World Chess Championship: Ding brings on 'French' to beat India's Gukesh in Game 1
The Chinese reigning world champion took a 1-0 lead after a 42-game battle in game 1.
The Chinese reigning world champion took a 1-0 lead after a 42-game battle in game 1.
The Chinese reigning world champion took a 1-0 lead after a 42-game battle in game 1.
World Champion Ding Liren defeated young Indian challenger D Gukesh in game one of the FIDE World Chess Championship in Singapore on Monday.
The 42-move battle witnessed a rare opening choice from the Chinese GM. Gukesh, 18, aiming to be only the second Indian world champion after the great Viswanathan Anand, came under significant time pressure later in the game as he ran out of options.
The first big surprise in the game came in the very first move when Ding played 'e5' in response to Gukesh's 'e4' (King pawn). The series, which is referred to as the 'French Defence,' is quite popular but is rarely played in World Championship matches.
In fact, in 46 years, the 'French' had been played just three other times during World Championship matches. Ding played the French in game 7 of last year's World Championship against Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi. Before that, it was played (twice) by Viktor Korchnoi against then-defending champion Anatoly Karpov in the 1978 title match.
The French Defence often leads to slower development of the queen-side bishop from black. Ding had been unsuccessful with the 'French' against Nepomniachtchi last year, but he proved it could be a successful weapon with his victory over Gukesh.
Ding gave Gukesh food for thought by going for a queen-side expansion early on as he pushed the a-pawn quite far ahead to pin down the opposite pawn at a2. This pawn turned out to be a valuable asset when the Chinese swung a knight to b2 and stuck it there, to the dismay of Gukesh.
Ding tried to offer up his Queen for an exchange on move 21, which Gukesh declined. The Indian was almost 50 minutes up on the clock in the opening phase, but once Ding made his Queen quite mobile, Gukesh spent more time and ended up in a situation requiring him to make 11 moves under four minutes (both players had 120 minutes for first 40 moves before the time control changed with the addition of 30 minutes each with 30-second increment per move).
Ding had two extra pawns going into the end game and grabbed the vulnerable a2, leaving Gukesh staring at an imminent defeat. After a Check followed by Ding shifting his King to h8 on move 42, Gukesh resigned. Ding will have white in Game 2, which will be played on Tuesday.