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丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) – Alexander Igorevich Grischuk
8th Chess World Cup; match game 2; Khanty-Mansiysk, September 24, 2019
English Opening A20

One can say that there is too much gambling in the Chess World Cup 2019 when two of the four semifinalists have been determined by tie-breaks (rather than a fan vote), but as you know the Temple of Caïssa is not a moral institution. All jokes aside, the “Fantastic Four” of the “Marvel Cup” are, namely (in alphabetical order): 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén), Teimour Radjabov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and 余泱漪 (Yú Yāngyī). 1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 Bc5 4. d3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Nc3 Nb6 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. 0-0 0-0 9. a3 a5 10. Na4 Nxa4 11. Qxa4 Nd4 12. Nxd4 Bxd4 13. Bd2 c6 14. e3 Bb6 15. Bc3 Re8 16. Rfd1 Bd7 17. Rac1 h6 18. h3 Rb8 19. Rd2 Bc7 20. d4! Grischuk burned too much time as usual, and 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) pretty soon enjoyed a pleasant, if slight, edge. 20. ... c5 21. Qc2 exd4 22. exd4 c4 23. a4 Bd6 24. Rdd1 b6 25. Re1 Rxe1+ 26. Rxe1 Qc7 27. h4 Re8 28. Bd5 Rxe1+. Contrarily to what Grischuk seems to think, Black is not automatically simplifying to a draw, but instead he is imperceptibly slipping into a somewhat more uncomfortable position. Here 28. ... Rd8(!) followed by ... Bd6-f8 seems a very robust defence. 29. Bxe1

Now, however, the time hands crack down on Black’s shoulder: 29. ... Be6? Thus Black maintains material equality, but the price of it is too high. Probably best was 29. ... Qc8 30. Bxc4 Qe8 31. Bd2 Bxa4 32. Qg6 Qd7 (less convincing is 32. ... Qe7? on account of 33. Bxh6 Qe1+ 34. Kg2 Bc6+ 35. f3 Qxg3+ 36. Qxg3 Bxg3 37. Kxg3 gxh6 38. Kf4 Kf8 39. d5 Be8 40. Ke5 with a nearly won ending) 33. Bxh6 Bf8 34. Be3 with a complex game where White’s extra Pawn is not very easily exploitable. 30. Bxe6 fxe6 31. Qe4! There are too many weaknesses in Black’s field for Grischuk to resist long. 31. ... Kf7. Now 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) concludes energetically: 32. Bc3 (Δ d4-d5) 32. ... Bf8 33. d5! Qd6 34. dxe6+ Qxe6 35. Qb7+ Kg8 36. Bd4 Qf5 37. Kh2 Qc2 38. Qd5+ Kh7 39. Qf7 Qd3 40. Bc3 Qd6 41. Qxc4 Qg6 42. Bd4 1 : 0. Grischuk is not in the mood to suffer further losses as the b6-Pawn will soon fall.

It took only the two classical games for 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén), who is also the top seed of the World Cup, to go through to the semifinal. Photo: FIDE World Cup 2019.