DING vs SVIDLER – EUROPEAN CLUB CUP 2018 ROUND 4

Nothing seems to be going right for Svidler here. This was a third consecutive loss to a player who is now close to 90 games without a loss.

This game is from round 4 of the 2018 European Club Cup. It is between Liren Ding with White against Peter Svidler with Black.

This game features a Kings Indian Defence. To learn more about the Kings Indian Defence, here is the best instruction book I could find on Amazon.

Ding,Liren (2804) - Svidler,Peter (2756)

34th European Club Cup 2018 Halkidiki (4), 15.10.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 Nc6 4.d5 Ne5 5.e4 d6 E60: King's Indian: Unusual lines and Fianchetto Variation without Nc3

XABCDEFGHY
8r+lwqkvl-tr(
7zppzp-zpp+p'
6-+-zp-snp+&
5+-+Psn-+-%
4-+P+P+-+$
3+-+-+P+-#
2PzP-+-+PzP"
1tRNvLQmKLsNR!
xabcdefghy

6.Nc3 [6.Ne2 Bg7 7.Nec3 c6 8.Be3 cxd5 9.cxd5 0–0 10.Be2 Re8 11.0–0 e6 12.f4 Ned7 13.dxe6 Rxe6 14.Nd2 Nxe4 15.Ndxe4 Bxc3 16.bxc3 Rxe4 17.Bd4 Re8 18.Bd3 Nc5 19.f5 Qg5 20.h4 Qxh4 Laznicka,V (2594)-Navara,D (2656)/Carlsbad 2007/CBM 120/½–½ (57)] 

6...c6N Covers b5 [6...Bg7 7.Be3 (7.f4 Ned7 8.Nf3 0–0 9.Bd3 c6 10.0–0 Qb6+ 11.Kh1 Nc5 12.h3 Qa6 13.g4 cxd5 14.exd5 Nxd3 15.Qxd3 e6 16.Rd1 b6 17.dxe6 fxe6 18.Kh2 Qb7 19.Kg3 Rd8 20.Be3 Qe7 21.Bd4 Bb7 Ward,C (2473)-Conquest,S (2555)/Scarborough 1999/CBM 071 ext/0–1) 7...0–0 8.Qd2 e6 9.0–0–0 Re8 10.Be2 a6 11.g4 b5 12.cxb5 axb5 13.Bxb5 Bd7 14.Be2 exd5 15.exd5 Qb8 16.Nh3 Nexg4 17.fxg4 Ne4 18.Nxe4 Rxe4 19.b3 Qe8 20.Bd3 Rxe3 21.Rde1 Swapnil,S (2209)-Aswin,J (2322)/Atul 2006/CBM 115 ext/0–1 (34)] 

7.f4 White threatens to win material: f4xe5 

7...Ned7 8.Nh3 Black has a cramped position. Black's piece can't move: c8 

8...Nc5 Black threatens to win material: Nc5xe4 

9.Nf2 Bg7 10.Be2 0–0 11.Be3 cxd5 12.cxd5 Qa5 Black has a cramped position 

13.0–0 Bd7 14.e5 White threatens to win material: e5xf6 

14...Ne8 15.Qd4 Na4 16.Nxa4 Qxa4 17.Rac1 Qa5 Black has a cramped position 

18.Ne4 

XABCDEFGHY
8r+-+ntrk+(
7zpp+lzppvlp'
6-+-zp-+p+&
5wq-+PzP-+-%
4-+-wQNzP-+$
3+-+-vL-+-#
2PzP-+L+PzP"
1+-tR-+RmK-!
xabcdefghy

18...Bb5 [18...Qxa2? leads to nothing 19.Ra1 Qb3 20.Bd1+-] 

19.Bxb5 Qxb5 20.b3 dxe5 21.fxe5 Black has a cramped position. Black's piece can't move: e8 

21...Nd6 

XABCDEFGHY
8r+-+-trk+(
7zpp+-zppvlp'
6-+-sn-+p+&
5+q+PzP-+-%
4-+-wQN+-+$
3+P+-vL-+-#
2P+-+-+PzP"
1+-tR-+RmK-!
xabcdefghy

22.Bf4 White has an active position 

22...Rac8 23.Nc3 [Worse is 23.Nxd6 exd6 24.Rce1 Rfe8³] 

23...Qa5 24.Qd3 Nf5 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+r+-trk+(
7zpp+-zppvlp'
6-+-+-+p+&
5wq-+PzPn+-%
4-+-+-vL-+$
3+PsNQ+-+-#
2P+-+-+PzP"
1+-tR-+RmK-!
xabcdefghy

25.g4 White threatens to win material: g4xf5 

25...Qb6+? [¹25...Nh4!?= has some apparent merit] 

26.Kh1± Qd4 27.Qe4 Qxe4+ 28.Nxe4 Nd4 29.Rcd1 Ne2 30.Bg5 f6 31.exf6 exf6 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+r+-trk+(
7zpp+-+-vlp'
6-+-+-zpp+&
5+-+P+-vL-%
4-+-+N+P+$
3+P+-+-+-#
2P+-+n+-zP"
1+-+R+R+K!
xabcdefghy

32.Nxf6+ [32.Bxf6!? Bxf6 33.Nxf6+ Kg7+-] 

32...Bxf6± 33.Bxf6 Nc3 34.Rd4 Rcd8 35.Bxd8 Rxf1+ 36.Kg2 Rf7 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+-vL-+k+(
7zpp+-+r+p'
6-+-+-+p+&
5+-+P+-+-%
4-+-tR-+P+$
3+Psn-+-+-#
2P+-+-+KzP"
1+-+-+-+-!
xabcdefghy

37.d6 [37.Ba5!? Ne2 38.Rd2 Nf4+ 39.Kg3+-] 

37...Rd7± 38.Bg5 Nxa2 39.Bd2 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+-+-+k+(
7zpp+r+-+p'
6-+-zP-+p+&
5+-+-+-+-%
4-+-tR-+P+$
3+P+-+-+-#
2n+-vL-+KzP"
1+-+-+-+-!
xabcdefghy

39...b5? [¹39...a5!?±] 

40.b4+- Kf7 41.Rd3 1–0