Catalan solidity - Game 9

Gukesh surprised Ding with the Catalan, a mainstream line that Ding himself is an expert on with White. Despite a slightly lesser played idea in the Catalan, avoiding b2-b3. But there were only a couple of interesting moments in the game.

In this position after Black's 11 th move White went for

12.Rac1 Rfd8 13. b4!? 

instead of 13.b3

13.... c5!

This came after a lot of thought, but clearly the most critical move, and an easy one for Ding

14. bxc5 bxc5 15. Qb2!? 

15.... Nb6

Hikaru suggested that 15... Qb6 was the easiest way to equalise.  16. Nb3 dxc4 17. Ba5 Qb5 18. Bxd8 Rxd8 19. dxc5 Bxc5

 16. Ba5 dxc4 17. Nxc4 

Bxf3!? 

After deep thought Ding chooses a position which might be a trifle worse,but is nevertheless solid. He did not choose a line that concretely lead to equality, as he missed a particular move on the 19th turn.

17... Nxc4 18. Rxc4 Qxa5 19. Qxb7 Nd7!  was the slightly awkward move one had to foresee to force the equality. Ding admitted that he missed this move. 20. dxc5 Rab8 21. Qc6 Rbc8 

18. Bxb6 axb6 19. Bxf3 Ra6 

This was the last interesting moment of the game. White went for a forcing approach with

20. Qb5?! 

The forcing move gives up the advantage, perhaps White could keep the pressure with a very minute advantage with 20. Ne5 Bf8 21. Kg2 or 21.e3 or even 20. e3!? 

20... Rxa2 21. Nxb6 Qa7!  admittedly Gukesh missed this idea after which Ding equalizes 

 22. Qb1 Rb8 23. dxc5 Ra6=  

Ding completely equalised and the game was drawn after 54 moves.

the discussed game as a replyable link