Gukesh blows winning chances, ends up surviving with a draw after 5.5 hours in Game 7
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Imagine a pulsating game of football, in which one side dominates possession and comes close to scoring every now and then. The opposition, seemingly lost for the majority of the game, but somehow stays alive and so nearly steals a winner. That was Game 7 of the World Chess Championship in Singapore on Tuesday. It was a roller-coaster ride for 5.5 hours, involving 72 moves, but resulted in a simple draw.
D Gukesh, suited like Pep Guardiola of the yore, dominated the game for the most part. The chess engines gave him a winning chance of upto 65%, which is considered significant at the highest level of the game.
But the 18-year-old Indian failed to turn the advantageous position into a win. In fact, he so nearly lost the game in his desperation to find a solution, like gifting the hopeful opposition a late winner from a counter-attack. At one point, Gukesh was down to about 2 seconds on his clock (after 40 moves, both players get a 30-second increment per move, so quick moves help in gaining time).
It would have been anti-climactic had Gukesh lost on time -- like Ding in Game 3 -- because after the first 20 moves, the Indian was twice as good on the clock than his Chinese opponent (26 mins vs 60 mins). "Today was a missed chance. So that is a disappointment," Gukesh said in his post-game analysis.
Ding chased the game for the large part. But he defended resolutely, and so nearly turned the tables with smart counter-play, especially when the battle slugged toward a rook-knight versus rook-bishop end game.
The 14-game match is level on 3.5 points each. The first player to reach 7.5 points will be crowned. Game 8 with Ding having white pieces will be played on Wednesday.