Bilbao: Ding Liren Saves R vs RB Ending After 174 Moves

[Sean Evans]

Analysis by Peter Doggers

The third round of the Bilbao Masters Final saw two more draws. In one of them, Ding Liren saved a R vs RB endgame against Anish Giri in a game that lasted 174 moves.

With two draws the standings didn't change in the third round in Bilbao, but there certainly was no lack of fighting spirit, at least one one of the boards!
Ding Liren and Anish Giri played no fewer than 174 moves before splitting the point, while the game could have ended much earlier. In a Fianchetto Grünfeld, Giri expected 27.Nf3 when “in three moves we would have shaken hands,” as the Dutchman told Chess.com. (The next hurdle would have been the Sofia Rule.)

Ding's 27.Rxa6?! was followed by a number of tactical blows by Giri, who quickly won a healthy pawn.

Right after the time control Ding could have gone for the R vs RB endgame, a known theoretical draw, but he decided to avoid it. This second mistake should have been punished; between moves 45 and 48 Giri missed two not-so-easy wins.

After yet another practical mistake by the Chinese GM (Ding missed a chance to trade one pair of rooks), Giri got the chance to play RRB vs RR and tried for almost 50 moves.

“Somewhere there was a win,” said Giri. “But playing on increment it was like a blind squirrel trying to find a nut,” as Giri quoted his compatriot Loek van Wely.

He traded rooks just before Ding could have claimed a draw (which was pure luck, as Giri wasn't aware!), then tried to win RB vs R for more than 50 before the game was finally drawn!

[pgn][Event "Bilbao Chess Masters"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2015.10.28"]
[Round "?.1"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2782"]
[BlackElo "2798"]
[Plycount "343"]
[Eventdate "2015.??.??"]
[Whiteteam "China"]
[Blackteam "Netherlands"]
[Whiteteamcountry "CHN"]
[Blackteamcountry "NED"]
[Whiteclock "0:00:53"]
[Blackclock "0:02:36"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 c6 4.Bg2 d5 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.O-O O-O 7.Qb3 Qb6 8.Nc3 Rd8 9.Na4 ( 9.h3 h6 10.c5 Qxb3 11.axb3 Na6 12.Bf4 Ne8 13.Rfd1 g5 14.Bc1 Bf5 15.Ne1 e5 16.e3 Nec7 17.g4 Bh7 18.Ra3 Ne6 { Akopian,V (2648)-Radjabov,T
(2738) Berlin 2015 } ) 9...Qxb3 10.axb3 Na6 11.Bf4 Ne8 ( 11...Bf5 12.Nc3 h6 13.Rfc1 g5 14.Be5 Ne4 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.Ra4 Nf6 17.e3 e6 18.Nd2 Nd7 { Kovalenko,I (2700)-Borisek,J (2565) Berlin 2015 } ) 12.Nc3 Nac7 13.Ra5 Be6 14.Ra4 a6 15.Rfa1 h6 16.h4 Nd6 17.e3 Rac8 18.Nd2 f6 19.Ra5 dxc4 20.Bxd6 exd6 21.bxc4 f5 22.R5a4 c5 23.Ne2 Rb8 24.b4!? b5!? 25.cxb5 Nxb5 26.bxc5 dxc5 27.Rxa6?! ( { More solid was } 27.Nf3 { e.g. } 27...cxd4 28.Nfxd4 Nxd4 29.Nxd4 Bf7 30.h5!? ) 27...cxd4! { Perhaps missed or otherwise underestimated by Ding. } 28.Nxd4 ( { The point was of course } 28.Rxe6 dxe3 { and besides the knight on
d2, Ra1 also hangs. Still, this might have been the best chance for White: } 29.Rxg6 exd2 30.Rd1 ) 28...Nxd4 29.exd4 Bxd4 30.Rf1 Bb6! { Another excellent
move. Now if the white knight moves, Black has Bc4 winning the exchange. } 31.Re1 { What else? } 31...Bxf2+! 32.Kxf2 Rxd2+ 33.Kg1 Bf7 { The tactics are over and
Black is a pawn up. It's hard to say whether this is a technical win or not. } 34.Ra3 Rbb2 35.Bf3 g5 36.hxg5 hxg5 37.Rae3 g4 38.Be2 Bd5 ( 38...Kg7!? ) 39.Bf1 Rh2 40.R1e2 Rh1+ 41.Kf2 Rb1 42.Re1 Rb4 43.Re7 f4!? 44.Rc1 ( { Ding
avoids the endgame after } 44.gxf4 Rxf4+ 45.Kg3 Rfxf1 46.Rxf1 Rxf1 47.Kxg4 { but eventually he will have to defend it anyway. } ) 44...Rb2+ 45.Ke1 Rb8 ( { Here Black had a study-like win with } 45...Kf8! 46.Rd7 Bf7! 47.gxf4 Be8! 48.Rd8 Ke7 { followed by 49...Bb5. } ) 46.gxf4 Bg2 47.Kf2 Bxf1 48.f5 Kf8? { Forgetting about White's next. } ( { Giri had actually seen the winning move } 48...Bg2! { but thought it wouldn't be easy to convert. } ) 49.Ree1! { Now
it's a draw. } 49...Rb2+ 50.Kg3 Rh3+ 51.Kxg4 Rb4+ 52.Kg5 Rg3+ 53.Kf6 Bc4 54.Rcd1 Bd3 55.Rc1 Bc4 56.Rcd1 Rb8 57.Rd7 Bb3 58.Ree7 Rc3 59.Rd6 Kg8 60.Rg7+ Kh8 61.Rg5 Rh3 62.Ke5 Bg8 63.Kf6 Rh6+ 64.Rg6 Rh5 65.Ke5 Rb5+ 66.Kf4?! { This
allows black to win the pawn and play on with all rooks on the board. } ( 66.Ke4! Rhxf5 67.Rd8 { forces a trade of rooks. } ) 66...Rhxf5+ { The first counting
for the 50-move rule starts here. } 67.Kg4 Rf1 68.Rh6+ Kg7 69.Rdg6+ Kf7 70.Rb6 Re5 71.Rhc6 Re7 72.Rc3 Kg7 73.Rbc6 Be6+ 74.Kg3 Bd7 75.Rd6 Be8 76.Rf3 Rfe1 77.Rd2 Bc6 78.Rc3 Rg1+ 79.Kh2 Rh1+ 80.Kg3 Rh6 81.Rd4 Re2 82.Rg4+ Kf7 83.Rcc4 Rg2+ 84.Kf4 Rf6+ 85.Ke5 Re6+ 86.Kf5 Rge2 87.Rgf4 Rg6 88.Rcd4 Re7 89.Rh4 Bd7+ 90.Kf4 Rf6+ 91.Kg3 Re3+ 92.Kh2 Re2+ 93.Kg3 Re3+ 94.Kh2 Bf5 95.Kg2 Kg6 96.Kf2 Rc3 97.Rhf4 Rc2+ 98.Kg3 Re6 99.Rd8 Ree2 100.Rg8+ Kh7 101.Rd8 Be6 102.Rdd4 Kg6 103.Rfe4 Rg2+ 104.Kf4 Rgf2+ 105.Ke5 Bf5 106.Re3 Ra2 107.Rd6+ Kg5 108.Rg3+ Bg4 109.Rd4 Ra5+ 110.Kd6 Ra6+ 111.Kc5 Rf5+ 112.Kb4 Rb6+ 113.Kc4 Rc6+ 114.Kb4 Rf4 115.Rxf4 Kxf4 { And the second counting
for the 50-move rule starts here! } 116.Rc3 Rg6 117.Rc4+ Ke5 118.Rc5+ Kd6 119.Rc4 Be6 120.Rd4+ Bd5 121.Kc3 Ke5 122.Rd3 Rc6+ 123.Kd2 Be4 124.Rc3 Rh6 125.Ke2 Rf6 126.Ke3 Rf8 127.Ke2 Kd4 128.Ra3 Bc2 129.Rh3 Rg8 130.Kf3 Be4+ 131.Kf4 Rf8+ 132.Kg5 Ke5 133.Rg3 Bf3 134.Kh4 Ke4 135.Rg7 Rf5 136.Kg3 Ke3 137.Rg8 Rh5 138.Rg7 Be4 139.Rg8 Rh1 140.Rg5 Rf1 141.Kg4 Bf3+ 142.Kf5 Kd4 143.Ke6 Rh1 144.Rg6 Be4 145.Rf6 Rh8 146.Kd6 Ra8 147.Ke7 Ra5 148.Rd6+ Bd5 149.Kf6 Ra7 150.Kf5 Re7 151.Rf6 Re1 152.Kg5 Be6 153.Kf4 Re3 154.Rf8 Bd5 155.Rf6 Re1 156.Kf5 Re5+ 157.Kf4 Be6 158.Kf3 Re3+ 159.Kf4 Re4+ 160.Kf3 Bg4+ 161.Kg3 Ke3 162.Rg6 Bf3 163.Rg5 Ra4 164.Re5+ Be4 165.Kg4 Ra1 166.Rg5 Rf1 167.Kh4 Bf5 168.Rg3+ Kf4 169.Rg4+ Ke5 170.Rg3 Kf6 171.Ra3 Rg1 172.Ra4
1/2-1/2[/pgn]