GM Ding Liren kills the Slav defence...

[Javier]

 

Yeap, that's a 2 points difference over the second player!

GM Ding Liren has won the Championship of China thanks, in part, to a 100% score (3/3) against the Slav defence!

There goes the reputation of what used to be a solid defence!

Liren played some rather solid and technical chess in this event, not losing a single game throughout the event.

I was going to annotate one of those 3 victories against the Slav, but frankly, they're a little bit boring!

Here's a more interesting victory by the Champion.

 

[Event "ch-CHN 2011"]

[site "Xinghua Jiangsu CHN"]

[Date "2011.04.09"]

[Round "10"]

[White "Xiu Deshun"]

[black "Ding Liren"]

[Result "0-1"]

[ECO "E84"]

[WhiteElo "2508"]

[blackElo "2637"]

[PlyCount "56"]

[EventDate "2011.03.30"]

 

[pgn]1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 Nc6 7. Qd2 a6 8. Nge2

Rb8 9. h4 {9.Rb1 and 9.a3 are solid alternatives.} h5 10. Nd5 b5 11. O-O-O bxc4

12. Nxf6+ exf6 {Black will now attack the center by means of ...f5. This is

all well known.} 13. Nf4 f5 14. Bxc4 Ne7 {Hard to call this an improvement, as

a previous game had also concluded favourably for black after 14...fxe4.} (

14... fxe4 15. fxe4 Re8 16. Rhf1 Rxe4 17. Bd5 Rxd4 18. Bxd4 Nxd4 19. Nxh5 gxh5

20. Bxf7+ Kh8 21. Rde1 Bd7 22. b3 Nf5 23. Qd1 Qxh4 24. g4 Qf6 25. Qd2 Bh6 {0-1

Hynes,K (2245)-Stull,N (2225) Manila 1992}) 15. Bb3 c6 16. Kb1 a5 {White is

yet to create his first threat against black. There is obviously something

very wrong with what white has played in this game...} 17. e5 {Black plays

very accurately now.} Rb5 18. Bc4 Rb4 19. b3 d5 20. Be2 c5 {Now Liren does not

let the initiative slip out of his hands...} 21. dxc5 Qc7 22. Bd4 Rxd4 {

Thematic.} 23. Qxd4 Bxe5 24. Nxd5 Nxd5 25. Qxd5 Be6 {The 2 black bishops are 2

daggers.} 26. Qd2 Qxc5 27. Rc1 Qb6 28. Bc4 Rd8 {White resigned. ...Qd4 is next.

} 0-1[/pgn]