Atreyo Mukhopadhyay in Singapore City
Things kept happening in the manner they had been, in this World Chess Championship final in Sentosa in Singapore. Ding Liren was well behind time compared to D Gukesh for a major part of the game and caught up eventually. For the seventh time in nine games, there was another draw. With five more rounds to play, the players are tied 4.5-4.5.
The big difference was, the defending champion didn’t give any chance whatsoever to the challenger. In the last few games, Gukesh held an edge for a long time before settling for draws. This time, playing with white, the Indian couldn’t make any headway. The Chinese defended with aplomb with black and there was not even a slight opening for Gukesh and no chance to pass pawns.
This should stand Ding in good stead, considering that he will have white in three of the last five games. It’s not known if he would go for the kill, but he will certainly be in good space mentally. He made things complicated for Gukesh and for a long time, neither side could mobilise their pieces. It was 50-50 soon after the beginning and that’s how it remained.
It was expected to be a good day for Gukesh. Even though he had drawn the last five games, with white he was expected to put Ding under pressure. Especially after a morale-boosting draw with black in the previous game, where he held an edge almost all through the game. Despite his choice of opening this time, he was stonewalled by Ding’s super-sure defending.
Like the last few games, Ding fell behind the clock early on. After 20 moves and 20 more to play, the Chinese had 27 minutes left on the clock. At the same time, Gukesh had over an hour. However, such scenarios have often proved misleading in this duel. Invariably, Ding made up for the lost time and kept finding the right moves. He gave Gukesh not even a whiff of a chance.
Soon after the opening, the two players had pawns on the C and D squares, with sufficient cover for each of them. This ensured that nobody could take control of those squares. More importantly, piece mobilisation was quite negligible for both of them. They were evenly matched and despite all his efforts, Gukesh was unable to find a breakthrough.
Gukesh spent about 30 minutes thinking over his 22nd move, which made the time situation even for the contestants. This was immaculate calculation and solid defending on Ding’s part. He knew that he would be having white for most of the remaining games. That will give him a slight advantage and time to think and prepare over the rest day on Friday. This was a big draw for him.
🚨 It’s still 4-4 between #DGukesh and #DingLiren going into the 9th game in the #ChessWorldChampionship2024 in Singapore.@atreyom previews Game 9.@BSV_Global @FIDE_chess #DingGukesh #ChessWorldChampionship pic.twitter.com/DY2MOe6CDC
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) December 5, 2024
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