 24.Ng3 Nc7 25.c4! b6 26.Rac1 26.c5 bxc5 27.dxc5 Nb7 26...dxc4? 26...f5 27.hxg5 hxg5 28.Rh5 Rh8! 28...Kg6 29.Rch1± 29.Rxg5+ Kf6 30.f4 Ne6 31.Nxf5 Nxc4! 31...Nxg5 32.fxg5+ Ke6 33.Re1+ Ne4+ 34.Bxe4 dxe4 35.g4± 32.bxc4 Nxf4 33.Rg4 Nxd3+ 34.Nxd3 Bxf5∞ 27.Nxc4 Nxc4 28.bxc4 Rcd8 28...Na6 29.Bf5! Rcd8 30.Bxd7 Rxd7 31.Nf5+ Kg6 32.g4+- 29.Rb1 Be6 30.hxg5 30.Bf5 Bxc4 30...Rxd4 31.Bxe6 Nxe6 32.Nf5++- 31.Rxb6 Bd5 32.Be4+- 30...fxg5 31.Rxb6 Rxd4 32.Ke3 Rfd8 33.Be2 R4d7 33...R4d6 34.Ne4+- 34.Rxc6 Re7 35.Kf2 Rdd7 36.Rb1 Ne8 37.Rbb6 Kf7 38.Ne4 Rc7 39.Rxc7 Rxc7 40.c5 Ke7 41.Ra6 Ng7 42.Rxa5 Nf5 43.Ra8 Bd5 44.Rh8 Ke6 44...Bxe4 45.fxe4+- 45.a5 45.g4 Bxe4 46.fxe4 Nd4 47.Rxh6+ Ke5 45...Ke5 46.a6 Nd4 46...Bxe4 47.fxe4 Kxe4 48.Bf3+ Ke5 49.Re8+ Kf6 50.Bb7+- 47.Re8+ Ne6 48.Bb5 Kd4 49.Nf6 Kxc5 50.Nxd5 Kxd5 51.Bd3 Nc5 52.Be4+ Nxe4+ 52...Kc4 53.Bb7 Nxb7 54.a7+- 53.Rxe4 Ra7 54.Ra4 Kc5 55.Kg3 Kb5 56.Ra2 h5 57.f4 1–0
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Harikrishna,P | 2723 | Yu Yangyi | 2751 | 1–0 | 2019 | C42 | 3rd Du Te Cup 2019 | 9 |
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The Petroff (or Russian) Defence which is characterised by the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 has been popular at the highest levels for many years and enjoys the reputation of being an extremely solid defence.

Harikrishna does fine without his queen | Photo cca.imsa.cn
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.
Rapport against Giri was an Open Catalan in which Rapport followed Wojtaszek vs Giri from the 2018 Shamkir tournament through a whopping 23 moves into a dead-equal endgame. The players shook hands on move 32 after using up very little time on the clock. Giri had a free evening to contemplate last round strategy:
Results of Round 9
UPDATE: Harikrishna stumbles and Giri takes advantage
In a dramatic turn of events in the final round Harikrishna lost, giving Giri the opening he needed to press with White and ultimately win his long minor piece endgame against Dmitry Jakovenko to leapfrog the Indian number two and win the Shenzhen Masters with a final score of 6½ / 10.
Ding Liren is Anish's new best friend. He manoeuvred patiently with White in an English Opening, but by move 24 when the queens came off, the symmetrical pawn structure and equal material made a draw look likely.
Reminiscent of a Knight's Tour!
Ding has just vacated the knight outpost on c5 and Harikrishna now takes time to ensure the knight does not return with 35...b6, however in the long run that opens up the new and more lucrative c6-square for the knight. Black's own advanced knight on f3 meanwhile lacks meaningful targets. 35...g5 would have been a logical follow-up, when White's edge is minimal.
Harikrishna avoided exchanging knights, but soon Ding's developed a dominating position:
46.♖h8 with the other rook coming to c8, Ding later corralled the d5-pawn with a winning advantage. But he embarked on a spurious mating net, driving Harikrishna's king to g1 and giving him a golden opportunity to save the game — and his tournament — with a tactic:
Can you spot the idea Harikrishna missed?
SHOW59...♞xe3! And no matter how Ding recaptures Black's f-pawn becomes a dangerous threat that will be enough for at least a draw.
In the game Harikrishna played 59...♜d6 and gave Ding a second chance to win. The game continued 60.d5 ♜g6 61.♖h7 ♜d6 and now Ding managed to break through:
62.a5! The passed pawn that results will decide the game in White's favour.
Giri needed 97 moves [the live broadcast incorrectly showed only 64 moves at first after a technical snafu -Ed.] and the full seven hours to prosecute his endgame advantage against Jakovenko, but he succeeded and, with that, won the tournament:
Results of Round 10
Final standings
All games
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bd2 Be4 11.Qc1 c6 11...Bb7 12.Rd1 Qc8 13.Ba5 c5 14.dxc5 Bxc5 15.Nbd2 Nbd7 16.Nb3 Ba7 17.Qf4 Nb6 18.Bxb6 Bxb6 19.Rac1 Qe8 20.Ne5 Bxg2 21.Kxg2 12.Rd1 Nbd7 13.Nc3 Bg6 14.a3 Rc8 15.b4 Nd5 16.Be1 Qc7N 16...Bf6 17.e3 Qe7 18.Ra2 e5 19.dxe5 Nxe5 20.Nxe5 Qxe5 17.e3 h6 18.Qb2 N5b6 19.Qe2 Nc4 20.e4 Bh5 21.h3 e5 22.d5 c5 23.Rdc1 Rfe8 24.g4 Bg6 25.Nd1 Qd8 26.Nd2 Ncb6 27.Nb3 c4 28.Na5 Bg5 29.Bd2 Na4 30.Nc3 30...Ndb6 31.Be3 ½–½ - Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
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- Drag the split bars between window panes.
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Yu,Y | 2751 | Giri,A | 2797 | ½–½ | 2019 | E05 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 1.1 |
Ding,L | 2809 | Rapport,R | 2726 | ½–½ | 2019 | E11 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 1.2 |
Jakovenko,D | 2719 | Harikrishna,P | 2723 | ½–½ | 2019 | B48 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 1.3 |
Rapport,R | 2726 | Jakovenko,D | 2719 | ½–½ | 2019 | E06 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 2.1 |
Giri,A | 2797 | Harikrishna,P | 2723 | 1–0 | 2019 | C54 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 2.2 |
Yu,Y | 2751 | Ding,L | 2809 | ½–½ | 2019 | E08 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 2.3 |
Jakovenko,D | 2719 | Yu,Y | 2751 | ½–½ | 2019 | C55 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 3.1 |
Harikrishna,P | 2723 | Rapport,R | 2726 | 1–0 | 2019 | C01 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 3.2 |
Ding,L | 2809 | Giri,A | 2797 | ½–½ | 2019 | A14 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 3.3 |
Jakovenko,D | 2719 | Giri,A | 2797 | ½–½ | 2019 | B33 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 4.1 |
Harikrishna,P | 2723 | Ding,L | 2809 | 1–0 | 2019 | C88 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 4.2 |
Rapport,R | 2726 | Yu,Y | 2751 | ½–½ | 2019 | E04 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 4.3 |
Yu,Y | 2751 | Harikrishna,P | 2723 | 0–1 | 2019 | C54 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 5.1 |
Giri,A | 2797 | Rapport,R | 2726 | ½–½ | 2019 | B30 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 5.2 |
Ding,L | 2809 | Jakovenko,D | 2719 | 1–0 | 2019 | A17 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 5.3 |
Rapport,R | 2726 | Ding,L | 2809 | ½–½ | 2019 | C47 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 6.1 |
Harikrishna,P | 2723 | Jakovenko,D | 2719 | 1–0 | 2019 | C67 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 6.2 |
Giri,A | 2797 | Yu,Y | 2751 | 1–0 | 2019 | A13 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 6.3 |
Harikrishna,P | 2723 | Giri,A | 2797 | ½–½ | 2019 | B51 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 7.1 |
Ding,L | 2809 | Yu,Y | 2751 | ½–½ | 2019 | A29 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 7.2 |
Jakovenko,D | 2719 | Rapport,R | 2726 | ½–½ | 2019 | E16 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 7.3 |
Yu,Y | 2751 | Jakovenko,D | 2719 | ½–½ | 2019 | D35 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 8.1 |
Giri,A | 2797 | Ding,L | 2809 | ½–½ | 2019 | C54 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 8.2 |
Rapport,R | 2726 | Harikrishna,P | 2723 | 1–0 | 2019 | A07 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 8.3 |
Harikrishna,P | 2723 | Yu,Y | 2751 | 1–0 | 2019 | C42 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 9.1 |
Jakovenko,D | 2719 | Ding,L | 2809 | ½–½ | 2019 | B51 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 9.2 |
Rapport,R | 2726 | Giri,A | 2797 | ½–½ | 2019 | E05 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 9.3 |
Ding,L | 2809 | Harikrishna,P | 2723 | 1–0 | 2019 | A29 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 10.1 |
Yu,Y | 2751 | Rapport,R | 2726 | ½–½ | 2019 | C07 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 10.2 |
Giri,A | 2797 | Jakovenko,D | 2719 | 1–0 | 2019 | E06 | 3rd Shenzhen Longgong Masters Dute Cup | 10.3 |
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Andre Schulz contributed reporting
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