Singapore: Young Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh on Sunday took a giant step towards the World Chess Championship title by defeating defending champion Ding Liren in the 11th game, taking a 6-5 lead in the contest after a spate of draws.
With just three games to go, Gukesh now has a crucial lead in the 14-round classical format match.
History is now on Gukesh’s side as no challenger in modern chess has ever scored a win after being tied 5-5 after the 10th game.
Ding took more than 38 minutes for his fourth move (Nf6). Gukesh’s fifth move, moving his pawn to a3, was a completely new novelty – and it was the first time this series of moves was made in top-level chess.
It forced Ding into another long think, as he took 22 minutes for his fifth move, and thus had already spent an hour on his moves, while Gukesh had spent 32 seconds on his. However, things took a wild swing on move 11, as Gukesh spent the longest time on a single move in the entirety of this World Championship so far, using up 60 minutes and 17 seconds.
The players were facing time pressure as the game went on, and a couple of inaccuracies from Ding coupled with Gukesh making some sound moves meant that the Indian had an advantage around move 21. However, Gukesh eschewed the chance to press home the advantage, allowing Ding to castle himself back into an equal position.
However, Ding had used up plenty of time and then a blunder on move 26, followed up by another catastrophic one on move 28, moving his queen to c8. Gukesh moved in for the kill by capturing the knight at c6 with his queen, and Ding knew immediately he was in a losing position, and thereby shook hands with Gukesh and resigned. The result meant the arena erupted in chants of ‘Gukesh, Gukesh!’ as he took the lead with only three games left for Ding to strike back.
Ding, who was visibly affected by the result, and left the press conference early, was harsh on himself, especially the time spent early on, saying “The 40 minutes went nowhere to calculate some nonsense variations.”
Gukesh himself spoke about his hour-long think, saying “I spent so much time on this stupid plan – I thought I was in trouble. Until I played Nc2 I didn’t realise I was in a position to win. It was almost like a blitz game.”
Speaking about the opening, Gukesh said “This line is very double-edged and we thought we would out-prepare him. My team did a great job. I was happy when I saw him think and I was well prepared. Later, I don’t know what I was thinking, to be honest. I knew I was calculating a lot of lines. I was basically just making moves, and quickly it went out of control for him.”
As for the win, Gukesh noted his fortune, saying “Obviously, this is a very, very important win. We were going head-to-head – last seven games were all draws. This game could have easily gone the other way as well. Very important win, but still three more games to go.”
“Coming into the match, I was trying my best to focus on the process. That is the only way you can get the result you want – the approach is still the same. I’m going to try my best to play good chess in the remaining rounds. That should get me the results I want.”
He also remarked on the loud cheers from the fans after the game, saying “It means a lot to me. Indian fans are the best – I’m grateful for the support. All these little things give me extra energy.”
