One More Day

Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov – 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén)
8th Chess World Cup; match game 3; Khanty-Mansiysk, October 2, 2019
Spanish Game C89

Not unsurprisingly, Caïssa wrought the miracle of “Saving Private Radjabov”, and with him the bettors, too. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 0-0 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d3 Bd6 13. Re1 Bf5 14. Qf3 Qh4 15. g3 Qh3 16. Be3. Varying from 16. Nd2 Rae8 17. Ne4 Bg4 18. Qg2 Qxg2+ 19. Kxg2 f5 20. h3 Bh5 21. Bf4 Bxf4 22. gxf4 fxe4 23. dxe4 Bf3+ 24. Kxf3 Rxf4+ 25. Kg3 Rfxe4 with a draw agreed soon after, Radjabov – 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén), 8th Chess World Cup, Khanty-Mansiysk 2019, match game 1. 16. ... Bxd3 17. Nd2 Qf5 18. Bd4 Rfd8 19. a4 h6 20. h4 Rac8 21. Qxf5!? Radjabov’s novelty in place of 21. axb5 axb5 22. Bxd5 cxd5 23. Qxf5 [or 23. Ra5 Qxf3 24. Nxf3 Re8 25. b4 f6 26. Ra6 Bf8 27. Ra7 Ra8 28. Rxe8 Rxe8 29. h5 Be2 30. Kg2 Bd6 31. Rd7 Re6 32. Bc5 Be5 33. Bd4 Bd6 34. Bc5 Be5 35. Bd4 Bd6 ½ : ½ Karjakin – 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén), 7th Sinquefield Cup, Saint Louis 2019] 23. ... Bxf5 24. Ra5 b4 25. Rxd5 Be6 26. Ra5 bxc3 27. Bxc3 Rb8 28. Nf1 Bb4 29. Raa1 Bc5 30. Ne3 Rd3 31. Red1 Rbd8 32. Rxd3 Rxd3 33. Rd1 Rxd1+ 34. Nxd1 Bb3 35. Ne3 Bxe3 36. fxe3 Kf8 37. Kf2 ½ : ½ So – 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén), Candidates Tournament, Berlin 2018. 21. ... Bxf5 22. Ne4 Bf8. After the game, Radjabov recommended here 22. ... c5!? with a likely draw, but the text is probably all right too. 23. Nc5 Nb4!? An acrobatic defence. 24. Re5 g6 25. axb5 cxb5

26. Ne6!? A spectacular petite combinaison, even if of no use. 26. ... Bxe6. Clearly not 26. ... fxe6?? on account of 27. Rxf5! gxf5 28. Bxe6+ Kh7 29. Bxf5+ Kg8 30. Bxc8 Rxc8 31. cxb4 with a won ending for White. 27. Rxe6 fxe6 28. Bxe6+ Kh7 29. Bxc8 Rxc8!? This seems like a very strange decision by 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén), as after 29. ... Nc2 30. Rc1 Nxd4 31. cxd4 Rxd4 32. Bxa6 Rb4 the Rook and opposite-coloured Bishop ending should be easily drawable. 30. cxb4 Rc4 31. Bf6! Bg7 32. Be7 Rc6. 32. ... Bxb2 33. Rxa6 Bc3 34. Rb6 Bxb4 35. Bf6!⩲↑ leaves White with the initiative, but hardly any winning chances. 33. Ra2 Kg8 34. Bc5 Kf7? 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén)’s possibly last mistake. Exchanging Bishops with 34. ... Bf8(!) would have brought Black very near to a draw. 35. Kg2 Ke6 36. b3! h5 37. Kf3 Kf5 38. Rd2 Be5 39. Rd5 Ke6? A little tougher was 39. ... Kf6 in order to reply to 40. Ke4 with 40. ... Re6 — but 40. Rd3 is good enough to “retain the win”. 40. Ke4 Bf6 41. f4! Bc3 42. f5+ Kf7 43. Rd7+ Kg8 44. Bd6! gxf5+ 45. Kxf5 Bg7 46. Kg5 1 : 0.

Even today Radjabov did his best to “draw by force”, perhaps sensing that 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) needed just one more day on stage. Photo: FIDE World Cup 2019.