Ding Liren vs Vladimir Kramnik, A13, English Opening, Agincourt Defense
2018 Chess Candidates Tournament, Round 13, Berlin, Germany, 03/26/18
Ding Liren didn’t manage to win his crucial encounter of the Candidates Tournament! Before round 13 he was at 6.5 points, and if he wanted to stand a chance at 1st place he just had to win since Caruana and Karjakin were half a point ahead of him with 7/12. With only two rounds to go this would have given him great practical chances and create a four-way fight for who will get to challenge Magnus.
He played Kramnik in a very theoretical Agincourt English and didn’t have much from the opening, perhaps he even lost his opening advantage. And Vladimir was definitely in top form and he played magnificently! First he pushed Ding back on the kingside with the aggressive g5, f5 and g4, which put Ding on the defensive, after which Kramnik found a great tactical move which won two pieces for the rook. He had a very dominant position but the Chinese genius found a way to trade queens which Vlad didn’t try to stop and the game soon entered its final phase and ended in a draw by repetition.
The game transposed into a Maróczy bind Sicilian of some sort, and it actually resembled the Kramnik variation of the Sicilian, hence Kramnik must have known what he was doing, which might have been what gave him the edge in the position. The Kramnik variation of the Sicilian occurs after the moves:
1.e4 c5
2. Nf3 e6
3. c4 (setting up a Maróczy bind, meant to prevent black from pushing d5 by cementing the pawns on e4 and c4)
Standings after round 13:
Fabiano Caruana 8/13
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 7.5/13
Sergey Karjakin 7.5/13
Ding Liren 7/13
Alexander Grischuk 6.5/13
Vladimir Kramnik 6/13
Wesley So 5.5/13
Levon Aronian 4/13
*English Opening starts with the move 1.c4 by white. It’s very versatile and it often transposes into d4 openings. The Agincourt defense is characterized by black replying to c4 with 1…e6.