| twinlark: Great play by Bu...he made Ding look like a patzer although to be fair it was a diabolical opening. Who'd have thought that a Reti could be so difficult? As far as I can glean from going through this game, Black made a fatal strategic choice when he allowed his d-pawn to become a liability by trying too hard to simplify. Perhaps someone can correct me, but it seems to me that a central isolani on an open file needs to be a dynamic feature of a position that can be readily advanced. Once it becomes vulnerable to attack, then the jig is up. After <12. dxe5>:
click for larger viewI get the impression Black is too anxious to simplify or maybe doesn't want to tolerate White's DSB on the long raking diagonal, and so recaptures with <12...Bxe5>, which seems to be the start of his troubles, and he just lurches from crisis to crisis after this, drifting into a lost position by about move 16 when the fate of his isolani is sealed and he has to relinquish it without compensation and in a bad position. If he recaptures with the Knight:<12. Nxe5>: 
click for larger viewWhite can station his DSB at the d4 outpost with <13. Bd4>, and then bring the queen knight to bear on the isolani, but after <13...Qe7 14. Nc3> Black has <14...Rad8> indirectly protecting the isolani and his position seems to be fine: 
click for larger view(<15. Bxd5? Bb4 16. e4 Bxc3 17. Bxc3 Nxe4> and Black's grinning. It gets much worse for White if he tries to snatch a pawn with <15. Bxa7??> because of <15...Nxf3+ 16. Qxf3 Qe5> winning the Knight on c3. If he tries to stave off the mate and save his c3 Knight with <17. Rfc1> then <17...Nxe4> nails him and wins either the Knight or the Bishop on a7.) In the game, after <12...Bxe5 13. Nc3>: 
click for larger viewit looks like the isolani is an instant problem child for Black with all sorts of inconvenient pins motiffs surfacing through the d-file, the h1-a8 diagonal and the a1-h8 diagonal (if the pawn dreams of advancing). | 
