Ding Liren’s woes mount with shaky showing at Norway Chess tournament

The Ding Dilemma deepens.

Chinese world champion GM Ding Liren, suffering from a combination of ill health, inactivity and an inexplicable collapse of confidence at the board, came to the 12th Norway Chess tournament now underway in Stavanger with a modest goal: “not to finish in last place.”

That may have been too ambitious.

Through Sunday’s sixth round of the six-player, double-round robin affair, Ding has a measly 2.5 points, with four losses and two draws at classical time controls. Ding, who must somehow find his form if he is to defend his title by the end of the year against rising Indian teen superstar GM Dommemaru Gukesh, has tumbled to 13th in the world rankings and, perhaps worse, has become an object of pity and concern for some of his elite peers.

“He just seems to be off,” former world champ Magnus Carlsen told reporters in Stavanger. “You can see it both from his demeanor, but also from the way that he often makes critical decisions quickly. He doesn’t think when he needs to think, and just generally plays without any confidence. I wish him well, I hope he gets better, but for now, it’s just sad to see.”

American GM Hikaru Nakamura, who like Carlsen has beaten Ding in this event, added, “It’s very awkward, actually. I’ve played Ding many times over the years, but he definitely doesn’t seem like the same person.”

A new low may have come in Ding’s Round 6 classical game with Carlsen. The Norwegian ex-champ, still likely the best player on the planet with a ratings to match, had defeated the Chinese star in Round 1 in an armageddon playoff blitz game after their classical game was drawn in 14 tepid moves.

No playoff was needed in Round 6’s Reti Opening. Ding as Black at least holds his own in the opening, with 13…b5! a nice principled response to White’s budding kingside activity. But there’s an odd drift to the champ’s play after 21. Rae1 Bxe4!? Qd7 22. a4 Kh8 and it’s hard to see any real edge for White) 22. Qxe4 Bd6 23. Kh1 Qc5 24. Bg3 Rd8 25. Qe2 Nd7?! — Black has made no attempt to build on his queenside demonstration while Carlsen methodically builds up on the kingside.

But it’s still very much a game until Ding makes a shocking oversight: 27. Bd5+ Kh8 28. Qh5!? (Rg1 was more to the point here) Qf8? (another retreat when the logical 28…Rb2! all but begs to be played; e.g. 29 Bxd4 Qxd4 30. Re4 Qxe4+ 31. dxe4 Rxh2+ 32. Qxh2 Bxh2 33. Kxh2 Ne5 and Black has nothing to fear) 29. Re4 (see diagram), “threatening” a queen sacrifice that Class D players learn in their first book of elementary combinations.

Astonishingly, it works here: 29…Rb2?? (simply 29…h6 30. Bxd4 Bxd4 31. Rxcd4 Ne5 32. Qh3 Rb2 halts the White attack and gives Black real compensation for the pawn) 30. Qxh7+ (not even rating a single exclamation point since the motif is so familiar), and Black instantly resigned because, of course, 30…Kxh7 31. Rh4 is mate.

Carlsen has a 1-point lead over Nakamura with four rounds to go, while in the concurrent Norway Chess women’s tournament, Chinese women’s world champ Ju Wenjun and Ukrainian GM Anna Muzychuk share a half-point lead over Indian GM Vaishali Rameshbabu.

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A much more stirring fight helped decide last month’s 11th Cherry Blossom Classic, held at the Washington Dulles Airport Marriott. GM Karen Grigoryan of Armenia and GM Titas Stremavicius of Lithuania justified their top seeds by tying for first in the Open section at 7-2.

But Argentinian IM Facundo Pierrot gave Grigoryan all he could handle in a seesaw Round 9 Nimzo-Indian battle that did credit to both players. Black’s 13. e4 a4 is a standard thrust in such positions, but — with the benefit of analyst’s 20-20 hindsight — we can say Black will come to regret letting Pierrot have an outside passer on the a-file. That becomes quickly evident after 18. Rfd1 Be6?! 19. Nc5! (losing a pawn but seizing the initiative) Rxc4 20. Nxe6 Rxc3 21. Nxd8 Rxd8 22. a4, and with the White rooks and bishops providing an escort, this pawn nearly wins the game by itself.

The pawn quickly advances to the seventh rank but Black catches a break as he rushes to prevent queening: 26. Ra6!? (26. Bh3! looks stronger, disrupting Black’s plans in lines such as 26…Ne6 27. Bxf6 gxf6 28. Rdb1 Nd4 29. Rb7 Kf8 30. Ra6 h5 [Black’s already running out of moves] 31. Rab6 Re8 32. Bd7 Red8 33. Rb8 Ke7 34. Rxa8 Rxa8 35. Rb7) 27. Be3 c5 28. Bf1 (and here again, 28. Rb1, eyeing an invasion via b7, posed bigger problems) Kf8 29. Bc4 Ke7 (Nxe4? 30. Bd5 Nc3 31. Bxa8 Nxd1 32. Bd5 and the pawn can advance) 30. f3 Rd7 31. Rad1 Rb7 — Black has finally neutralized the a-pawn threat and the battle flares anew.

The pesky pawn finally falls on 43. Bxe6 fxe6 44. Bxg7 Rxa7 45. Rxa7+ Nxa7, but Pierrot now advances his kingside pawn majority with all Black’s pieces on the other flank. With a neat blend of offense and defense, Grigoryan is just able to snatch the point.

Thus: 46…Rb4 47. Rb2?! (a fateful decision, though it’s already dicey for  White; e.g. 47. Re2 Nb5 48. g5 e5 49. h5 Nc3 50. g6 hxg6 51. h6 Nxe4+ 52. Rxe4 Rxe4 53. Kg3 Ra4 54. h7 Ra8, arriving just in time) e5! 48. Rxb4+ cxb4 49. Ke3 Nb5 50. Kd3 (Black’s b-pawn now turns out to decide the game) b3 51. h5 b2 52. Kc2 Nc3! 53. Kxb2 Nxe4 — White’s pawn majority is immobilized and the Black knight dominates Pierrot’s bishop.

Black’s king rejoins the fight with decisive effect after 55. Be7 Kd7 56. Bh4 Ke6 57. g5 (Bd8 Nf6 58. g5 Nxh5) Kf5!; White must lose another pawn and the ending is lost. Pierrot resigned.

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Carlsen-Ding, 12th Norway Chess, Stavanger, Norway, May 2024

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 c5 4. O-O e6 5. c4 d4 6. e3 Nc6 7. exd4 cxd4 8. d3 Bd6 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. Ng5 Be7 11. f4 Rb8 12. Qe2 Qc7 13. g4 b5 14. b3 bxc4 15. bxc4 Rb6 16. Nde4 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Bb7 18. f5 exf5 19. gxf5 Ne5 20. Bf4 f6 21. Rae1 Bxe4 22. Qxe4 Bd6 23. Kh1 Qc5 24. Bg3 Rd8 25. Qe2 Nd7 26. Bf2 Be5 27. Bd5+ Kh8 28. Qh5 Qf8 29. Re4 Rb2 30. Qxh7+ Black resigns.

Pierrot-Grigoryan, 11th Chess Blossom Classic, Dulles, Va., May 2024

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d6 7. Nf3 Re8 8.g3 Nc6 9. Bg2 a5 10. b3 e5 11. d5 Ne7 12. Nd2 c6 13. e4 a4 14. O-O axb3 15. Nxb3 Ra4 16. Bg5 Ng6 17. dxc6 bxc6 18. Rfd1 Be6 19. Nc5 Rxc4 20. Nxe6 Rxc3 21. Nxd8 Rxd8 22. a4 Rb3 23. a5 Rbb8 24. a6 Nf8 25. a7 Ra8 26. Ra6 Ne6 27. Be3 c5 28. Bf1 Kf8 29. Bc4 Ke7 30. f3 Rd7 31. Rda1 Rb7 32. R6a5 Nc7 33. R1a2 Rb4 34. Bf1 Nd7 35. Bd2 Rb7 36. Kf2 Kd8 37. h4 Kc8 38. f4 Rb6 39. Bh3 Ne6 40. fxe5 Nxe5 41. Bc3 Nc6 42. R5a4 Kb7 43. Bxe6 fxe6 44. Bxg7 Rxa7 45. Rxa7+ Nxa7 46. g4 Rb4 47. Rb2 e5 48. Rxb4+ cxb4 49. Ke3 Nb5 50. Kd3 b3 51. h5 b2 52. Kc2 Nc3 53. Kxb2 Nxe4 54. Bf8 Kc6 55. Be7 Kd7 56. Bh4 Ke6 57. g5 Kf5 White resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.