Ding-Gukesh draw in thrilling battle!

Daaim Shabazz December 11, 2024

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2024 World Chess Championship: Game 13
Tuesday, 11 December 2024

A heavyweight battle ends in a draw…
tension high on even of final game

The Ding-Gukesh draw today held the chess world in suspense. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich made the ceremonial move and saw that the future of chess is in good hands. Ding Liren and Gukesh Dommaraju played a titanic battle today in the penultimate classical game of the World Chess Championship.

**Game 13 was a titanic battle!**
Photo by Maria Emelianova

Today’s Game 13 was likened to a heavyweight boxing match where one fighter had a technical advantage, but the other fighter deflected blow after blow and held his own after weathering tremendous pressure. Gukest reverted back to 1.e4 and Ding responded with the French Defence that he employed in Game 1. There was a move order subtlety with 5.Nce2!? This is a departure from 5.f4 and seemed to catch Ding off guard.

“I was confused with my opponents opening move order. He tricked me with his idea of delaying f4. I also missed his excellent moves 19.Qe2 and 22.Bf4. He was able to gradually improve his position”.

~Ding Liren at the press conference

A determined Gukesh had a firm grip and seemed to be sailing to a crucial victory. Photo by Eric Rosen — A determined Gukesh had a firm grip and seemed to be sailing to a crucial victory.
Photo by Eric Rosen

With these moves, black had to reach down deep and find a series of accurate moves to survive. Both players may be dealing with the onset symptoms of fatigue since all the games have been hard-fought and not simply reeling off variations of preparation. In the following key position, Gukesh had nursed a steady advantage and played 31.Ne4. This left Ding to find an only move 31…Rf8! which he found in only three minutes. Gukesh called the defensive resource an “unpleasant surprise.”

***After 31.Ne4?! Ding found 31…Rf8! since 32.Nd6 is met by 32…Rc7***

“I thought I played quite a good game. When I played 31.Ne4 I missed his defence idea with 31…Rf8 and 32…Rc7. My initial intention was to exchange rooks first and only then Ne4, which should be winning.”

~Gukesh Dommaraju at the press conference

Tense was so thick before that move and the world championship match came down to this move. After finding this move, the two players walked a tactical tightrope but kept the balance. Relieved, Ding talked to Mike Klein’s chess.com about the moment.

Ding on surviving bad positions: "I try & find the moves to stay in the game — I'm very happy to find Rf8. After that it seems that my position is holdable, but before he has many other ways to press & have the advantage"

On Game 14: "I don't think we'll see a short draw!" pic.twitter.com/xtPkEUKDnV
— chess24 (@chess24com) December 11, 2024

Wow!

What excitement going into the last classical game! You have two likable Asians going toe-to-toe and playing creative chess. The Ding-Gukesh draw shows that classical can be watchable and as entertaining as chess where players blunder in faster time controls. It has been a win-win. You have to go back a long time before to find a match with such intrigue. The first Anand-Carlsen match in India probably had a similar buzz, but the “father of Indian chess” did not play up to his standard.

Since then, Viswanathan Anand has raised an army of young cubs who are now assailing the chess world. There are now 85 Grandmasters in India, and more are coming. Will Gukesh become the youngest world champion? At 18, he would be the youngest. Of course, China has been very efficient at producing world-class talent and would like to keep the crown as another opportunity to grow the game in the land of Xiangqi.