Wednesday 21 April 2021

The big escape

 Having been caught by some very deep Fabiano Caruana preparation yesterday, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave looked to be on track for a second loss in two days, this time against Ding Liren. Ding had a big advantage in the middlegame, and if he had played 36.Rxb6 it wasn't clear how MVL could have saved the game. Instead Ding chose a plan the involved pushing his passed d pawn, which turned out not to work. Despite attempts to exploit MVL's exposed king, Ding wasn't able to find anything more than a draw. This missed opportunity leaves Ding at the tail of the field, while MVL stays in touch with the leaders.


Ding,Liren (2791) - Vachier-Lagrave,Maxime (2758) [E60]
FIDE Candidates Tournament chess24.com (9.4), 20.04.2021


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