GM Ding Liren convincingly won the Shenzhen Longgang Chess Masters in Shenzhen, China. The 24-year-old grandmaster from Wenzhou finished a full point ahead of GMs Anish Giri and Peter Svidler, who finished their tournament on "plus one."

We're picking up the tournament after round six, when Ding was already in the lead, with four points. Giri was half a point behind, and Svidler had just gotten back to a 50% score.

The main characters drew in round seven: Ding vs Giri, and Svidler with GM Yu Yangyi. GM Pentala Harikrishna continued his topsy-turvy tournament with a win against GM Michael Adams, who would end his tournament on a disappointing 3.5/10.

This game might have been a crucial one for the Englishman, as in, playing a normal tournament or starting a bad one from this point. He won a pawn out of the opening and then later an exchange, only to spoil things horribly before the time control.

Adams wasn't having his day, and eventually not his tournament.| Photo Chinese Chess Association.

Rounds eight and nine saw all draws. One should be embedded here, even though it was a relatively short one. The Zaitsev System is still one of the most interesting lines in the Closed Ruy Lopez, and has such a rich history, including many games between GMs Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov.

In the final round Ding increased his lead to a full point. Runner-up Giri drew with Yu, while the tournament winner won his black game against Harikrishna. The latter drew only half of his games.

Ding won 14.4 Elo points and moved from world #13 to #11 in the live ratings. | Photo Chinese Chess Association.



Svidler finished his first half on minus one, but then scored plus two in the second half. He beat Adams as Black in the final round from a Caro-Kann.

Deviating from his usual Grünfeld wasn't successful earlier in the tournament, but the change from his normal 1...e5 went rather well:

The Shenzhen Masters was a six-player, double round robin held in Shenzhen, Guangdong in southeast China. The total prize fund was $90,000; Ding Liren cashed $20,000.

Shenzhen Longgang Chess Masters | Final Standings

# Fed Name Rtg Perf 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pts SB 1 Ding,Liren 2759 2863 ½½ 1½ ½1 ½1 ½½ 6.5/10 2 Giri,Anish 2769 2788 ½½ ½½ ½½ 1½ ½½ 5.5/10 26.75 3 Svidler,Peter 2741 2794 0½ ½½ ½½ ½1 ½1 5.5/10 25.25 4 Yu,Yangyi 2750 2723 ½0 ½½ ½½ ½½ ½½ 4.5/10 22.25 5 Harikrishna,Pentala 2758 2722 ½0 0½ ½0 ½½ 11 4.5/10 20.25 6 Adams,Michael 2761 2648 ½½ ½½ ½0 ½½ 00 3.5/10

Games from TWIC.

Played a friendly match after #shenzhenmasters event, and guess who is my team mate! pic.twitter.com/BMxGhJ8ZUA — Harikrishna ( @HariChess ) April 2, 2017

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