Ding’s wings

Ding Liren, from China, was a convincing winner of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, which reached its climax in London last weekend. The Grand Chess Tour Finals, a four-player knockout, was the flagship event at this year’s London Chess Classic. The match format was a blend of classical (slow), rapid and blitz games. Although the slower games held more weight in the scoring, the very inclusion of faster time limits reflects their increased status in the modern game.
 
The first semi-final, between Magnus Carlsen and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, went to a tiebreak. The Frenchman won a topsy-turvy game in his beloved Najdorf Sicilian, as Carlsen went astray amid wild complications. In the second semi-final match Ding defeated Levon Aronian with a dominant performance in the rapid games.
 
Thus the final saw Ding pitted against Vachier-Lagrave. Ding let slip a big advantage in the first classical game, reluctantly settling for a perpetual check in an endgame where both players had two queens. But by winning the second classical game (see below), he took a commanding lead in the match. A masterpiece of strategic play, we see Ding’s queenside pressure induce a kingside counterattack which turns out to compromise Black’s own position. Ding’s positional squeeze, executed with profound patience, is swiftly transformed into a violent attack on the opposite side of the board.
 
A good performance in the rapid games clinched victory for Ding, along with a $150,000 prize. ‘It shows that when I am in my best shape, I can compete with anyone else,’ Ding said as he collected his trophy. The next big test for the 27-year-old will be the Candidates tournament in March 2020, which selects a challenger for the World Championship.
 
Ding Liren–Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
London Chess Classic GCT Finals
 
1 c4 c5 2 g3 g6 3 Bg2 Bg7 4 Nc3 Nc6 5 Nf3 e5 6 O-O Nge7 7 d3 d6 8 a3 a5 9 Rb1 O-O 10 b3 Rb8 11 Bb2 h6 12 Nd2 Be6 13 Nd5 b5 14 e3 Qd7 15 Re1 Bg4 16 Qc2 Rfc8 17 Ne4 A clever idea, threatening a fork on f6 to encourage the exchange on d5.