Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju came dangerously close to scoring a decisive result in Tuesday’s seventh game of his world championship match against Ding Liren only to allow his opponent off the hook, leaving the best-of-14-games match no closer to resolution in a 3½-all deadlock.
“The score is fine,” Gukesh said after the players settled for a fourth successive draw in the match at Resorts World Sentosa. “Obviously, today was a missed chance. That is a bit of a disappointment, but he also missed some chances earlier in the match. So, I think it’s fair that we are here. The second half will be, of course, crucial.”
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The players
China’s Ding Liren is defending the world chess championship against fast-rising Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju. The best-of-14-games match is scheduled to take place from 23 November to 15 December at Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore for an overall prize fund of $2.5m (£1.98m).
Ding became China's first men’s world chess champion by defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi last year in Kazakhstan, winning the title vacated by longtime world No 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway. But the 32-year-old from Zhejiang province has played only 44 classical games in the 19 months since winning the world title while battling personal difficulties including depression and will go off as an underdog in his first world title defense.
Gukesh, commonly known as Gukesh D, stunned the chess establishment by winning the eight-man Candidates tournament in Toronto aged 17 to become the youngest ever challenger for the world championship, finishing top of a stacked field that included Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana. The 18-year-old can shatter the record for youngest ever world champion held by Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he dethroned Karpov in their 1985 rematch in Moscow.
The format
The match will consist of 14 classical games with each player awarded one point for a win and a half-point for a draw. Whoever reaches seven and a half points first will be declared the champion.
The time control for each game in the classical portion is 120 minutes per side for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting with move 41.
If the score is equal after 14 games, tiebreak games with faster time controls will be played:
• A match consisting of four rapid games with 15 minutes per side and a 10-second increment starting with move 1 would be played. If a player scores 2½ points or more, he would win the championship.
• If the score is still equal, a mini-match of two rapid games would be played, with 10 minutes per side and a five-second increment starting with move 1. If a player scored 1½ points or more, he would win the championship.
• If the score is equal after the rapid portion, a mini-match of two blitz games would be played, with a time control of three minutes per side and a two-second increment starting with move 1. If a player scored 1½ points or more, he would win the championship. A drawing of lots would take place before each mini-match to decide which player plays with the white pieces.
• If the blitz mini-match are tied, a single blitz game with a time control of three minutes per side and a two-second increment starting with move 1 would be played, and the winner would win the championship. A drawing of lots would decide which player plays with the white pieces. If this game was drawn, another blitz game with reversed colors would be played with the same time control, and the winner would win the championship. This process is repeated until either player wins a game.
Players are not allowed to agree to a draw before black's 40th move. A draw claim before then is only permitted if a threefold repetition or stalemate has occurred.
The schedule
Sat 23 Nov Opening ceremony and technical meeting
Sun 24 Nov Rest day
Mon 25 Nov Game 1
Tue 26 Nov Game 2
Wed 27 Nov Game 3
Thu 28 Nov Rest day
Fri 29 Nov Game 4
Sat 30 Nov Game 5
Sun 1 Dec Game 6
Mon 2 Dec Rest day
Tue 3 Dec Game 7
Wed 4 Dec Game 8
Thu 5 Dec Game 9
Fri 6 Dec Rest day
Sat 7 Dec Game 10
Sun 8 Dec Game 11
Mon 9 Dec Game 12
Tue 10 Dec Rest Day
Wed 11 Dec Game 13
Thu 12 Dec Game 14
Fri 13 Dec Tiebreaks (if necessary)
Sat 14 Dec Closing ceremony
All games start at 5pm local time, 2.30pm in India, 9am in London, 4am in New York.
Gukesh, playing with the white pieces, surprised everyone by opening with 1 Nf3, then doubled down with a near-novelty (7 Re1) that steered the Reti into a Neo-Grünfeld Defense and prompted the champion to spent more then 28 minutes on his response. Early middlegame exchanges led to an imbalanced pawn structure, with Gukesh pressing on the queenside and Ding seeking counterplay.
Time pressure continued to mount on the 32-year-old from Zhejiang province, who fell more than an hour behind on the clock. The crucial moment occurred with Ding down to seven seconds, when he opted for the blunder 40...Ke5? instead of 40...Nc8! to reach the first time control, getting an extra 30 minutes while suddenly facing a losing position.
But Ding was able to gradually equalize with highly accurate play, aided by the Gukesh mistake (46 Bd4? instead of Be2), and salvage an improbable draw after 5hr 22min.
"Insane action, we have witnessed a fantastic game!" says Peter Leko, who approves of the crowd's round of applause.
— chess24 (@chess24com) December 3, 2024
The #DingGukesh World Championship is still tied at 3.5-3.5 at the halfway point after a wild draw! pic.twitter.com/5dbhFjLFxa
Ding entered the first defense of his world championship having gone 28 classical games without a win, a dreadful run of form that saw him drop to 23rd in the world rankings and prompted the oddsmakers to install him as roughly a 3-1 longshot in the best-of-14-games match.
But he sprang a major surprise in the opening game by winning as black, dramatically ending the 304-day winless streak. Game 2 on Tuesday was a tame 23-move draw, before Gukesh struck back on Wednesday with a win in Game 3. The fourth, fifth and sixth games were each draws.
The fifth-ranked Gukesh, already the youngest ever world title challenger in the competition’s 138-year history, can shatter the record for youngest ever undisputed world champion held by Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he dethroned Anatoly Karpov in their 1985 rematch in Moscow.
“It’s never pleasant to miss a winning position,” Gukesh said. “But I’m happy about the fact that I outplayed my opponent quite easily in the opening.”
The $2.5m showdown resumes on Wednesday with Ding playing as white in Game 8. Whoever reaches seven and a half points first will be declared the champion at Resorts World Sentosa, an island resort off Singapore’s southern coast.
