Another Day in Winter

丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) – Dommaraju Gukesh
World Chess Championship 2024; match game 8; Sentosa, December 4, 2024
English Opening A21

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Bb4 3. Nd5 Be7 4. Nf3 d6 5. g3 c6 6. Nxe7 Nxe7 7. Bg2 f6 8. 0-0 Be6 9. b3 d5 10. Ba3 0-0 11. Rc1 a5 12. Ne1 Re8 13. f4 exf4 14. Rxf4 dxc4 15. bxc4 Ng6 16. Re4 Na6 17. Nc2 Qc7 18. Nd4 Bf7 19. d3 Ne5 20. Nf3 Nd7 21. Rxe8+ Rxe8 22. Rb1? (⌓ 22. Bb2)

22. ... b5! 23. cxb5 Qb6+ 24. Kf1 cxb5 25. Bb2 Bxa2 26. Bd4

26. ... Nac5? The wrong Knight. “This 26. ... Ndc5 just looked weird to me”, Gukesh said afterwards. “So I was mainly considering 26. ... Nac5 and I thought what I did in the game, must be winning. I guess with the Knight on d7, he always has some tricks with Bg2-h3. I need to watch out for the unpleasant pin. I just didn’t realize that 26. ... Ndc5 was strong. It was also based on the fact that I missed 28. Qe1. 28. ... Nac5 29. Rc1 Bb3 I thought 30. Qd2 b4 is just winning for me but I missed 28. Qe1, because of 28. ... Nxd3 29. Qc3... It was very impressive that my opponent found this Qd1-e1 so quickly, a great defence by him”.
27. Rc1 Bb3

28. Qe1 Be6 29. Qf2 Rc8 30. Be3 Rc7 31. Nd4 Bf7 32. Nc6 Rxc6 33. Bxc6 Qxc6 34. Bxc5 h6 35. Ke1 b4 36. Qd4 Ne5 37. Kd2 Qg2 38. Qf2 Qd5 39. Qd4 Qg2 40. Qf2 Qd5 41. Qd4 Qa2+ 42. Rc2 Qe6 43. Qd8+ Kh7 44. Qxa5 b3 45. Rc1 Qd5 46. Qb4 Qg2 47. Qe4+ Qxe4 48. dxe4 b2 49. Rb1 Ba2 50. Rxb2 Nc4+ 51. Kc3 Nxb2 ½–½.

丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén)’s faith may be summed up thus: no pain, no gain. Photo: Eng Chin An.