At a press conference for the ongoing World Chess Championship, the world champion and teenage challenger was asked a strange question.
Both players were asked what they would do if they had to visit a tourist spot on Sentosa Island, which is hosting the World Championships. Both were given three options: Adventure Cove Waterpark, Universal Studios or the Aquarium. But there was a catch to the question, the players had to visit one of these together.
“They are all for children,” Ding Liren replied.
At the World Championship, current crown wearer Ding Liren and daring teenage challenger D Gukesh, engage in several dangerous activities. The Jenga Tower of the World Chess Championship is becoming increasingly unstable each time one more game ends in a tie and both players find themselves level on points. And with this, players are playing more cautiously to avoid defeat.
Surprisingly, for the seventh consecutive match at the 2024 World Chess Championship, Gukesh and Ding Liren agreed to a draw.
After Saturday’s draw of 36 moves, the possibility of a tiebreak seems to be increasing. 10 games into this duel, both players are deadlocked on five points each. If there is no player who has the advantage after four more games, the match goes to a tie-break, which is played in a quick format. It would clearly suit Ding Liren, who beat Ian Nepomniacchi in a rapid tiebreak last year to be crowned world champion in the first place.
Gukesh started the World Chess Championship as World No. 5 in Classical with a rating of 2783. The classical format is his forte. Meanwhile, the world champion from China was world number 23 with a rating of 2728 before the first match. But in the rapid format, Gukesh’s rating is 2654 and the world ranking is 45, while Ding, who is ranked 2776, is in second place. the world
“It looks like Ding has found his groove and knows his intentions. If Gukesh wants to win this match, he’ll have to take a chance to break the deadlock. Ding is happy to speed and blitz his way into the playoffs,” commented chess legend Susan Polgar at X .
In game 10, there wasn’t much to separate the two, with Ding Liren breaking his tradition of playing a different system in his opening when playing with the white pieces. After trying out Game 6, he returned to the London system for the second time. As Ding admitted after game 9, now all the opening moves are used by both players in an attempt to catch their opponent.
In the history of the World Chess Championship, the London system has made an appearance only three times. And it has always been attempted by the Chinese man, twice against Gukesh and once against Nepo last year.
The draw didn’t seem to bother either player too much.
“I’m ready for a game of both colors. But a solid draw like this with the black pieces is a good result. The result is fine, it means we have four more interesting games,” said an absent-minded Gukesh at the post-match press conference.
But the draw means the game is now reduced to a best-of-four match where the crowning of an 18th world champion or a misjudged pawn push between the worlds by Ding Liren could be the difference. Reign for a few more years.
“Obviously a game costs more now than it used to. But my approach and goal is still the same: play a good game every time. If you think about it, it’s not that different. Even though the price of losing the first game was not that expensive, I didn’t want to lose that game,’ said Gukesh.
“There is not much room for error. Now we have to be careful with every move. Defeat will be a very bad situation,” Ding admitted.
Ding Liren has yet to win a single match in the ongoing World Championship after winning Match 1. Gukesh was the last player to taste victory in the World Chess Championship by leveling the match score in Game 3.
Asked whether he would now wait for other players to make mistakes, Gukesh replied: “Mistakes are happening in every game. In general it is difficult not to make mistakes in chess. We’re trying to outwit each other at this point. “