Balancing on a tightrope - Game 13

After a long last back to 1.e4 to try and break down the French. This was a very tough fight, where Gukesh had Ding on the ropes, but Ding dodged defeat like a magician! At some point Ding could have played more positively and not just for equality, by sacrificing the exchange. This would have resonated confidence to continue from the last game, however Ding seems to have gone back to defensive mindset as he was in many of the earlier games. But at the very end, he found mighty good resources to defend the game by balancing on a tight rope despite time pressure. 

1. e4! e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Nce2 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. a3!? Be7 

 7... cxd4 8. cxd4 f6 9. Nf4 is the only testing but overall is fine according to Caruana

8. Be3 !?N 

Gukesh's team has come back to test Ding's preparation in the mainline after 11 long games! White is maintaining flexibility to play f4 or Nf3 as the situation demands.

 8... Nb6 9. Nf4 cxd4 10. cxd4 Nc4 11. Bxc4 dxc4 12. Nge2!? 

 Without wasting too much time White plays a natural and an optimal move, though not necessarily the most critical. Contrary to what it seems, I think Gukesh likes to keep control and not go into complete chaos even if he wants to push.

Almost everyone universally acknowledged that 12. Qg4! was the critical move, and it is a known idea in the Nc3 French especially where the Queen develops itself first on the kingside before playing Nf3. But in this case things are very concrete. 12.... Qa5+ 13. Bd2 Qb6 14. Qxg7 Rf8 15. Nf3 Nxd4 16. Nxd4 Qxd4 

The position appears extremely complex and random to an unprepared eye, and it was clear Gukesh did not want to lose control like this. If he was prepared in this position, he would have probably gone for this because of specific preparation as the advantage shown by computer is still hard to fathom for a human mind especially considering the situation in a World Championship match when the scores are tied after 12 games!

 12... b5 13. O-O   O-O 14. Nc3 

 White has played a very stable with one knight on c3 and the other on f4 seems quite harmonious.

14... Rb8 15. Nh5! 

 In this position the imbalance that White has ie Bishop and Two Knights versus Two Bishops and a Knight which Dorfman deals in detail. Here, if the game can be focused on the dark squares, Black will be one minor piece short in fight for control of those squares, and his pawns being on light squares do not help in this regard either.

15... f5 16. exf6 Bxf6 17. Qf3!?

17. Nxf6+ was a simple positional move to play for a minor advantage based on dark square control. Qxf6 18. d5 exd5 19. Qxd5+ White is slightly better here, but clearly Gukesh wanted more here. 

17... Qe8?!

Ding does not go for the imbalanced being an exchange down. Bit of going back to old ways, rather than build up on the confidence of the previous game, where he was ready to sacrfice an exchange in the pursuit of a win.

 17... Nxd4! 18. Nxf6+ Rxf6 19. Qd1 e5 20. Bg5 Bf5 

Black can sacrifice the exchange and have full compensation because of the advanced outposts of knight and bishop. This idea is known from an idea in the Hungarian variation of Grunfeld against the Qb3 system.

18. Nxf6+ Rxf6 19. Qe2 Qg6 20. f3!

 In this game Gukesh keeps things simple in the style of Smyslov. This blocks out the Black's light squared Bishop.

20.... Rf8 21. Rad1 Ne7?!

There was a lot of discussion of Ding having missed Gukesh's next move. He was trying to be solid by controlling the d5-square.

 21... a6!? but this does not give him a full equality, but the game goes on.

 22. Bf4!

As Magnus pointed out this is Gukesh's specialty, he finds these hidden tactical possibilities all the time, and in this match has done this better than Ding.

22...Rb6 23. Bc7 Rb7 24. Bd6 Re8 25. Bxe7

 Gukesh tries to clarify in almost every decision in the game. Maintaining the tension was significantly stronger

 25. Rfe1! Nf5 but 26. Bb4! was the harder move to see 26.... Bd7 27. Qe4! and White has a big advantage. The bishop on b4 holds back Black's queenside pawns and controls the f8-square. There is also the option of an eventual d5 break and White's Bishop can target Black's king from c3.

25... Rexe7 26. Qe5 a6 27. d5 

Gukesh goes for concrete operations, consistently in this game.27. Rfe1!? or 27. Ne4!? were other options to maintain the tension.

27... exd5 28. Qxd5+ Qe6 29. Qc5 Re8  

A position which is objectively equal according to the deep assessment of the computer, but visually and in a practical game where time trouble is an issue, an extremely unpleasant one for Black. The dark square bind and the knight being such a dangerous piece in creating various tactics, tilts the practical assessment in White's favour.

 29... Rbc7 30. Rd8+ Kf7 31. Qh5+ Qg6 32. Qh4 does not look easy by any means 

30. Rde1 

30. Rd6!?  Qe7 31. Nd5 Qf7 was suggested by Caruana, and it seems to be ok for Black.

30. Ne4!?  

30. Rfe1 Qf7 31. Rxe8+ Qxe8 32. Ne4 Re7! This is the reason why Gukesh went 30. Rde1

 30... Qf7? 

This move is a big mistake against Gukesh's last move but was alright if he had moved the other rook. Shows the complexity of the position!

30... Qxe1! was the only way to maintain the balance 31. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 32. Kf2 Re8 33. Ne4 White threatens a big family fork on d6, yet concretely Black can survive with 33.... Rbe7 34. Nd6 Re5 35. Qc6 R5e6 36. Qc7 R6e7 and the Rook keeps following the queen like a magnet. Echoes of 17...Qf3 from game 6! which was not played. But this was extremely difficult if not impossible in time trouble.

 31. Ne4?!

This was considered to be the moment where Gukesh missed a big advantage, but as the lines show, this was hardly easy to find. Not that the line was harder, but to understand it was better and so good, in many cases to judge the final position is much harder than to just visualize that position.

 31. Rxe8+! Qxe8 32. Ne4 Rd7 33. Nd6 Qf8 Gukesh pointed out till this moment in the press conference and there does no seem to be a killer blow, however after 34. Qd5+ Kh8 35. Re1! surprising thing is Black is running short of moves and this is far from easy in time trouble. eg 35.... h6 36. Re6

 31... Rf8! 32. Nd6 Rc7!

 This was made by Ding in the dying seconds on the clock and apparently by his own admission he had almost given up. But he found the only move and saves the game! Gukesh had missed the move while choosing 31. Ne4

 33. Qe5 Qf6 34. Qd5+ Kh8 35. Re5 Re7 36. Rfe1 Rxe5 37. Rxe5 h6 38. Qc5 Bd7 39. Ne4 Qf4 40. Re7 Bf5 41. Qd4 Rg8 42. h3 Qc1+ 43. Kf2 Bxe4 44. Rxe4 c3! 

after the time trouble Black equalised completely.

45. bxc3 Qxa3 46. Kg3 Qb3 47. Re7 a5 48. Rb7 Qc4 49. Qe5 Qc6 50. Qxb5 Qxc3 51. Ra7 Qe1+ 52. Kh2 Qb4 53. Qxb4 axb4 54. Rb7 Ra8 55. Rxb4 Ra2 

This particular 3 versus 2 rook and pawn endgame gives no real chances.

 56. Kg3 Kh7 57. Rb5 Kg6 58. f4 Kf6 59. Kf3 Rc2 60. g3 Rc3+ 61. Kg4 Ra3 62. h4 Rc3 63. Rb6+ Kf7 64. f5 h5+! 65. Kf4 Rc4+ 66. Kf3 Rc3+ 67. Kf4 Rc4+ 68. Kf3 Rc3+ 1/2-1/2

A brilliant spectacle of attack and defense. Very very eventful considering this was Gukesh's last white in this match!

games discussed here