Chess World Cup 2017 Final Game 1 - Tblisi

For the final of the World Cup 2017 we had the second venue change of the tournament. The new venue the spectacular auditorium of the Biltmore Hotel in the heart of Tbilisi.

Game one of the final had Aronian with white, but he walked straight into Ding’s solid home preparation. As a result the Chinese GM had no problem at all holding the draw against one of Aronian’s preferred openings.

Aronian,Levon (2802) - Ding,Liren (2771)

FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (7.1), 23.09.2017

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.e5 Ne4 6.Nf3 [Much weaker is 6.Nxe4 dxe4 7.Qa4+ Nc6µ]

6...Bf5 A18: English Opening: Flohr-Mikenas System (1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e6 3 e4)

7.Be2 d4 [7...Be7 8.0–0 Nc6 9.d3 Nxc3 10.bxc3 0–0 11.d4 Qd7 12.Bd3 Na5 13.Re1 Nc4 14.Rb1 Bxd3 15.Qxd3 1–0 (45) Caruana,F (2808)-So,W (2812) Paris 2017]

8.Nxe4 Bxe4 9.Bc4 Bd5 10.Qb3 Bxc4 11.Qxc4 Nc6 12.0–0 Qd7 13.d3

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13...Qe6N [13...0–0–0 14.Bd2 1–0 (57) Gierth,K (2226)-Krejcir,S (2078) ICCF email 2009]

14.Qxe6+ fxe6 15.Ng5 Kd7 16.f4 Be7 17.Ne4 Raf8 18.Bd2 g5 19.g3 Rhg8 20.Kh1 gxf4 21.gxf4 Rg6 22.Rac1 Rfg8 23.a3 a5 24.Rf3 b6 25.Rh3 R8g7 26.Ng3 Nd8 27.b4 axb4 28.axb4 b5 29.Kg2 Nc6

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 The position is equal. 
30.Rb1 Rf7 31.Rh5 Rg8 32.Rh6 Bf8 33.Rh3 Be7 34.Rh6 Bf8 35.Rh3 Be7 Precision: White = 66%, Black = 75%. ½–½