Aiming for perfection, really? - Game 4

White went for a very quiet and interesting idea in a Nimzo Larsen Opening but perhaps did not come with too much of an intention to fight! But both players continue to vary their openings a lot and try to surprise each other.

1.Nf3!?

Ding changes his opening strategy predictably! 

1... d5 2. e3!?

Popularized by Kramnik in the last decade, to create fresh playable positions and use ideas based on reversed openings. Karjakin-Anand from 2016 candidates comes to mind when I think of this idea, or going back ever further from my personal experience, Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte used it quite well 2 decades back in Indian tournaments!

2...Nf6 3.b3

3.c4 has been the more popular choice in the last decade, but Ding decides to take the game into even quieter waters of Nimzo Larsen, or as he put it in the press conference, a reverse of Queen's Indian.

3...Bf5

Black chooses the reverse of a London system, which has always been a popular choice, ever since the Reti-Lasker New York 1924

4.Be2!?

intending to meet 4...e6 with 5. Nh4

4.... h6

So, logically black creates an escape square for his light squared Bishop

5. Ba3!?

White tries to exploit the fact that Black has not played e6 yet and develops his Bishop on a3. There are also ideas in Queens Indian (in reversed colours) where the bishop gets developed here even if opponent has played c5 in order to weaken his coordination. This particular idea of not letting opponent play e6 in known from Petrosian- Tal Curacao 1962, though not in the exact position. Apparently as it happens in modern theory the current position has been tried out as well, in a few games including Niemann-Vidit World Teams 2022. So, the move could not have been a total surprise for Gukesh.

Nbd7 6. O-O 

Vidit's game continued with 6. c4 c6 7. O-O e5 8. Bxf8 Kxf8 9. Nc3 Qe7 10. d4 e4 11. Nd2 h5!

 this was a nice example of play in Advanced French structures (reversed in this case)

 6... e6 

Black goes for the solid exchange of dark squared bishops 

7. Bxf8 Nxf8 

and not losing the right to castle :-) 

8. c4 N8d7 9. Nc3 

9. cxd5 Nxd5 was something that Ding was thinking about. He wanted to force Black to recapture with a pawn.

9... O-O 10. cxd5 exd5 11. b4 

 This was Ding's idea, securing the central d4-square for the Knight

11... c6 12. Nd4 

12. Qb3!? was suggested by Carlsen. A moment that could have gone unnoticed as White's move in the game was so natural. Carlsen's point was not to allow the active move Ne5 which Gukesh later got in the game. Black would go for 12... Bg4 to trade this Bishop for White's knight in a Carlsbad structure, but nevertheless White would retain the slightly more pleasant position.

 12... Bh7 13. Qb3 Ne5!

 Quite an important moment in this game. This move was criticized by Kramnik, and I was not expecting Black to go Ne5 so soon while watching the game either. Either 13... Qe7!? or 13... Re8!?  are natural moves in this position, without committing much, and developing the pieces in a reasonable way.

The logic being, Ne5 gives White a chance to play f4 with a tempo. The idea of Knight getting to d4 followed up by a later f4 was known from Nimzowitch's games and there I have not seen this early knight sortie by Black. Thinking about it, with the exchange of the dark squared bishops, Black's Ne5 makes more sense. And also, in this case Gukesh even provokes White's f4 considering it to be a weakness! This is the alternative perception to losing a tempo. 

 14. a4

14. f4 Ned7!?

14... Rc8! 15. a5 b6! 

Both Judit and Magnus liked Gukesh's approach here. He came with direct and straightforward approach to destabilize White's knight on d4.

 16. Nf3 

Ding was in a cautious mood for this game, perhaps trying to recover from the loss in the third game. He made it a point not to weaken or give any chances to the opponent. This also meant that the game is moving towards a very easy equality.

16. f4 runs into Nc4 17. Bxc4 dxc4 18. Qxc4 c5!

16. Ba6!? Rc7 17. f4 Nc4?!  18. Bxc4 dxc4 19. Qxc4 c5 20. Ncb5 was an interesting idea pointed out by Robert Hess in his commentary

But after 17... Ng6!? the game remains complex

16... Nxf3+ 17. Bxf3 d4 $1 18. Ne2 dxe3 19. dxe3 Be4 =

Black equalized easily and there was no more drama in the rest of the game. Pieces were exchanged at regular intervals without doing anything to even try to upset the equilibrium.

 20. Rfd1 Qe7 21. Bxe4 Nxe4 22. axb6 axb6 23. Nc3 Rfd8 24. Nxe4 Qxe4 25. h3 c5 26. Rxd8+ Rxd8 27. bxc5 bxc5 28. Rc1 Qe5 29. Qc2 Rd5 30. g3 f5 31. Kg2 Kh7 32. Qc4 Qd6 33. e4 Re5 34. exf5 Rxf5 35. Qe4 Qd5 36. Qxd5 Rxd5 37. Kf3 Kg6 38. Ke4 Rd4+ 39. Ke3 Rd5 40. Ke4 Rd4+ 41. Ke3 Rd5 42. Ke4 Rd4+ 1/2-1/2

Some of the online websites list the accuracy of this game to be very close to one hundred percent. But I do not see how it is relevant for a fighting game of chess, both from the players' and spectators' point of view.  It was a day of break for Ding, and Gukesh would be happy as well to have drawn his second black game without being pushed around and would come all guns blazing for the next game tomorrow.

Games discussed in the blog