Last Updated:
With one last classical game left to be played tomorrow and everything on the line, both competitors go into it with tied scores of 6.5-6.5, seeking a win to secure the Championship.
D Gukesh and Ding Liren at the World Chess Championship 2024. (AFP)
One last step away from success, one match for one player to take it all. Defending champion Ding Liren fought from behind to eke out a thrilling draw against young Indian Challenger D Gukesh in Game 13 of the World Chess Championship.
With the draw, the match remains drawn at 6.5 points each, with one last Classical Game left to be played tomorrow.
After a scintillating win in the previous game, Ding was thrown off out the gate as Gukesh opened with a novel sequence to completely throw preparation out the window, as the two indulged in a true battle of intuition and wits.
Gukesh started off with a classic e4 opening as Ding opted to counter with the French defense. But, what started off as a seemingly common game went out of control within the first few moves as hungry Gukesh took everyone by surprise by presenting Ding with a position that has never been played out.
In fact, the masters database had no games in the file from history after Gukesh’s 8th move: 8 Be3, after which both players were scaling unchartered waters, something novel from the young Indian Challenger.
Ding, yet again, plunged to his old ways, bruning the midnight oil early on in the game, as the Chinese GM went almost 50 minutes behind on the clock, playing with less than an hour to stay alive within the 13th move.
Gukesh continued to pile the pressure on with his novel opening, but Ding, as he has throughout the match so far, got to counterpressure the Indian to slowly chip away at his own clock as well. Before they knew it, both players were once again level-pegging at the clock, as the time-wise odds were evened out.
All was even up till Move 24, when Gukesh caught Ding in a moment of confusion, executing a brilliant Bf4, constricting Ding’s rooks into a trap as the defending champion was pushed to the ropes.
An absolute rollercoaster of a middlegame and endgame ensued, as Gukesh and Ding threw haymakers at each other on the board, with both players fighting against the clock.
Despite Gukesh’s continued prodding, Ding seemed to have tapped into his best self yet again with about 4 minutes left on the clock, finding the best move continually to build up his position, pushing the young Indian Challenger to his limits till both players reached the 30-minute increment.
The back-and-forth whittled both players down to a rook-pawn endgame as Ding played from behind to force the draw and Game 14 on Gukesh.
Now, to clinch the championship, either player will need to muster nothing short of a win over the other. But, in the case that both players end up drawing Game 14 as well, then we enter a tiebreak where a series of Rapid games, four games to be specific, will commence to decide the champion.
