Easter egg

Vincent Keymer – 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén)

Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge; Final for 7th Place; match game 1; time control: 90 minutes per 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game plus 30 seconds per move starting on move 41; Wangels, February 15, 2024

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Position #949

In the most minor Final for 7th Place, the concluding act of a drama is going on, in a German castle, with FIDE World Champion 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) who is desperately struggling not to finish last. It is now clear that his illness must have been serious to have kept him away from the scenes for eight months and, perhaps, the simple fact of being here, alive amid the living, must be considered his greatest achievement. Fischer’s chess proved too hard of a bargain for an insomniac still asleep in the nightmares of his sabbatical, but his resurrection is already scheduled at Easter, when he will join his fellow colleagues at the 7th GRENKE Chess Classic in Karlsruhe, Germany, from March 26 to April 1, 2024.

1. d4 g6 2. Nf3 f5. 2. ... d6 3. e4 e5 was seen in Caruana – Carlsen — same place, same room, same hour.
3. e4 fxe4 4. Rxe4

4. ... d5?! This is positionally dubious, if not wrong, as it weakens both the e-file and the e7-Pawn. Therefore, it seems better to advance the Pawn only one square (... d7-d6), as in the game mentioned above.
5. Re1 Ne6 6. c3 c5?! And this is too unrealistic to be believed.
7. dxc5 Nxc5 8. Bf4+ Bc7 9. Bxc7+ Kxc7

10. Ne3 Bf5+ 11. Nxf5 gxf5 12. Bc2. White already stands much better.
13. ... Qf6 13. 0-0-0 Rad8 14. Nd4 e6

15. f3! Nh6? Heading for nowhere.
16. Qg1 b6?! This aggravates decisively the situation, but even 16. ... Kb8 17. Nxf5 Nxf5 18. Qxc5 would cost Black much.
17. b4 Nd7 18. Qe3 e5 (18. ... Kd6 19. c4!+−)
19. Nb5+ Kb8 (19. ... Kc6 20. Bb3+−)
20. Rxd5 Nf7 21. Red1 Nf8 22. Rxd8+ Rxd8 23. Rxd8+ Nxd8 24. Qd3 a6 25. Qd6+ 1–0.

Now 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) is almost at the end of his journey through the desert. Photo: Maria Alekseevna Emelianova/chess.com.