Cut and Thrust

Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi – 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén)
World Chess Championship 2023; match game 5; Astana, April 15, 2023
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. c3 0-0 9. h3 Bb7 10. a4 Na5 11. Ba2 c5 12. Bg5!? Walking in his own shoes. In the “stem game”, things went slightly different: 12. Na3 Qd7 13. Bg5 bxa4 14. Nh4 Rab8? (14. ... h6 15. Bxf6 Bxf6 16. Nf5 Kh7 is nothing special for White) 15. Nf5 Bd8 16. f4! with a powerful initiative, Firouzja – Giri, Champions Chess Tour 2022, 6th stage, FTX Crypto Cup, chess24.com, August 17, 2022, Armageddon game (time control: 5 minutes for White, 4 minutes for Black).
12. ... h6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. axb5 axb5 15. Nbd2 Nc6 16. Bd5 Rxa1 17. Qxa1 Qd7 18. Re1. Nepomniachtchi blitzed out all his moves so far, just to send a signal that nothing is improvised.
18. ... Ra8 19. Qd1 Bd8 20. Nf1 Ne7 21. Bxb7 Qxb7 22. Ne3 Bb6

23. h4 Qc6 24. h5 c4 25. d4 exd4. Not 25. ... Qxe4?? because of 26. Nxc4 winning at least a Pawn with much the better game.
26. Nxd4 Qc5 27. Qg4 Qe5 28. Nf3 Qe6 29. Nf5 Nxf5. This was not necessary (though not wrong either). Yet 29. ... Qf6 at once seems simpler.
30. exf5 Qf6. Possibly more accurate was 30. ... Qd7! 31. Qf4 (30. Qe4 d5) 31. ... Bd8 with a solid defence.
31. Qe4 Rb8 32. Re2 Bc5

33. g4! Qd8. “I feel 丁 (Dīng) lost the thread with ... Qf6-d8. The position still looked tenable if he sacrificed a Pawn with ... b5-b4, even if he had to recapture sub-optimally with the Bishop to avoid back rank problems. But he simply had to activate his Rook”, Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson tweeted.
34. Qd5 Kf8 35. Kf1 Rc8? But this, and only this, seems to be the losing move! Right was 35. ... Qc8! in order to reply to 36. f6!? with 36. ... gxf6! (36. ... Qb7?? 37. Qxb7 Rxb7 38. Re8+! Kxe8 39. fxg7+−) 37. Qe4 Kg8 38. Nh4 Qb7 forcing the exchange of Queens and getting rid of White’s attack.
36. Re4! Preparing for the breakthrough.
36. ... Rb8

37. g5! hxg5? Straight into the shark’s mouth, but 37. ... Qd7 is only apparently more stubborn, because after 38. gxh6 gxh6 39. f6! Qh3+ (39. ... Qb7 40. Qf5+−) 40. Ke2 Qg2 41. Re7 Qxf2+ 42. Kd1 Qf1+ 43. Kc2 Qd3+ 44. Qxd3 cxd3+ 45. Kxd3 the ending is easily won for White (despite material equality).
38. Rg4 Ra8. Alas for Black 38. ... f6 would be refuted by 39. Nh4! (Δ Nh4-g6+) 39. ... gxh4? 40. h6! with mating attack.
39. Nxg5 Ra1+ 40. Ke2 Qe7+ 41. Ne4 Qe8 42. Kf3 Qa8 43. Qxa8+ Rxa8 44. f6 g6 45. hxg6 fxg6 46. Rxg6 Ra2 47. Kg4! Such can be the strength of the King!
47. ... Rxb2 48. Rh6 1 : 0.

“Probably there was a better way to defend for Black, but I felt like White was pressing”, Nepomniachtchi eventually said. “At the edge of time trouble he blundered my idea, and at this point White was almost winning”. Photo: David Llada/FIDE.