Midnight Clock

Magnus Carlsen – 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén)
Champions Showdown; match game 9 (20 minutes); Saint Louis, November 12, 2017
Spanish Game C84

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3 0-0 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Ba2 Be6 11. b4 Bxa2 12. Rxa2 Nc6 13. Bg5 Qd7 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Nd5 a5. For 15. ... Bd8 16. a4 Ne7 17. Ne3 Rb8 see Anand – Aronian, 7th Grand Slam Masters, Bilbao 2014. 16. c4!? An interim novelty. For 16. Nxf6+ gxf6 17. Rb2 axb4 18. axb4 f5 19. Nh4 f4 20. Nf5 Kh8 21. d4 f6 22. Qd3 Ne7 see Domínguez Pérez – Tomashevsky, Grand Prix 2014–2015, first stage, Baku 2014. 16. ... Ne7 17. Rc2 Nxd5 18. cxd5 axb4 19. axb4 Ra4 20. Qd2 Rfa8 21. Rfc1 Bd8. Maybe not best, but it’s a very human move. 22. h3 Ra1 23. Rxa1 Rxa1+ 24. Rc1 Ra4 25. d4. The break comes late, but not too late to keep “milking the cow”. 25. ... exd4. 25. ... f6, although a bit passive, would seem more solid. 26. Nxd4 Bf6 27. Nc6± Qc8? This is a gross tactical mistake, probably due to the blue mood of 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) after the disaster of the 6th game. 27. ... Qe8 was called for, after which White would have probably had to content himself with 28. Qe2 winning the b5-Pawn.

28. e5! The hurricane is here. 28. ... dxe5 29. d6! Ra8. Or 29. ... Qd7 30. Ne7+ Bxe7 31. Rxc7+− (Leitão’s analysis). 30. Ne7+ Bxe7 31. dxe7 1 : 0.