The reigning world champion, Ding Liren and his 18-year-old challenger, D Gukesh played out a draw in Round 1 of the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis on Monday, their first encounter since the Indian teen won the Candidates tournament in April 2024.
The match was a trailer of what would happen in the World Championship match later this year in November.
The match started with Ding holding a 2-0 lead over Gukesh in classical chess, Liren’s both wins came with the Black pieces.
His most recent win against the Indian was at the Tata Steel Chess in January this year.
This time also, Ding had a chance to make life difficult for Gukesh. But fortunately, this time it was with White.
After 20-minute think on move 18, Gukesh moved his Black pawn to the d4 square turning the shot in White’s favour, which drew a loud ‘Whhaat’ from GM Yasser Seirawan in the broadcast studio in St Louis.
“That’s a lot of time for a move you don’t like!,” gasped Yasser Seirawan.
GM commentator and R Pragnanandhaa’s coach Peter Svidler called it a “very surprising decision and a huge opportunity for Ding.”
“This is Ding’s best chance to get somewhere in the game,” Svidler exclaimed.
With the opportunity in, Ding’s hands resting on his hands, were taken back in half an hour.
Liren tried to get the game back by moving the Queen to h6 but loosened the noose with a bd3 move next — which allowed Black to conjure an advanced passed pawn and a chance to drum up potential counterplay.
Gukesh was recently gifted his first car — a swanky Mercedes-Benz E-class by his Chennai school in the run-up to his match.
Gukesh is recently positioned at the highest-ever, world no. 6 ranking with a rating of 2766.
Contrastingly, the world champion, Liren’s ranking has dropped to its lowest ranking since 2016.
The Chinese GM is now placed at No. 15 in the world. “I wanted to surprise him in the opening but also save my preparation.”
“I’m playing better now than I was at the beginning of the year. I played many training games with my seconds and although I lost many of them I got familiar with chess…I learned a lot from my losses.”
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