IMAGE: D Gukesh looks in the zone. Photographs: Kind Courtesy Maria Emelianova and Chin An/FIDE
Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh clinched his first win over defending champion Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship, outplaying the Chinese on time control in the third round to draw level on points in Singapore on Wednesday.
Having lost the first game rather badly with black pieces, Gukesh struck gold thanks to his preparation that gave him a huge advantage on the clock as Liren spent a lot of time mulling his moves in the first phase of the game.
Both players now have 1.5 points each after the second game ended in a draw on Tuesday.
“It feels great. The last two days I was happy with my play. My play today was even better, I feel good at the board and today I just managed to outplay my opponent which is always nice,” Gukesh, who played with white today, said in the post-game press conference.
By move 13th, the 18-year-old from Chennai had a lead of one hour on the clock as he had spent just four minutes compared to Liren’s one hour and six minutes.
With 40 moves to make in the first 120 allotted minutes without any increment, the complicated middle game had the desired impact on Liren and Gukesh was relentless in finding out some difficult yet perfect moves to increase the pressure.
The players followed a much less-played variation in the topical Queen’s Gambit declined and Gukesh followed an idea played by former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in a rapid game against highest rated Indian Arjun Erigaisi.
While that game had ended in a draw after Erigaisi survived a real scare, Gukesh delved deeper in the position and capitalised on some unforced errors by Liren.
The 32-year-old Liren had his light square Bishop under the scanner after the Queens were traded early leading to a queen-less middle game. With imaginative manoeuvres, Gukesh trapped the bishop parting with just two pawns in the process.
If Liren thought there was still counter-play, Gukesh disagreed completely as he put his pieces around the centre to keep his position intact and gave no chances whatsoever in the resulting position.
Adding to the Chinese’ woes was the clock as he barely had two minutes to make the last nine moves. Gukesh was at the top of his game and went for some tactical complications threatening to trap the black king or to win more material.
Liren fell further on the clock and was just left with less than 10 seconds for the last six moves.
It was a hopeless situation when Liren ran out of time after 37 moves giving Gukesh his first victory in the showpiece.
Gukesh is aiming to become the first Indian after Viswanthan Anand to claim the coveted crown. Anand won the world championship five times in his glorious career and has been a mentor to Gukesh.
Thursday will be the first rest day of the event.
The moves game 3: D Gukesh vs Ding Liren
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 c6 6.Qc2 g6 7.h3 Bf5 8.Qb3 Qb6 9.g4 Qxb3 10.axb3 Bc2 11.Bf4 h5 12.Rg1 hxg4 13.hxg4 Nbd7 14.Nd2 Rg8 15.g5 Nh5 16.Bh2 Rh8 17.f3 Ng7 18.Bg3 Rh5 19.e4 dxe4 20.fxe4 Ne6 21.Rc1 Nxd4 22.Bf2 Bg7 23.Ne2 Nxb3 24.Rxc2 Nxd2 25.Kxd2 Ne5 26.Nd4 Rd8 27.Ke2 Rh2 28.Bg2 a6 29.b3 Rd7 30.Rcc1 Ke7 31.Rcd1 Ke8 32.Bg3 Rh5 33.Nf3 Nxf3 34.Kxf3 Bd4 35.Rh1 Rxg5 36.Bh3 f5 37.Bf4 Rh5 black lost on time.
Check out how the players were feeling during the game:
