A Roll of the Dice

丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) – Dommaraju Gukesh
World Chess Championship 2024; match game 10; Sentosa, December 7, 2024
Queen’s Gambit Declined D37

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 c5 5. Be2 Bd6 6. dxc5 Bxc5 7. c4 0-0 8. 0-0 Nc6 9. Nc3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nh5 11. Bg5 Be7 12. Ne4 Nf6

13. Nxf6+. 13. Bxf6 should not make too much difference if handled correctly, which was not the case in the only game featured in the online databases: 13. ... Bxf6 (13. ... Qxd1) 14. Qc2 Be7 15. Rfd1 Qa5 16. a3 Rd8 17. Rxd8+ Qxd8 18. Rd1 Qc7 19. Neg5 g6 20. Qd3 Ne5 21. Nxe5 Qxe5 22. h4 Qxb2 23. Qe4 Qf6 24. a4 Qf5 25. Qd4 b6 26. g4 Qc5 27. Qf4 Bxg5 28. hxg5 Qf8? (28. ... Qe7) 29. Qc7+− Qc5 30. Rd8+ Kg7 31. Qf4 f5 32. gxf6+ Kf7 33. Rh8 1–0 Melkumyan – Šarić, 20th OIBM Open, Bad Wiessee 2016.
13. ... Bxf6 14. Qxd8. After the exchange of Queens the endgame stands more or less equal.
14. ... Rxd8 15. Bxf6 gxf6 16. Rfd1 Bd7 17. Rac1 Be8 18. Rxd8 Rxd8 19. Kf1 Kg7 20. a3 f5 21. Ke1 Kf6 22. Be2 Ne7 23. g3 Rc8 24. Rxc8 Nxc8 25. Nd2 Nd6 26. Nc4 Nxc4 27. Bxc4 Bc6 28. f4 b6 29. Kd2 Ke7 30. Kc3 Kd6 31. b4 f6 32. Kd4 h6 33. Bb3 Bb7 34. Bc4 Bc6 35. Bb3 Bb7 36. Bc4 Bc6 ½–½.

Another dull draw (the seventh straight one), but, with only four games left, “There’s no so much room to make mistakes, every lose will result in very bad situation”, 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) said. “We need to be careful with every move”. Photo: Eng Chin An.