With nerves no longer a concern for him, teenaged Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh will hold the psychological edge against a slightly shaken defending champion Ding Liren when the two resume their intriguing battle for the World Championship crown in the fourth round here on Friday. Having demonstrated better preparation and claimed his first victory in the third round, the 18-year-old Gukesh is expectedly upbeat and would be looking to just relax on the first rest today. With a maximum of 11 games remaining under classical time control, the scores are tied at 1.5-1.5. This was after Liren won the opener and the second game ended in a draw.
Gukesh has clearly shown better preparation, while Liren’s calculation let him down in the third game. The match had started with Gukesh facing the Chinese in a French defense game with white pieces and his initial progress gave the Indian a huge time advantage, which he held till the end.
“It’s always nice to win a game, also for the first against such a strong opponent. I think it means more that I got a win in the World Championship, and a very important win,” a visibly pleased Gukesh had said after Wednesday’s game.
The youngster lost the opener playing badly in a complicated middle game but could take heart from the fact that his preparation had come good.
In the second game, which was his first white, Liren chose a solid variation in the Italian opening and Gukesh had no troubles whatsoever in equalising easily out of the opening itself.
The game ended in a mere 23 moves vide repetition earning Gukesh a lot of respect for his flawless play with a slightly unfavourable colour.
Coming in to the third game ahead of the first rest day, Gukesh decided to put all his energy and his opening choice yet again made Liren spend more than half of the allotted time on the first 14 moves itself.
The Chinese later missed an easy equalising method on his 18th turn but it was largely caused by the initial pressure exerted by the Indian.
With scores level, it is unlikely that Liren will pull out all the stops in the next game. Instead, a more cautious approach is expected, as the Chinese champion will hope his skills hold up in crucial moments, avoiding a repeat of the previous slip-ups.
Gukesh will be eager to ride the wave of his success as long and as far as possible. His first victory in the match must have provided a significant confidence boost for the Chennai-based player.
If he continues to surprise, particularly with the white pieces, he stands to reap the rewards in the coming games.
In the last world championship match that he won, Liren was trailing thrice but came back to even the scores against Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia.
In fact, the only time he went ahead was on the final day when the tiebreaker decided the fate of the title.
Writing off Liren would surely not be wise given his fighting qualities but it is yet to be seen how he handles things against someone who is 14 years younger and quite evidently, very hungry for success.
“…the result of the game will maybe influence my emotions during the rest day,” the 32-year-old said candidly after Wednesday’s loss and it is yet to be seen how he pulls himself together.
Overall, the match seems interestingly poised after Gukesh’s victory and the chess buffs could not have asked for more in the first three games.
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