Sloppy Gukesh lets Ding walk away with another draw in Game 8
The 14-game classical battle is tied on 4 points each after eight rounds.
The 14-game classical battle is tied on 4 points each after eight rounds.
The 14-game classical battle is tied on 4 points each after eight rounds.
How many times are teenagers allowed to get sloppy? Asking for a friend named D Gukesh. The 18-year-old Indian challenger for the World Chess Championship failed to capitalise on a brilliant position in Game 8, just like in Game 7, and played out a draw with the reigning champion Ding Liren.
As a result, the 14-game match is now tied on 4 points each. Gukesh and Ding have played five draws in a row. Six more classical games are remaining in the contest, and the first to reach 7.5 points will emerge as the champion. Gukesh will play white in Game 9 on Thursday.
"If Vishy Anand gets a position like this with black, there is no force that can stop him," Hungarian Grandmaster Peter Leko said midway into the game. The position he referred to emerged at a crossroads in the game when the computer evaluation showed Gukesh as the favourite to win. The fact that Gukesh couldn't emulate the great Viswanathan Anand, and convert the advantage into a win, speaks volumes about the latter, a five-time world champion. Gukesh, aiming to be only the second Indian to become the men's world champion, might have to discover his inner-Vishy to find success in Singapore.
This knight or that knight?
It was move 26, and Gukesh, playing black, was presented with a simple yet critical choice. Ding had attacked his queen with a bishop, which the young Indian could block with a knight.
But there were two knights, one on the d7 square and another on a6. The computer showed that blocking with the first one kept the advantage in Gukesh's corner. However, neither player has the luxury of analysing using computers, so Gukesh made the human move of blocking with the wrong knight, which changed the game's dynamics. Suddenly, the position was even. "I thought what I played was missing... but Ndc5 was better," Gukesh said post-game.
Watch the clock
Both players had 120 minutes each to make their first 40 moves. After move 40, they are given an additional 30 minutes each, with an increment of 30 seconds per move.
After 25 moves, Gukesh had 45 minutes on his clock, while Ding was down under 15 minutes. On top of that, the Chinese GM was worse position-wise. But after Gukesh blew his advantage with the wrong knight move and followed it up with Bb3, a subtle bishop move, which was also frowned upon by the super strong chess engine Stockfish 16.1, Ding was no longer worried about his time. He even took a quick break by walking off to the lobby.
Eventually, time caught up with Gukesh, and the Indian had less on the clock because he had blown his advantage and was struggling to save his position. Ding's smart bishop attack had swung the pendulum, and Gukesh had to trade his rook for another bishop to stay in the game.
Now, the pressure was on Ding to capitalise on the unforeseen advantage he was gifted. But he couldn't do it either, and after the time control was reached, Gukesh could breathe easy. By move 52, the queens had been traded off, and a theoretical draw emerged.