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Holder Liren, seemed to be struggling during the initial phase of the game only to turn the tables on his Indian counterpart midgame before Gukesh resigned the opening board.
Ding Liren. (X)
Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren began the defence of his World Chess Championship title with a win over Indian GM D Gukesh in the final on Monday in Singapore.
Holder Liren, seemed to be struggling during the initial phase of the game only to turn the tables on his Indian counterpart midgame before Gukesh resigned the opening board.
Gukesh, who was put under pressure both on the board and on the clock, survived the race against time, but was left battered as Liren capitalised on the scenario he had cultivated to put the Indian teen under threat.
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Following the defeat, Gukesh revealed that he was indeed nervous ahead of the game, but eased his nerves as soon as the board kicked off.
“For sure I was nervous. Would be surprising if I said if I wasn’t,” Gukesh said.
“I calmed down after the game started. I think I surprised him. I was playing good moves at the start,” he added.
Gukesh added that his gameplay would remain the same despite the opening board defeat and that he would make his move with due respect to the position he finds himself in going forward.
“The game plan continues to be the same. Play every game with same energy and play the best moves based on the position,” the teenager said.
Liren opened the board with a French defence, something the champion hasn’t done in over a year, said that he thought it would take the Indian by surprise and ended up gaining good value for it despite his initial struggles.
“Because it was his first game in the World Championship, I was thinking he might get nervous at the start,” Liren said.
“So I tried to play something unusual which I haven’t in a long time,” he added.
- Location :
Singapore, Singapore
