Half a dozen draws and some missed opportunities later, sprightly challenger D Gukesh and resolute defending champion Ding Liren would be desperate for a breakthrough when they clash in the 10th game of the World Chess Championship in Singapore on Saturday. Gukesh has explored several winning lines but the advantage has not translated into victories for the Indian, and with just five more classical games left to be played in the USD 2.5 million prize money championship, the 18-year-old would look to break the deadlock and hope to take a decisive lead after a day’s rest on Friday.
The draw on Thursday, which was the seventh of the match and sixth on the trot, has left both players on an identical score of 4.5 points each, still three shy of the championship-winning tally.
The 32-year-old Liren had won the opening game while Gukesh had emerged victorious in the third All other games have ended in draws. If history is anything to go by, the reigning champion wins the match if the scores are tied 4-4 after eight games which was the case here too.
The Chennai-born Indian knows that he will have to punch hard against his gritty Chinese opponent, who has a habit of coming up with well-disguised tricks when the chips are down.
World number one and five-times world champion Magnus Carlsen minced no words while doing a recap of the ninth game and said that the time was running out for Gukesh.
“I think we have finally arrived at a moment when Gukesh is not a favourite in this match anymore, it’s as pure a 50-50 match as it comes,” said Carlsen.
If the deadlock is not broken after 14 rounds, Gukesh could well surrender the initiative to his Chinese opponent when the games are played under the faster time control to determine the winner. Liren is said to have an advantage in short games.
Gukesh, one of the architects of India’s maiden Chess Olympiad title triumph recently, said after the draw in the ninth game on Thursday that he would like to improve his performance in critical moments.
“…hopefully, at some point when I do the right things, I believe that the results will come,” he had said.
The youngest-ever challenger to the crown was guilty of letting go a very promising position to settle for a draw in the marathon seventh game, something which would have rattled him.
But he didn’t allow the morale to sag in the eighth game. He declined a draw initially through repetition which would have ended the game earlier, thus showing his intent to win at all cost.
In the ninth game, the Indian got an opportunity to exert some pressure on his 20th turn but Liren surprised him.
Gukesh could be slightly disadvantaged in the remaining five games as Liren will have white thrice, but the Indian said there was not much difference having black or white pieces.
“Nowadays there is not much difference between white and black, because of the computers .. all the lines that were considered dubious, the computers make them work. Now it’s an equal game with both colours, so I wouldn’t say it’s a huge advantage,” Gukesh had said on Thursday.
“It is still the same, the approach… we just try to play good chess. In the last few games I have managed to play very good chess and for me the main thing will be go there with the same energy, play the same level of chess and slightly improve on some critical moments.”
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