World Chess Championship: Gukesh lets Ding Liren escape with a draw

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ndian Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju frittered away a strong positional and time advantage as reigning champion Ding Liren of China put up a strong defence and escaped with a draw in Game 7 of their FIDE World Chess Championship Final match at Resorts World Sentosa here on Tuesday.

In a game in which fortunes swung like a pendulum, Gukesh had a golden opportunity to win and take a one-point advantage in the 14-game encounter, where the player reaching 7.5 points will claim the title and the lion's share of the prize fund of US$2.5 million. However, Gukesh missed a couple of strong move sequences that could have secured his victory and soon found himself in severe time trouble as the Chinese Grandmaster, Ding, traded pieces to steer the game toward a draw. Ding described his position as "hopeless" but credited himself for finding an "interesting idea" that saved the day for him.

After 72 moves, the longest game in this match, a draw was agreed upon with nothing left to play for. Both players now have 3.5 points from seven games and will meet again on Wednesday for the eighth game. Gukesh surprised everyone with his opening choice of white pieces, as they picked an intriguing plan. Ding opted for the King's Indian Defense, which later transposed into a Neo-Grunfeld Defense: Classical Defense pattern.

Gukesh had a significant positional and time advantage but made a few bad moves that led to him losing that edge by simplifying the position. Despite being in time trouble—at one point having only 21 minutes to make 20 moves for the first-time control of 40 moves in 90 minutes—Ding managed to put up a strong defense. The 18-year-old Gukesh, hoping to become the youngest World Champion ever, also lost his time advantage when he took 20 minutes for his 28th move. Although he found the best move by moving his rook to a5, Ding succeeded in trading off the queens. He made his 40th move with just seven seconds remaining, effectively neutralizing some of Gukesh's advantage.

The game reached a rook ending with minor pieces, where Gukesh had an extra pawn, but many experts felt that this advantage was not substantial enough. Former women's No.1 Susan Polgar noted that Gukesh's decision to simplify the position had backfired. Ding again fell behind on time, having less than 10 minutes to complete the game. He played an inaccurate move on his 40th turn, according to Polgar, which gave Gukesh some advantage. However, Gukesh frittered away both his positional and time advantages once again, leading to an equal position.

Gukesh compounded his misery by missing a winning move when he retreated his bishop on the 46th move. Ding continued to play accurately while Gukesh found himself with mere seconds to make his moves as the game teetered on the brink of a draw. This left Gukesh kicking himself for some of the decisions made during the match. Disappointed, he remarked that missing some of the strong defensive moves proposed by his opponent was "unpleasant."

✔️ World Chess Championship: Gukesh lets Ding Liren escape with a draw

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