Chennai, Dec 8 (UNI) Eighteen-year-old Indian prodigy D Gukesh took a
huge step to become the youngest World Classical champion in history,
winning against reigning Champion Ding Liren and take a lead for the first
time in the 11th round of the FIDE World Chess Championship at Singapore
on Sunday evening.
A major blunder on the 28th move by the Chinese helped the Indian to seize
the advantage and seal a dramatic win.
It was one of the shortest game so far and it lasted just 29 moves as the Indian
broke the deadlock with a morale boosting win after eight draws, including in
succession.
After 11 rounds, the young Indian Challenger led 6-5 for the first time with his
second win with a solid display as Liren cracked under pressure.
Gukesh, who had started on a bad note losing the first game that turned out to
be a wake up call, came back strongly by winning the third and proved a hard
nut to crack from thereon, to wrest the lead with three games remaining in the
14-round Classical chess.
Gukesh needs just 1.5 points in the remaining three games to be crowned
as the youngest World Champion, while Ding faces a tough task as he
should either win all the three remaining rounds or needed two wins and
a draw to retain the title.
After one of the most exciting games of the match, in which both players
spent almost an hour on one single move, he defeated the Ding Liren and
sets the match score at 6-5 with only three games to go.
“It was a very difficult game for me. Already on move four, I wasn’t sure if
I had made the correct choice. I remembered a game I played in a rapid
tournament against GM Adhiban. But I couldn’t remember the other moves",
Ding Liren said after the defeat.
"I spent 40 minutes calculating some nonsense variations” he said.
On this occasion, the lack of time was decisive. With only seven minutes
to go, Ding blundered on move 28, dropping a piece in a one-move
combination. Instead of 28…Nb4, giving back his extra pawn with decent
drawing chances, he played the losing 28…Qc8 and after 29.Qxc6 had
to resign.
Gukesh was very appreciative of his team of coaches: “Full congratulations
to my team for their effort in the preparation of this opening, which caught
my opponent by surprise. Then I did some stupid things, but I am happy I
was able to get it back together”.
In an attempt to remain positive, Ding Liren recalled that in the previous
match, he managed to make a come-back in game 12.
“In the last match I made a comeback on the twelfth game, so I am hoping
to play well tomorrow”.
UNI GV 2030