Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh tried his greatest however couldn’t overcome a resilient Ding Liren of China and needed to accept a draw after 68 strikes within the thirteenth and penultimate sport of the World Chess Championship right here on Wednesday. With the scores tied at 6.5-6.5 and just one sport of classical chess to go, it’s seemingly that the match might be prolonged to the tie-break stage the place video games of shorter length will resolve the winner. As was anticipated, the 18-year-old Gukesh went for the King pawn on his opening transfer and but once more confronted defending champion Liren’s first-choice opening in French defence.
The Chinese spent a variety of time within the opening section of the sport when Gukesh got here out with a novel concept early, however it was clear proper from the start that there was little for the white.
The center sport noticed the change of a few minor items that gave Gukesh’s white solely a small benefit optically. And as the sport progressed, it was clear that the change of pawns on the queen facet would solely result in an equal endgame.
Gukesh, understanding absolutely nicely that this may very well be his final likelihood with the favorable color, left no stone unturned as he stored searching for extra however Liren stored his cool and traded items when mandatory to succeed in a queen-plus-rook endgame that was simply degree. .
The gamers, however, fought on for a very long time. The items modified arms, and ultimately, it was a queen and rook plus pawns on the board.
Gukesh tried every little thing within the guide to maintain pushing for extra, even within the theoretically drawn endgame, however Liren was as much as the duty.
The sport was ultimately drawn to a two versus three rook-and-pawns endgame, and Gukesh performed on till there was no life left within the place.
Liren held fort until the very finish and can go into the final sport of the match as favorite.
Gukesh mentioned after the extraordinarily tense sport that issues are actually getting thrilling because the championship enters probably the most essential section.
Gukesh, when requested how he was feeling with only one sport left earlier than the tie-break of shorter length kicks in to find out the winner, mentioned: “As close as the match gets, it only gets exciting. Quite excited (about the 14th game ), but of course, it’s an important game.
“As the video games get much less and fewer, there may be extra at stake, clearly. I got here for a battle, I used to be feeling recent (at the moment), I used to be feeling assured. And I additionally had this cool concept ready, so I used to be fairly excited to play,” added Gukesh.
Liren conceded he was “very drained” after the game.
“Firstly, very drained after a protracted sport. Secondly, I must resolve what is the technique for the following sport, it is a golden sport,” mentioned the defending champion.
The strikes: D Gukesh vs Ding Liren 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Nce2 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.a3 Be7 8.Be3 Nb6 9.Nf4 cxd4 10.cxd4 Nc4 11. Bxc4 dxc4 12.Nge2 b5 13.0-0 0-0 14.Nc3 Rb8 15.Nh5 f5 16.exf6 Bxf6 17.Qf3 Qe8 18.Nxf6+ Rxf6 19.Qe2 Qg6 20.f3 Rf8 21.Rad1 Ne7 22.Bf4 Rb6 23.Bc7 Rb7 24.Bd6 Re8 25.Bxe7 Rexe7 26.Qe5 a6 27.d5 exd5 28.Qxd5+ Qe6 29.Qc5 Re8 30.Rde1 Qf7 31.Ne4 Rf8 32.Nd6 Rc7 33.Qe5 Qf6 34.Qd5+ Kh8 35.Re5 Re7 36.Rfe1 Rxe5 37.Rxe5 h6 38.Qc5 Bd7 39.Ne4 Qf4 40.Re7 Bf5 41.Qd4 Rg8 42.h3 Qc1+ 43.Kf2 Bxe4 44.Rxe4 c3 45.bxc3 Qxa3 46.Kg3 Qb3 47.Re7 a5 48.Rb7 Qc4 49.Qe5 Qc6 50.Qxb5 Qxc3 51.Ra7 Qe1+ 52.Kh2 Qb4 53.Qxb4 axb4 54.Rb7 Ra8 55.Rxb4 Ra2 56.Kg3 Kh7 57.Rb5 Kg6 58.f4 Kf6 59.Kf3 Rc2 60.g3 Rc3+ 61. Kg4 Ra3 62.h4 Rc3 63.Rb6+ Kf7 64. f5 h5+ 65. Kf4 Rc4+ 66. Kf3 Rc3+ 67. Kf4 Rc4+ 68. Kf3 Rc3+ Match drawn.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
Topics talked about on this article
(*13*)
Gukesh D
Ding Liren
Chess