Stalemate continued in the World Chess Championship as the ninth game between Indian challenger D Gukesh and defending champion Ding Liren of China ended in yet another draw to remain level on points on Thursday, December 5. The championship is currently ongoing in Singapore.
The sixth consecutive draw — and seventh overall — left both players on an identical tally of 4.5 points each, still shy of 3 points in order to win the 14-game championship.
The two players signed peace after 54 moves. While Friday is a rest day, Gukesh and Liren will play game 10 on Saturday.
Just five 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.
The second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth games had ended in draws.
Gukesh said he would like to improve his performance in critical moments.
“It is still the same, the approach … we just try to play good chess. In the last few games, I have managed to play very good chess and for me the main thing will be go there with the same energy, play the same level of chess and slightly improve on some critical moments.
“I just hope to continue playing good games, and hopefully, at some point when I do the right things, I believe that the results will come,” said Gukesh.
"I am here with Gaju. In general, apart from the chess work, he helps keep me entertained. He cracks a lot of jokes and stuff. On the rest days, we try to play some sports and talk about some other stuff. Since we have worked for a long time already, we are quite close. It's also… pic.twitter.com/5hVqXoTYeb
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 5, 2024
In the remaining five games, Liren will have white thrice, but Gukesh said there was not much difference (whether having black or white pieces).
“Nowadays there is not much difference between white and black, because of the computers … all the lines that were considered dubious, the computers make them work. Now it’s an equal game with both colours, so I wouldn’t say it’s a huge advantage.”
The Catalan opening has featured in top level games for many decades now and Gukesh chose it this time to test Liren’s preparation.
The Chinese yet again sank into a long thought in the opening and found some creative ideas to keep the white forces at bay. The first exchange took place on the 14th turn with Gukesh using just 15 minutes of his allotted two hours in the first time-control while Liren had used over 50 minutes.
Gukesh probably got his only chance to exert some pressure on his 20th turn but the Indian went for what optically looked better for white only to find Liren surprising him with some well-disguised tricks.
It looked as though not much had slipped but once he was under 30 minutes, the Chinese came up with a series of correct moves to leave the position level.
Gukesh used up all his extra time and by the 23rd move he was actually behind Liren by a few minutes. Another couple of pawns had changed hands by then along with two minor pieces making the position just very close to equal.
In counting, Gukesh had an extra pawn to boast off, but it was evident that it was about to fall soon. It was time for Gukesh to decide if he would go for an easy draw or still try for some unwarranted complications. After making his 24th move, Gukesh was seen staring at his score sheet, a pretty clear indication that he had come to terms with what the result was going to be.
Liren halted for some time before playing the equalising capture of the extra pawn of white. Gukesh exchanged queens soon and then a pair of rooks to let the position be just a dead-draw.
The players still had to complete 40 moves as per rules before the point could be split and suddenly Liren started to get ambitious although the game never really left the boundaries of a draw.
A pure rook and pawns endgame was soon on board and eventually the players changed everything to be left with bare kings. The game lasted 54 moves.
Asked if the game was according to his preparation after 13 moves, Gukesh said he had seen the idea of pushing his queen side pawn but probably not in the exact position.
On whether he was following the analysis done by many experts on the social media, Gukesh replied in the negative. “In general during events I do not follow any social media, if there is something I need to know my team informs.”
Liren said there was no need to block social media during the match and he sometimes follows it and “sometimes it’s a way to release the stress.”
There were some lighter moments towards the end of the press conference when both the players were asked if there was one opportunity to sneak and have a peek at the engines, what moment would that be.
“I wouldn’t want to cheat at any point,” Gukesh said.
❓ "If you both had one opportunity during today’s game to sneak at the evaluation bar, which will be your moment to check engine, at what move?"
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 5, 2024
🇮🇳 Gukesh D: "I wouldn’t want to cheat at any point."
🇨🇳 Ding Liren: "Today I didn’t have any chance, so maybe I will use it for the… pic.twitter.com/IvyzIoBaFx
“Today I did not have any chance, so may be I will use it for the future (games),” said Ding in a more joyous way.
