Chess C’ship: Gukesh, Ding Liren’s epic duel continues

IMAGE: D Gukesh and Ding Liren fought to another draw. Photograph: Kind Courtesy Chin An/FIDE

Indian challenger D Gukesh yet again proved equal to the task with defending champion Ding Liren of China as the 10th game of the World Chess Championship match between them ended in a draw without much excitement in Singapore on Saturday.

It was by far the easiest of the game with black pieces for Gukesh as the position played itself out of a London system game wherein Ding Liren took no risks and was also apparently happy with the drawn result.

The seventh consecutive draw — and eighth of the match — left both players on an identical tally of 5 points each, still shy of 2.5 points in order to win the championship.
The two players signed peace after 36 moves.

Just four more classical games are left to be played in the USD 2.5 million prize money championship and if a tied result happens after 14 rounds, there will be games under faster time control to determine the winner.

The 32-year-old Liren had won the opening game while the 18-year-old Gukesh had emerged victorious in the third game.

Liren continued with his London system in the opening and came with a slight change early that left the pawn structure symmetrical. The tactic might have worked on another day but Gukesh for once decided not to press hard as black out of an equal position.

Gukesh, the younger ever challenger, had his task cut out and he passed all the tests with flying colours.

Before the start of the 10th game, Liren had three white games against Gukesh’s three but now it’s a level playing field with just four more games to go.

For Gukesh, the hardest decision was to go for a completely equal position on move 11 and even though the position had occurred a few times before in Grandmaster games, it did not look like either the Indian or Liren was aware of what had happened in those games.

It did not take long for the world to decide when Liren went for a series of exchanges, including the queen, that the game was heading towards a draw.

However, as per the contract, both players were still obliged to play 40 moves before agreeing to split the point.

Gukesh offered a trade of the last remaining rook on board on move 23 and Liren had to exchange it. A few moves later, the Knights were off the board too leading to a pure Bishops endgame with neither side having anything to play for.

Liren could probably have had the upper hand only from a psychological point of view as his Bishop and King were superior around the center, but with black having no weaknesses to hit upon, the result was a foregone conclusion.

While the time on the clock has been a critical factor right through, with Liren under pressure on most occasions, it was not a case in game 10 as both players had over 35 minutes to complete the last four moves when the draw was agreed.

With just four games to go, all eyes will be on Gukesh to call the shots in the next game.

For Liren, the plan has worked so far and it can be safely said that Gukesh has been matched move-for-move despite many world class player believing it will be a one-sided contest.

The Moves:

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 e6 4.e3 c5 5.Be2 Bd6 6.dxc5 Bxc5 7.c4 0–0 8.0–0 Nc6 9.Nc3 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Nh5 11.Bg5 Be7 12.Ne4 Nf6 13.Nxf6+ Bxf6 14.Qxd8 Rxd8 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.Rfd1 Bd7 17.Rac1 Be8 18.Rxd8 Rxd8 19.Kf1 Kg7 20.a3 f5 21.Ke1 Kf6 22.Be2 Ne7 23.g3 Rc8 24.Rxc8 Nxc8 25.Nd2 Nd6 26.Nc4 Nxc4 27.Bxc4 Bc6 28.f4 b6 29.Kd2 Ke7 30.Kc3 Kd6 31.b4 f6 32.Kd4 h6 33.Bb3 Bb7 34.Bc4 Bc6 35.Bb3 Bb7 36.Bc4 Bc6. Game drawn.