Thirteen games, 9 draws, level scores and we have a match that is now down to its final classical game and a world champion that’s yet to be decided.
With the White pieces in Game 13 on Wednesday, India’s Gukesh D had his chances, but reigning world champion Ding Liren found the defensive resources to survive in a 69-move draw. Both players now are at 6.5-6.5 points. Ding will play White in Game 14. Should scores still remain tied, the match will be decided in the rapid tiebreaks on Friday.
Gukesh returned to 1.e4, was met by the French Defense, and uncorked a surprise with 7.a3. Ding was visibly thrown off and later said he was “confused by the move-order trick”. “I came for a fight…I was feeling fresh, I was feeling confident and had this cool idea so I was quite excited to play it,” Gukesh offered.
Inside the first 12 moves, Ding fell behind by an hour on the clock. It’s been a recurring theme in this match – Ding being surprised in the opening by rare, off-beat ideas, burning through his clock, falling behind and Gukesh’s time advantage disappearing in the middlegame.
Ding had less than 10 mins for the final 11 moves before he could hit move 41 and the 30-second increments could kick in.
On move 30, White invited a trade of Queen for two rooks, and Gukesh failed to pounce on Ding’s 30.Qf7 mis-step. Here Gukesh’s path should have ideally been to exchange rooks and then launch his knight to e4 which would have set up a potent kingside attack. Gukesh missed this chance and instead went ahead with Ne4 directly which ended up throwing a lifeline Ding’s way.
Ding still had the onerous task of spotting the only defensive move that could save him – 31.Rf8. Gukesh was pulling up his sleeves, leaning over the board. He later admitted that he hadn’t spotted the resource. “I didn’t see Rf8…it was when he (Ding) was thinking that I spotted Rf8,” Gukesh said later. Ding did end up pushing his rook to f8 to stay alive.
Gukesh was seen leaning against the wall of the players’ rest area, hands tucked in his pocket, a touch pensive at what perhaps would have worked out to a full point against a less tenacious opponent.
Even though Gukesh tried to drum up tension by keeping the pieces on the board, nothing much came off it. Pawns were pushed forward, queens were off the board and an applause broke out in the spectators arena as the players shook hands and agreed to a draw in a rook endgame after over five hours of play.
The missed chance of Game 13 might rankle with the 18-year-old Indian but he’ll know there’s no time to mope. There’s still one more classical game to go and the possibility of a tiebreak remains. It’s been a long match and the fatigue must be setting in for both players. “I’m very tired after a long game and I need to decide what’s the strategy for the next game,” said Ding, while Gukesh brushed aside any fatigue concerns.
On Wednesday, both players seemed to spend more than the usual time in the rest area, to snack and catch a breather. While Gukesh touched upon the likely “nerves” in the final game, Ding was asked to pick which among the two World Championship matches he’s played so far has been more difficult. “Last time (against Ian Nepomniachtchi) was more stressful,” he said.
Back then, Ding had said that had he lost the match, he would have probably given up playing chess. Now, he doesn’t look at it the same way. “I will continue with my career…maybe play lesser tournaments, more rapid and blitz than classical.” Gukesh
knows a lot is riding on the last game.
“It’s fitting that the match goes to the last game,” said Gukesh, “because we’ve both shown a lot of fighting spirit and played some very entertaining chess…this is something every chess player wants to experience and I have the chance. Whatever the outcome is, I’ll enjoy it.”
