Convincing Win For Ding Liren In Shenzhen
GM Ding Liren convincingly won the Shenzhen Longgang Chess Masters in Shenzhen, China. The 24-year-old grandmaster from Wenzhou finished a full point ahead of GMs Anish Giri and Peter Svidler, who finished their tournament on "plus one."
We're picking up the tournament after round six, when Ding was already in the lead, with four points. Giri was half a point behind, and Svidler had just gotten back to a 50% score.
The main characters drew in round seven: Ding vs Giri, and Svidler with GM Yu Yangyi. GM Pentala Harikrishna continued his topsy-turvy tournament with a win against GM Michael Adams, who would end his tournament on a disappointing 3.5/10.
This game might have been a crucial one for the Englishman, as in, playing a normal tournament or starting a bad one from this point. He won a pawn out of the opening and then later an exchange, only to spoil things horribly before the time control.
Adams wasn't having his day, and eventually not his tournament.| Photo Chinese Chess Association.
Rounds eight and nine saw all draws. One should be embedded here, even though it was a relatively short one. The Zaitsev System is still one of the most interesting lines in the Closed Ruy Lopez, and has such a rich history, including many games between GMs Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov.
In the final round Ding increased his lead to a full point. Runner-up Giri drew with Yu, while the tournament winner won his black game against Harikrishna. The latter drew only half of his games.
Ding won 14.4 Elo points and moved from world #13 to #11 in the live ratings. | Photo Chinese Chess Association.
Svidler finished his first half on minus one, but then scored plus two in the second half. He beat Adams as Black in the final round from a Caro-Kann.
Deviating from his usual Grünfeld wasn't successful earlier in the tournament, but the change from his normal 1...e5 went rather well:
The Shenzhen Masters was a six-player, double round robin held in Shenzhen, Guangdong in southeast China. The total prize fund was $90,000; Ding Liren cashed $20,000.
Shenzhen Longgang Chess Masters | Final Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pts | SB |
| 1 | Ding,Liren | 2759 | 2863 | ½½ | 1½ | ½1 | ½1 | ½½ | 6.5/10 | |||
| 2 | Giri,Anish | 2769 | 2788 | ½½ | ½½ | ½½ | 1½ | ½½ | 5.5/10 | 26.75 | ||
| 3 | Svidler,Peter | 2741 | 2794 | 0½ | ½½ | ½½ | ½1 | ½1 | 5.5/10 | 25.25 | ||
| 4 | Yu,Yangyi | 2750 | 2723 | ½0 | ½½ | ½½ | ½½ | ½½ | 4.5/10 | 22.25 | ||
| 5 | Harikrishna,Pentala | 2758 | 2722 | ½0 | 0½ | ½0 | ½½ | 11 | 4.5/10 | 20.25 | ||
| 6 | Adams,Michael | 2761 | 2648 | ½½ | ½½ | ½0 | ½½ | 00 | 3.5/10 |
Games from TWIC.
Played a friendly match after #shenzhenmasters event, and guess who is my team mate! pic.twitter.com/BMxGhJ8ZUA
— Harikrishna (@HariChess) April 2, 2017
Previous reports:
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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