The stalemate continued in the Chess World Championship match between defending champion Ding Liren and challenger D Gukesh as they played out a sixth successive draw on Thursday, December 5. The ninth game of the match ended in a draw after 54 moves on the eve of the second rest day.
Both D Gukesh and Ding Liren are tied on 4.5 points each with five games to go in the match. The first to 7.5 points will win the prestigious title. If the deadlock is not broken after 14 games, the match will head into tie-breakers involving rapid games.
It’s been a cagey affair between Gukesh and Ding, especially after the first three games. Ding won the opening game of the match while Gukesh fought back to win the third game. Ever since, the two players have missed out on opportunities with questionable endgames.
Gukesh, playing with white pieces on Thursday, came up with an interesting idea, but Ding was steely in defence as he neutralised the threats and liquidated the game to an equal ending.
“I think it was a very precise game from both sides,” Gukesh said at the end of Game 9, as quoted by the international chess body (FIDE).
“So far it’s been a very interesting match: few missed chances from me, few missed chances from him. We both showed fighting spirit and entertaining chess and five more exciting games to go,” he added.
WATCH: GUKESH POSES WITH FANS AFTER GAME 9
On the other hand, Ding, who has overcome a lean patch to keep the world championship match alive at this stage, said he was not affected by social media chatter.
“I saw [comments] that I’m always underestimating my position and my opponent always overestimates his position. I also saw someone said that I’m always making a draw, even if I’m better. This doesn’t affect me, I think,” he said.
Ding will have the advantage of playing with white pieces thrice in the remaining five games.
HOW GAME 9 UNFOLDED ON THURSDAY
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 in to 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.
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 of 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. Ding halted for sometime 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. (With PTI Inputs).
