Ding develops cold feet, Gukesh holds his nerves as Game 5 ends in draw
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Ding Liren developed cold feet despite having an edge, and D Gukesh managed to hold his nerves under pressure as the World Chess Championship match witnessed consecutive draws for the first time.
With Game 5 ending in a draw, yet again from threefold repetition on 40 moves, the scores are level at 2.5 points each. The first four games in the match saw the following series: Ding win, draw, Gukesh win and a draw.
Just like in Game 1, Gukesh's King pawn (e4) opening was met with a French defence (e6) from his Chinese opponent. It might have felt like deja vu for Gukesh, who lost in Game 1, but this time, the 18-year-old was better prepared; he went for an exchange variation, meaning he neutralised the pressure in the centre of the board. There was also the excitement of an early queen exchange in the game.
However, there were hardly any pressing moves, and the evaluation bar, which is a scale that shows the chess engine's assessment of the position, gave neither player an advantage.
Clearly, the players are unable to see this bar because they make their moves over a wooden board and not in front of computers. In one way, it is good for the players to be blissfully unaware of what the Artificial Intelligence thinks about their position.
That said, players at the highest level can see an advantage tilt just as quickly as it emerges on a board, much like supercomputers, albeit slowly, because the grey matter isn't silicon. Ding sensed an advantage almost instantly when Gukesh played dxe5 on move 23.
The Indian GM had been presented with a simple choice: Capture a pawn with another pawn or with a rook, and he chose the first option. That apparently was not the optimum move in the situation, and there was a fluctuation in the evaluation bar, giving Ding a slight but definitive advantage.
Soon, Ding gained an extra pawn on the board and was left with a passed pawn (one without opposing pawns to capture it) on d3 (just two squares away from becoming a queen, potentially). Now, Ding had a choice, but it wasn't about a pawn capture but rather about mentality. Should he pursue the minor advantage aggressively or wait for Gukesh to slip up? Ding, surprisingly, chose the latter, but Gukesh stayed cool and played smart moves to earn a draw. Game 6 of the match, with Ding playing white, will be played on Sunday.