Lonely Are the Brave

Wesley So – 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén)
7th Chess World Cup; tie-break game 1 (25+10); Tbilisi, September 21, 2017
2r5/4k1pp/p3pp2/P7/3PP3/N1rb1PP1/1Rp2K1P/2R5 w - - 3 36

Position after 35. ... Rc7-c3

In the other semifinal tie-break, 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) beat Wesley So in the superrapid games (10+10), and maybe the result could be regarded as a surprise, even if not by me. So in fact played lazily all the tie-break games as if he didn’t care too much about it. On the other hand, 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) showed significant progress in his play, thanks to a more flexible approach to his goals. Wesley’s nightmare is well illustrated by the position of the diagram, which immortalizes the first rapid tie-break game. White finds himself in a deadly Zugzwang and he can no longer move anything, and yet 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) will succeed in his impossible mission of not winning. After such a disaster, he could well have collapsed in the second rapid tie-break game, but he was clever enough to offer his opponent a draw after only nine moves, taking all the time necessary to recover his strength and serenity. 36. Ra2 f5 37. e5 g5 38. Ke1 f4 39. Kd2 Bf5 40. gxf4 gxf4 41. Nxc2 R8c4 (41. ... Rxf3 42. Nb4 Rg8−+) 42. Rb2 Rxf3 (42. ... Kf7 would have kept White short of moves: 43. Kd1 Kg6−+) 43. Rb7+ Ke8 44. Nb4 Rxd4+ 45. Ke2 Re3+ 46. Kf1 Be4 47. Rg7! (Houdini’s escape!) 47. ... Kf8 48. Ra7 Rd8 49. Nxa6 Bd3+ 50. Kg1 Rxe5 51. Rd1 Rxa5 52. Nc7 Rxa7 53. Nxe6+ Ke7 54. Nxd8 Bb5 55. Rb1 Bd7 56. Nb7 Ra2 57. Nc5 Bc6 58. Nd3 Rg2+ 59. Kf1 f3 60. Rb6 Bd5 61. Rb4 Rxh2 62. Ne1 Ke6 63. Rf4 Rh1+ 64. Kf2 Rh2+ 65. Kg3 Re2 66. Nxf3 Re3 67. Kf2 Rxf3+ 68. Rxf3 Ke5 ½ : ½.