“Don’t get into a fight just because the other guy isn’t willing to”, says Gotham Chess

A quote by Levy Rozman aka GothamChess in a recap video made prior to Game 6 of the Diren Liren – Gukesh D World Championship Match proved its significance and poetic nature as the game unfolded in Singapore.

Since the Magnus – Nepo World Championship Match, game 6 is something everyone is viscerally looking forward to. Magnus played a game for the books, breaking through a fortress and the game ended up becoming the longest game played in a World Championship match with 136 moves. It was also the very first decisive game of the match!

The 2023 World Championship between Ding and Nepo proved to be of significant importance since Ding deployed the infamous London system in a World Championship Match and went on to equalize the score with a win over Nepo.

We had a London in a Game 6 again! The opening however didn’t create anything for the Liren, hence the World Champion happily allowed a three-fold repetition. Gukesh however showed ambition and denied the repetition with a move which wasn’t approved by the chess engines. The decision made by the youngster received mixed reactions. On one hand, some people were impressed by the fighting spirit but others called it foolish. Hikaru Nakamura who has been critical of Ding’s decision-making in this match also sided with the latter. Hikaru felt that Gukesh has been showing signs of being too optimistic lately, and this game would be a good example of that.

30 moves deep into the game, Ding Liren has got an edge according to the engines but the clocks are at play too, as the players get down their final 10 minutes!