The potential of potential - game 12

Ding produced one of his best when pushed to dire straits. He played such a controlled game where there was never a chance for Black to completely equalize the game at all. I do not remember him having done it in his match against Nepo too. Though his game six win against Nepo was a great game, but even there Nepo had some chances to equalise at several points in the game, even though some where hard to find. In this game Ding used the potential energy to great effect. His pieces seemed to have more potential than his opponent, and this was the single most important factor in deciding the game.

Ding was running out of choices, and many pundits predicted an English in this game where he had to go all in. But it all turned out in a very different type of game suited to Ding. One thinks of the 24th game of the Seville match between Karpov and Kasparov.

 1. c4 e6!? 

Gukesh varies from the 1... e5 played in the eighth game. As he no longer needs to create complex positions. But would it have been still a good idea to stick with positions suitable to one's style remains a question.

2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nf3 d4!?  

This was already a very interesting decision. If Black's strategy was to remain solid, then a normal 4... Be7 was called for. So, it seems that Gukesh is sticking to his preparation and not going situation specific which is also understandable.4... dxc4 was also a less strategically comittal decision than in the game.

5. O-O Nc6 6. e3  

Here Ding varies from the Nepo-Carlsen match 6. d3 Bc5 7. Nbd2 a5 8. Nb3 Be7 9. e3 dxe3 10. Bxe3 Ng4 11. Bc5 O-O Nepomniachtchi-Carlsen, World-ch Dubai 2021.

6... Be7!? 

6... e5 is the main move, but Gukesh sticks to exploring lesser played lines throughout the match!

 7. d3!? 

White wants to keep his flexibility. 7. exd4 Nxd4 8. Nxd4 Qxd4 9. d3 O-O 10. Nc3 e5 11. Be3 Qd8 This is a better version for Black than in the game as the exchange of knights favour Black.

 7... dxe3 

Gukesh was playing this quickly, evidently still in his preparation, but in a way, it loses flexibility. 

7... O-O!?  This invites White to exchange on d4 after which Black exchanges off his knight on c6. This seems desirable from a positional point of view. There is a game from 2019 between Rapport and Ni Hua, both of whom are Ding's second in this match!

8. Bxe3 e5 A good move, controlling the center and opening the diagonal for the c8-bishop.

 8... Ng4 9. d4 Nxe3 10. fxe3 O-O 11. Nc3 is very forcing and Black would choose such an idea only when he has prepared it.

 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Re1!  

Ding had already taken almost 40 minutes by this moment after he was surprised by Gukesh. But he has kept control over the position.

10. d4 exd4 11. Nxd4 Nxd4 12. Qxd4 c6 does not suit Ding's situation

10... h6  

This is the first time Gukesh started to think about the position. He played this after 15 minutes of thought. Anish suggested that perhaps Gukesh could not recall his preparation exactly and played a natural move. But the more Peter Leko and Anish were analysing the position, the more they liked white. Black's moves were harder to think of than White's

 Magnus opined that a forcing move such as 10... Ng4 is what one would expect if the position has been prepared deeply. 11. Bd2! was an idea seen in a correspondence game Qxd3 12. h3 Nf6 13. Nd5! Bd6 14. Nxf6+ gxf6 15. Bf1 Qf5 16. Nh4 Qe6 17. Bd3 Ne7 18. Qh5 Ng6 19. Nf5 Rd8 20. Rad1 Bf8 21. Bc2 Qc6 22. b3 Bxf5 23. Bxf5 Qa6 24. Bb1 1-0 Koch,H (2321)-Shubin,V (2096) VW-Cup6 Gr05 email ICCF email 2013

The natural move is 10... Bf5 to hit at the weak backward pawn on d3. 11. Qb3! But this is the response known from a King's Indian structure and going for active counterplay is White's idea.

 11. a3!? 

White threatens b2-b4 to force Black to play a7-a5 and invites him to weaken the b5-square.

11.... a5 Gukesh decides to prevent b2-b4. A logical decision, but this creates some weaknesses on the queenside.

11... Ng4 12. Bc1 Bc5 13. Ne4 does not Black get anywhere

11... Re8 12. b4 Bf8 was an option but not an easy choice as White can drive Black's knight on c6 away to awkward squares. 

 12. h3!

The Rook pawn moves on either side of the board takes away squares from Black's minor pieces and especially the knights!

 12. d4 exd4 13. Nxd4 Nxd4 14. Qxd4 c6 15. Qxd8 Bxd8 Ding felt Black can manage this

 15... Rxd8 16. Bxh6!

12... Be6

 12... Bf5 13. d4! exd4 14. Nxd4 Nxd4 15. Qxd4 

White's active pieces create some trouble for black.

13. Kh2!

An excellent prophylactic move which Vishy rated quite highly. This move in the spirit of Karpov shows how difficult it is for Black to find normal developing moves, whereas White has several moves of improvement. Anish described an important point, which he recognized quite early. Black's pieces have reached their peak, and it can only go downward from there, but same is not the case with white. He has lot of ideas which improve his pieces and coordination. Jonathon Rowson in his wonderful book Chess for Zebras discusses the concept of potential as outlined by the legendary Romanian Grandmaster Suba. Suba talks about the opposing forces of Initiative and Potential. Let us say one side has his pieces placed in best positions, and things can only go downhill from there, whereas the other side has not peaked as regards his piece positions. He has several plans to improve his pieces. In practical terms this is a big advantage. This illustrates the concept of potential (to improve). This game shows that White's potential is huge, and this gave a huge practical advantage to Ding, even though objectively his advantage may not be all that great. Perhaps the position right out of the opening was not evaluated well by team Gukesh, or maybe he mixed up something, we will not know for sure.

13... Rb8?! 

Black protects the pawn on b7 to perhaps Nd4. But the a5 pawn loses some support.

 13... Re8!? Black has a choice to keep placing the pieces in the center. Re8, Bf8, Qd7, Rad8 etc.

 13... Qd7 !? is also a way to begin. Lev Psakhis gave a very good advice- "Boy when you do not know what to do- centralize!"

 14. Qc2 Re8 

Gukesh hesitates and refrains from following up with the idea of his previous move.

 14... Nd4 15. Bxd4 exd4 16. Nb5 c5 (16... Bc5 17. Re5 Nd7 18. Rh5! was a line that Leko and Giri were analyzing, showing the dangers that lurk in black's position!) 17. Re2!? White is surely better but perhaps this was a better choice for Black, relatively.

 17. Rxe6 fxe6 18. Qe2 was suggested by Hikaru as not being an easy way out for black!

15. Nb5! 

Now Black's Nd4 idea is not be possible anymore.

15....Bf5 16. Rad1 Nd7?!

 Black seemingly goes for an active plan, but once again the other choice was to simply put his pieces on safe squares.

 16... Bf8 17. Qc3 Qc8 to move the queen away from the d-file, when White is better, but the situation still seems to be manageable.

 17. Qd2! 

Removing the queen from the pin and preparing d3-d4.

17... Bg6?! 

Black once again hesitates from going forward with his plan.

17... Nc5 18. d4! Nd3 19. d5 Nxe1 20. Qxe1 Nd4 21. Nfxd4 exd4 22. Nxd4 Bg6 23. Qxa5 

This was seen by both players and Gukesh was visibly depressed about playing this position. White has surely more than enough compensation. White has two pawns and mobile centre and great minor pieces. Nevertheless, this is black's best chance to fight. Not going for this, makes his job of defence altogether insurmountable. 23....Bg5!? 

 18. d4! e4 

18... exd4 19. Bf4 As Gukesh admitted he missed this.

19. Ng1! 

An English opening player would love this retreat and the position. White's position is an excellent show of coordination. His pawns are mobile, Black's pieces lack coordination and Black's e4 and a5 pawn can turn out to be weak.

19.... Nb6 

The Alekhine defence like knights are pretty badly coordinated.

 20. Qc3!? Bf6 21. Qc2 

Ding keeps playing simple moves and Black is not even able to pose him any threats.

21... a4 22. Ne2 Bg5?

This was supposed to be the final mistake after which black becomes hopeless.

 22... Na5 is a better chance, though he would not be able to save the game in the long run 23. c5 Nbc4 24. Nf4 Bh7 25. Bf1 Nxe3 26. fxe3 with a big advantage for White.

 23. Nf4 Bxf4 

23... Bh7 24. c5 Bxf4 25. cxb6! is another move perhaps Gukesh missed, but the position is bad, and hence the tactics favor white. Bd6 26. bxc7 Bxc7 27. Nxc7 Qxc7 28. d5 +-

 24. Bxf4 Rc8 25. Qc3!

The position is a picture of complete domination. White has the bishop pair, mobile central pawns, and all of his pieces are better than his counterparts!

25.... Nb8 26. d5!? 

The positional domination is enough for the win! As Ding admitted he missed 26. Na7 

26... Qd7 27. d6! c5 28. Nc7 Rf8 29. Bxe4 Nc6

 29... Bxe4 30. Rxe4 Nc6 31. Bxh6! 

30. Bg2 Rcd8 31. Nd5 Nxd5 32. cxd5 Nb8 33. Qxc5 Rc8 34. Qd4 Na6 35. Re7 Qb5 36. d7 Rc4 37. Qe3 Rc2 38. Bd6 f6 39. Rxg7+! 1-0

One of Ding's best efforts in the past two years! 

Ding hits back immediately and has the momentum with him with just two more games to go. The match is very much open with everything to play for for both the sides. Who will be able to impose their style of play in the remaining two games? Will we have a play off, and whether Gukesh should actively avoid the play off? All these questions remain, and all results seem open. We can say we have reached a fighting endgame with respect to the match!

Games discussed in this blog