No fun on the wrong side of the board

Liren Ding has taken the lead in the final of the 2019 World Cup, with a nice win over Teimour Radjobov in game 2. It was a pretty dominant win for Ding, especially as he sacrificed a pawn in the opening, and did not regain it until the position was overwhelmingly in his favour. From Radjabov's point of view I suspect this wasn't an enjoyable experience, as for most of the game he had to defend, while watching Ding target Black's weaknesses and improve his position.
Of all the moves played by Ding, I particularly liked 36.Ka2. It didn't actually threaten anything immediate, but it allowed Ding to create a couple more threats, while avoiding any counterplay based on checks on the back rank. And in the end Radjabov couldn't defend everything, and with his king in a mating net, he resigned on move 40.


Ding,Liren (2811) - Radjabov,Teimour (2758) [A19]
FIDE World Cup 2019 Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (7.2), 04.10.2019

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 c5 4. e5 Ng8 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nxe5 8. Ndb5 a6 9. Nd6+ Bxd6 10. Qxd6 f6 11. Be3 Ne7 12. Bb6 Nf5 13. Qb4 Nc6 14. Qc5 Qe7 15. O-O-O d6 16. Qa3 O-O 17. g4 Nh6 18. Rg1 Nf7 19. f4 Bd7 20. h4 a5 21. g5 Kh8 22. Qb3 Rfc8 23. Kb1 e5 24. Nd5 Bf5+ 25. Ka1 Qe6 26. gxf6 gxf6 27. a3 Rab8 28. Bg2 Rg8 29. Ne3 Nd4 30. Bxd4 exd4 31. Nxf5 Qxf5 32. Bd5 Rxg1 33. Rxg1 Nh6 34. Qb6 Qd7 35. Qxd4 Qe7 36. Ka2 Nf5 37. Qc3 b6 38. h5 Re8 39. h6 Ne3 40. Re1 1-0