For the fourth time in two years, Ding Liren pulled a rabbit out of the hat when he needed it: winning a match at the World Championship when he was trailing after a loss.
The Chinese grandmaster did it three times to force Ian Nepomniachi into a tiebreak, where he eventually emerged victorious. After losing to him in the 11th match on Sunday, the world champion is now facing the teenage challenger Gukesh from India.
With two more matches remaining in the 2024 World Chess Championship, a tiebreak looks increasingly likely as both players are deadlocked on six points each with two wins in 12 matches.
How do you keep doing this?
“Just by chance,” Ding told grandmaster Maurice Ashley in a post-match press conference when asked how he found the strength to do that time and time again.
“Yesterday was a tough match to face because I was very good at one point and I spent very little time in critical moments and spoiled very good positions. I continued my normal routine. Had dinner, slept early and got fresh for today’s game.”
Ding’s predecessor Magnus Carlsen predicted that the most likely scenario after his loss in Game 11 would be a Ding Liren “cycle”. Before the World Championships even started, many elite grandmasters said they feared it would be a “massacre”.
Despite not playing his best chess in Singapore, Ding showed he is made of tougher stuff.
“This is Ding’s best game in the last two years. This is his real strength when he is in good form. What a statement to make after yesterday’s terrible mistake!” Susan Polger said at X. “Those who said Gukesh would demolish, demolish, humiliate and massacre Ding were all wrong! As I said all along, it will be a close game, and it will be.
It was one of those games where Gukesh didn’t really make any big mistakes. It was death by small inaccuracies and marginal gains made on each move that ultimately added up to a huge advantage across the board.
The evaluation bar can only offer the following four moves from Gukesh as inaccuracies: 20…Bf6?!, 22…Bg5?!, 26…Qd7?! And 36… Rc4?!.
But today Ding Liren was so clinical that in the middle game, Gukesh’s pieces were almost out of good square while Ding had control of the central files.
As for the Indian teenager, Susan Polgar tweeted: “This will be the biggest test of Gukesh’s young career! How to come back from such a loss? Fortunately, he has a day off to recover.”
There is still some consolation for Gukesh.
“Obviously this game is a bit disappointing. Thankfully it’s a rest day tomorrow. Glad to know the score is still tied and this game is not a big blow to my chances. I will only try to play well in the remaining two matches,’ said Gukesh, who usually does not return, after resigning today, he needs time to compose himself.
In the last three weeks, it has been a cage war in Singapore. Ding won the first match of the World Championship. Gukesh won 3 matches. Since then, seven matches have ended in a draw.
But after Gukesh’s victory in Game 11, the World Championship came alive. Ding is only now beginning to realize that despite being high on the board, he was largely content to draw, offering draws in games 6 and 8. It is necessary to win. And he won, not because of chance, but because he tried to pull it off.
Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri spoke to Chess24 about how the Ding vs Gukesh battle shaped more than 12 games, saying: “It reminds me of the movie Tenet – I completely lost the plot, but I’m enjoying the ride! “