Chennai, Dec 11 (UNI) After an intense 5-hour long battle, the penultimate and the
13th game between Indian Challenger D Gukesh and reigning Chinese champion
Ding Liren ended in a nervy draw in Singapore on Wednesday night, as the contest
headed for a grand climax on the tomorrow with one last round remaining.
After 68 moves, the longest so far in this 14-game Classical Chess contest, the match
ended in a draw and both the players were tied at 6.5 points each, heightening the
excitement among the Chess enthusiasts as they gear up for the final round tomorrow.
Who will prevail. Both the players have shown enough resilience after lead changed
hands amid a plethora of draws, the decider on the morrow promises to be an
enthralling thriller and an intense contest is on the cards.
It has now finally boiled down to a battle between the youthful exuberance of Gukesh
and the experience of Ding Liren, who is keen to defend the title.
It also remains to be seen what the opening they will chose as the Chinese enjoys
an advantage as he will be playing with White pieces.
In a game of fluctuating fortunes, when the young Indian enjoyed the middle game
advantage, before the experienced Liren neutralised it, the contest finally ended in
a draw after an intense and nervy battle.
This is the ninth draw and both of them have so far won two games each.
After a setback when Liren stormed back into contention winning the 12th game
on Monday after losing the previous one, both the players were now tied and they
need nothing short of a win.
Whoever, wins tomorrow's match, which is expected to be even more intense and
billed as a battle of supremacy, will be crowned the King of 64 squares to avoid the
tie-breaker.
In the event of the much awaited, evenly poised game, ending in a draw, the tie-breaker
on Friday will decide the winner.
After a day's much needed rest, when both Gukesh and Liren sat before the board for
the crunch 13th game, the match was tied at six points with only two classical games
remaining.
Nerves ran high as any mistake could turned out to be decisive and the players showed
incredible concentration considering the circumstances.
At one stage, GM Ding Liren was on the verge of losing. A mixture of excellent
defensive skills combined with a lot of good luck, the outcome was much better
than anyone anticipated.
“I was confused with my opponents opening move order. He tricked me with his idea of
delaying f4”, said Ding after the match.
"I also missed his excellent moves 19.Qe2 and 22.Bf4. He was able to gradually improve
his position”, he said.
On the other hand, Gukesh admitted that he missed a key defensive idea.
“I thought I played quite a good game. When I played 31.Ne4 I missed his defence idea
with 31…Rf8 and 32…Rc7. My initial intention was to exchange rooks first and only then
Ne4, which should be winning” he said.
“I don’t think you will see a short draw tomorrow” was Ding’s final words before joining his
team to prepare for the most important game of the year and his career, where a win will
land him the second successive title.
UNI GV 2235