2024 World Chess Championship: Game 3

Daaim Shabazz November 29, 2024

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2024 World Chess Championship: Game 3
Wednesday, 26 November 2024

Gukesh breaks through… evens the score!

Dommaraju Gukesh won Game 3 of the World Championship match with an impressive win over Ding Liren. This game rode on a razor’s edge when Ding was close to stealing the initiative. The game went down normal channels and followed previous games but Gukesh seemed to get nothing special with white. He pushed forward with 9.g4 and then after 9…Qxb3 10.axb3 black played 10…Bc2 a move that would define the game. The move attacks a pawn but the intent is to remain on the crucial diagonal.

The game continued and after 14…Rg8! it appeared that Ding was in top form. If white tries to trap the bishop with 15.Rc1, then 15…g5 would solve the problems. There were some other nuances in the position that led to dizzying minor piece complications. The turning point came just as Ding was trying to seize the initiative. After 18…Rh5? (instead of 18…Bf5) Ding missed a detail in the position and allowed his bishop to be entombed after the simple 19.e4. Here is the moment and the reaction from ChessBase India:

The moment when @DGukesh played 19. e4 – he now has a better position against Ding Liren, and has the chance to win a full piece! #DingGukesh pic.twitter.com/E3enK8WIH0
— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) November 27, 2024

What made it worse was that Ding had fallen behind on the clock… almost an hour! After 19.e4, Ding failed to find the best continuation 19…Ne6! 20.Rc1 Nxd4 21.Bf2 Bc5. The best this would get him is two pawns for the piece. As Ding continued to try to find resources, he fell deeper and deeper into time pressure, with 10 minutes to make 20 moves. He continued with 19…dxe4 20.fxe4 Ne6 which is similar to the previous line. Gukesh’s 23.Ne2! was a move Ding may have overlooked before going into the line beginning with 10.Bc2.

After the smoke cleared, Gukesh had a piece for two pawns and while black had a compact structure, he had no plans. As the time melted away, Ding could not hold it together and blundered with 36…f5? After 37.Bf4 Rh5, Ding ran out of time, but Gukesh stated that he was going to play 38.Bxf5! which wins more material. It was a big win for Gukesh, and the match changed momentum before the first break.