The Chessbase Web site (www.chessbase.com) has announced the results of their poll on the 2017 Player of the Year, Female Player of the Year, Game of the Year, Endgame of the Year and Move of the Year. The Chessbase editors came up with a list of nominees and this was voted on by their members. You can go to the website to look at the results, or you can just read about the results year, as usual with my ten cents’ worth inserted.
For the GAME OF THE YEAR, I do not think there was ever much doubt that Ding Liren would win it for his queen+rook sacrifice against Bai Jinshi. The polling results show this as the second-placer, Aronian’s victory over Carlsen in Norway, scored less than half of Ding’s winning score.
Aronian, Levon (2793) — Carlsen, Magnus (2832) [D45]
Norway Chess 5th (4), 10.06.2017
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 a6 6.b3 Bb4 7.Bd2 Nbd7 8.Bd3 0–0 9.0–0 Qe7 10.Bc2 Rd8 11.a3 Bxa3 12.Rxa3 Qxa3 13.c5 b6 14.b4 Ne4 15.Nxe4 dxe4 16.Bxe4 Rb8 17.Bxh7+ Kxh7 18.Ng5+ Kg8 19.Qh5 Nf6 20.Qxf7+ Kh8 21.Qc7 Bd7 22.Nf7+ Kh7 23.Nxd8 Rc8 24.Qxb6 Nd5 25.Qa7 Rxd8 26.e4 Qd3 27.exd5 Qxd2 28.Qc7 Qg5 29.dxc6 Bc8 30.h3 Qd5 31.Rd1 e5 32.Rd3 exd4 33.Qe7 Bf5 34.Rg3 Bg6 35.Qh4+
1–0
Wesley So vs Jeffery Xiong was also nominated (I wrote about this the other week) but finished 7th in the voting.
Here is Ding’s game. I had previously annotated this but will give it again with some additional comments. It was played in the Chinese League match between Hangzhou (this city, located between Shanghai and Ningbo, has the 4th largest metropolitan area in China. It is home to the IT company Alibaba and will host the 2022 Asian Games) and Zhejiang (this is the province to the south of Shanghai — Hangzhou city is part of Zhejiang).
Ding Liren personally annotated this game in New in Chess Magazine (2017, issue #8) and I have inserted some of his observations in the game below. Their Web site is www.newinchess.com. You should consider purchasing a subscription to that magazine. You won’t regret it — my idea of spending an enjoyable afternoon is going to the nearest Starbucks with the latest issue of their eight times a year magazine.
By the way, Ding’s opponent in the game, GM Bai Jinshi, 18 years old, is one of the fast rising stars in the Chinese horizon, known for his fighting stance and opening preparation. One day he will be in the forefront of the Chinese chess juggernaut, but on this occasion Ding Liren tells him “not yet.”
Bai, Jinshi (2553) — Ding, Liren (2774) [E21]
TCh-CHN 2017 China CHN (18.4), 04.11.2017
The Golden State Warriors have figured into the NBA World Championship Finals the last three years and won twice. Before the finals, of course, is an 82–game basketball season that takes each team several times across the country.
The Warriors always have a more difficult time than the other teams when navigating the 82 games, as being the defending world champions, their opponents always bring their “A” game — they carefully study videos of the previous Golden State games, pinpoint weaknesses, map out strategies to counter the Warriors’ known plays, etc. etc.
When Ding Liren surprised the chess world by qualifying for the FIDE World Cup Finals last September he virtually painted a target sign on his head — everybody now wants to take him down and get bragging rights of defeating a World Cup Finalist. This is one such attempt. Bai Jinshi prepared something special for Ding, but this was refuted over the board.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 0–0 5.Bg5 c5 6.e3 cxd4 7.Qxd4
This is a rare move obviously prepared for the occasion.
7…Nc6 8.Qd3 h6 9.Bh4 d5 10.Rd1 g5 11.Bg3 Ne4
Very tricky, with …Qa5 as a follow-up. White cannot take the d5–pawn because of 12.cxd5 exd5 13.Qxd5 Nxc3.
12.Nd2!
White has some tricks of his own. Usually Black will be following up 11…Ne4 with 12…f5, but if he plays it now White will counter with 13.cxd5 exd5 14.Ndxe4 and now Black cannot play 14…dxe4 because of 15.Qc4+.
12…Nc5 13.Qc2
In his notes to the game in “New in Chess” Ding remarks that Bai was still playing very quickly showing that he was still in his preparation.
13…d4 14.Nf3
[14.exd4 Nxd4 15.Qb1 e5 16.Bd3 f5 White’s king position is looking dangerous]
14…e5
Ding: Now he (Bai) thought deeply for about 25 or 30 minutes, but I had also spent quite some time already.
15.Nxe5
[15.Bxe5 was also possible, and after 15…Nxe5 16.Nxe5 Ding points out that he would have played 16…Re8 and gives a lot of mind-bending variations stretching up to the 34th move showing that ultimately, if both players give their best, it will be a draw. We won’t go into that — let us keep our mind in the game]
15…dxc3!
Ding: Taking the knight and sacrificing my queen. When I decided to sac the queen I didn’t see everything, of course, but I did see 18…Na4 and I realized that Black should be better.”
16.Rxd8 cxb2+ 17.Ke2?
It looks like Black’s best continuation is 17.Rd2 Rd8 18.Nf3 Bg4 the most probably ending now is 19.Qxb2 Bxf3 20.gxf3 Rxd2 21.Qxd2 Bxd2+ 22.Kxd2 Rd8+ with equal chances.
17…Rxd8 18.Qxb2 Na4!
White probably expected 18…Rd2+ 19.Qxd2 Bxd2 20.Nxc6 Bc3 21.Ne7+ Kg7 22.Nd5 when White is better.
19.Qc2 Nc3+ 20.Kf3
No choice. If 20.Ke1 Nb1+ 21.Ke2 Rd2+ the queen is gone.
POSITION AFTER 20.KF3
How does Black continue the attack?
20…Rd4!!
With the idea of 21…g4+ 22.Nxg4 Bxg4 mate.
21.h3
He can’t take the rook: 21.exd4 Nxd4+ 22.Ke3 Nxc2+ and it is now Black who is material up.
21…h5 22.Bh2 g4+ 23.Kg3
And now, with his King out of the knight’s forking range, White really is threatening the rook.
23…Rd2!
Nope! The White King is not yet out of the knight’s forking range. If 24.Qxd2 Ne4+ the queen still goes.
24.Qb3 Ne4+ 25.Kh4
[25.Kf4 Rxf2+ 26.Nf3 (26.Kxe4 Bf5+ 27.Kd5 Rd8+ and mate) 26…gxf3 27.gxf3 Nd2 attacking b3 and f3]
25…Be7+ 26.Kxh5 Kg7 27.Bf4 Bf5 28.Bh6+ Kh7 29.Qxb7 Rxf2
Intending Ng3 checkmate.
30.Bg5 Rh8! 31.Nxf7 Bg6+ 32.Kxg4
Another great finish would have been 32.Kh4 Kg8+! 33.Nxh8 Bxg5+ 34.Kxg4 Ne5#
32…Ne5+! 0–1
The finish will be 32…Ne5+ 33.Nxe5 (33.Kh4 Kg8+! 34.Nxh8 Bxg5#) 33…Bf5+ 34.Kh5 Kg7+ (this is why Black had to check on e5, to get White’s f7 knight out of the way so it can’t block on h6. 35.Bh6+ Rxh6#
Ding Liren says that this is his most beautiful game ever. Interestingly enough he goes further to say that for him, the most beautiful game ever is still the famous Kasparov vs Topalov game — Kasparov had to take crucial decisions on practically every turn after his sacrifice, whereas in Ding’s game it was only 18…Na4 and 20…Rd4.
Just for the sake of completely here is the Kasparov game.
Kasparov, Garry (2812) — Topalov, Veselin (2700) [B07]
Hoogovens Wijk aan Zee (4), 20.01.1999
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 c6 6.f3 b5 7.Nge2 Nbd7 8.Bh6 Bxh6 9.Qxh6 Bb7 10.a3! e5 11.0–0–0 Qe7 12.Kb1 a6 13.Nc1! 0–0–0 14.Nb3 exd4 15.Rxd4 c5 16.Rd1 Nb6 17.g3 Kb8 18.Na5 Ba8 19.Bh3 d5 20.Qf4+ Ka7 21.Rhe1 d4 22.Nd5! Nbxd5
[22…Nfxd5? leaves his f-pawn vulnerable: 23.exd5 Qd6 24.Qxf7+]
23.exd5 Qd6 24.Rxd4! cxd4 25.Re7+!! Kb6
[25…Qxe7? 26.Qxd4+ White mates]
26.Qxd4+ Kxa5
[26…Qc5 27.Qxf6+ Qd6 28.Be6!! Bxd5 29.b4 and now if 29…Bxe6 30.Rb7#]
27.b4+ Ka4 28.Qc3 Qxd5 29.Ra7 Bb7 30.Rxb7 Qc4 31.Qxf6 Kxa3 32.Qxa6+ Kxb4 33.c3+! Kxc3 34.Qa1+ Kd2
[34…Kb4 35.Qb2+ Ka5 (35…Qb3 36.Rxb5+) 36.Qa3+ Qa4 37.Ra7+]
35.Qb2+ Kd1
[35…Ke3? 36.Re7+]
36.Bf1! Rd2 37.Rd7!
[Breathtaking.]
37…Rxd7 38.Bxc4 bxc4 39.Qxh8 Rd3 40.Qa8 c3 41.Qa4+ Ke1 42.f4 f5 43.Kc1 Rd2 44.Qa7 1–0
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
