China’s Ding Liren struck back against Gukesh Dommaraju on Monday in the 12th game of their $2.5m world championship match in Singapore, one day after the feisty Indian teenager appeared to have taken command of a deadlocked best-of-14-games showdown with a dramatic Game 11 win.
The decisive result after 39 moves over nearly four hours signaled a dramatic turnaround for the 32-year-old defending champion from Zhejiang province, who had looked visibly shaken after walking into a one-move blunder that cost him a crucial game less than 24 hours earlier.
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The players
China’s Ding Liren is defending the world chess championship against fast-rising Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju. The best-of-14-games match is scheduled to take place from 23 November to 15 December at Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore for an overall prize fund of $2.5m (£1.98m).
Ding became China's first men’s world chess champion by defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi last year in Kazakhstan, winning the title vacated by longtime world No 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway. But the 32-year-old from Zhejiang province has played only 44 classical games in the 19 months since winning the world title while battling personal difficulties including depression and will go off as an underdog in his first world title defense.
Gukesh, commonly known as Gukesh D, stunned the chess establishment by winning the eight-man Candidates tournament in Toronto aged 17 to become the youngest ever challenger for the world championship, finishing top of a stacked field that included Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana. The 18-year-old can shatter the record for youngest ever world champion held by Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he dethroned Karpov in their 1985 rematch in Moscow.
The format
The match will consist of 14 classical games with each player awarded one point for a win and a half-point for a draw. Whoever reaches seven and a half points first will be declared the champion.
The time control for each game in the classical portion is 120 minutes per side for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting with move 41.
If the score is equal after 14 games, tiebreak games with faster time controls will be played:
• A match consisting of four rapid games with 15 minutes per side and a 10-second increment starting with move 1 would be played. If a player scores 2½ points or more, he would win the championship.
• If the score is still equal, a mini-match of two rapid games would be played, with 10 minutes per side and a five-second increment starting with move 1. If a player scored 1½ points or more, he would win the championship.
• If the score is equal after the rapid portion, a mini-match of two blitz games would be played, with a time control of three minutes per side and a two-second increment starting with move 1. If a player scored 1½ points or more, he would win the championship. A drawing of lots would take place before each mini-match to decide which player plays with the white pieces.
• If the blitz mini-match are tied, a single blitz game with a time control of three minutes per side and a two-second increment starting with move 1 would be played, and the winner would win the championship. A drawing of lots would decide which player plays with the white pieces. If this game was drawn, another blitz game with reversed colors would be played with the same time control, and the winner would win the championship. This process is repeated until either player wins a game.
Players are not allowed to agree to a draw before black's 40th move. A draw claim before then is only permitted if a threefold repetition or stalemate has occurred.
The schedule
Sat 23 Nov Opening ceremony and technical meeting
Sun 24 Nov Rest day
Mon 25 Nov Game 1 (Gukesh–Ding, 0-1)
Tue 26 Nov Game 2 (Ding-Gukesh, ½-½)
Wed 27 Nov Game 3 (Gukesh-Ding, 1-0)
Thu 28 Nov Rest day
Fri 29 Nov Game 4 (Ding-Gukesh, ½-½)
Sat 30 Nov Game 5 (Gukesh-Ding, ½-½)
Sun 1 Dec Game 6 (Ding-Gukesh, ½-½)
Mon 2 Dec Rest day
Tue 3 Dec Game 7 (Gukesh-Ding, ½-½)
Wed 4 Dec Game 8 (Ding-Gukesh, ½-½)
Thu 5 Dec Game 9 (Gukesh-Ding, ½-½)
Fri 6 Dec Rest day
Sat 7 Dec Game 10 (Ding-Gukesh, ½-½)
Sun 8 Dec Game 11 (Gukesh-Ding, 1-0)
Mon 9 Dec Game 12 (Ding-Gukesh, 1-0)
Tue 10 Dec Rest Day
Wed 11 Dec Game 13 (Gukesh-Ding, ½-½)
Thu 12 Dec Game 14 (Ding-Gukesh, 0-1)
Fri 13 Dec Tiebreaks (if necessary)
Sat 14 Dec Closing ceremony
All games start at 5pm local time, 2.30pm in India, 9am in London, 4am in New York.
While Sunday’s game had left Gukesh with one hand on the trophy, the defeat on Monday left the devastated challenger fighting back tears at the board before signing his opponent’s scoresheet for the arbiter and exiting the sound-proof playing hall.
“It’s maybe the best game I’ve played in recent times,” Ding said afterward. “I just put pressure on my opponent the whole game. I did not slip like last game.”
Playing with the white pieces, Ding opened with the English (1 c4) for the second time in the match before aiming for long-term pressure with g3 and Bg2. He fell behind by more than 30 minutes on time before making his 10th move, but managed to thwart black’s main idea and find all the right moves that left Gukesh uncomfortable and without counterplay.
"This was the best Ding that exists!" (Giri) Ding Liren finishes with a rook sacrifice to end a brilliant game that levels the World Championship score at 6-6 with 2 games to go! #DingGukesh pic.twitter.com/82KnLpY9ou
— chess24 (@chess24com) December 9, 2024
Confounded by a state of middlegame zugzwang, Gukesh first cracked on his 17th move, when he exhausted 26 minutes and went behind on the clock before retreating his light-square bishop (17...Bg6!?). Ding blitzed out 18 d4! in response, giving rise to a clear winning chance for white.
After Ding capitalized on another inaccuracy (22...Bg5?!) with the winning 23 Nf4, the game appeared all but a handshake away according to the supercomputers evaluating the moves. But Ding still needed to find them on the board under mounting time pressure, relying on extraordinary composure and calculation. The champion continued to squeeze until Gukesh finally tapped out after 3hr 54min.
“After 23 Nf4, I realized my position was much, much better,” Ding said. “Before this, after 15 Nb5, I was very optimistic.”
Ding entered the first defense of his world championship a fortnight ago having gone 28 classical games without a win, a dreadful run of form that saw him drop to 23rd in the world rankings and prompted the oddsmakers to install him as roughly a 3-1 longshot in the match.
But he sprang a major surprise in Game 1 by winning as black, ending the 304-day winless streak with flair and delivering a riveting opening salvo.
Game 2 was a quiet draw, before Gukesh roared back with a win in Game 3. The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th games were each draws, before Gukesh’s shock win on Sunday took control of the match. Or so it seemed.
“Six-all is overall the fair result, but since I was leading after yesterday, it is a bit disappointing to lose this game,” Gukesh said. “At least the score is still tied and two more games are remaining.”
Both players will look forward to Tuesday’s rest day before play resumes on Wednesday with Gukesh marshaling the white pieces in Game 13.
Ding’s recuperative powers on the world championship stage became well-known when he won the title last year against Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, coming from behind three times during the classical stage before winning the match in tiebreakers despite never having led once in the three-week encounter.
The fifth-ranked Gukesh, an 18-year-old native of Chennai, is bidding to shatter the record for youngest ever undisputed world champion held by Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he dethroned Anatoly Karpov in their 1985 rematch in Moscow.
