Gukesh cracks Ding, leads 6-5
18-year-old Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju (India) exerted enormous pressure forcing the Chinese Grandmaster Ding Ling to crack in the 11th game of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2024, presented by Google, at the Equarius Hotel Sentosa, Singapore here today. Gukesh now leads the match 6-5, with three games to go. The win today fetched US$ 200,000 for Gukesh. Further, the player who scores 7.5 points or more will win this 14 game match, picking up the better part of the US$2.5 million total prize fund.
In the Reversed Blumenfeld Gambit arising out of Reti Opening Gukesh fired the first salvo taking Ding Liren into deep thought as early as the fourth move. Today’s game resembled an online rapid Adhiban Baskaran – Ding Liren game from 2021, where the Chinese Grandmaster had emerged the winner. Today was another day with another script and another result. “It was a very difficult game for me. Already on move four, I wasn’t sure if I had made the correct choice. I remembered a game I played in a rapid tournament against GM Adhiban but I couldn’t remember the other moves” said a downcast Ding. On the other hand, a happy looking Gukesh said, “Full congratulations to my team for their effort in the preparation of this opening, which caught my opponent by surprise”.
Consuming huge time right from the word go, Ding found himself under pressure from the fully prepared Indian Grandmaster. Ding’s time deficit got offset when Gukesh went on a long thought a couple of moves later. But the Chennai teenager never relinquished the grip as he held on to the key diagonal and file through “h1-a8” and “b1-b8” respectively. Activating the bishop through 18. Ba3 injected fresh energy into white’s attack and black was found wanting unable to save the position and the game. With the number of moves getting more than the clock time on hand, the world champion fell victim to time pressure, blundering the knight on the 29th move and resigned immediately. By then, the position was looking difficult, but accurate defense that stood by Ding slipped through his hands today.
An important win in Game 11 for the Challenger, is a shot in the arm for Team Gukesh for the amazing spadework that they have done so far. The large crowd in the Fan Zone adjacent to the playing hall burst into a round of applause and cheers, when the World Champion Ding Liren stopped the clock acknowledging resignation. Support for youth could be felt in the air, whilst change of guard may not be too far away.
During the 7th game GM Anish Giri had joked, “Gukesh wants to be able to say that he has won the World Championship at the age of 18 and with his eyes closed.” Anish’s words are close enough to be prophetic as Gukesh now needs three draws or 1.5/3 while Ding would need to make 2/3 to force the match into tie-breaks.
At the start of today’s game, Asia’s first Grandmaster Eugene Torre of the The Philippines made the ceremonial first move for white, while former women world champion Grandmaster Hou Yifan of China made the move for black. The 12th game begins at 5 PM Singapore time on Monday 9th December, 2024, with World Champion Ding Liren making the first move. The match presented by Google, will be broadcast LIVE with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.
GM Gukesh Dommaraju (2783) – GM Ding Liren (2728) 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 d4 3. b4 c5 4. e3 Nf6 5. a3 Bg4 6. exd4 cxd4 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Qxf3 Qc7 9. d3 a5 10. b5 Nbd7 11. g3 Nc5 12. Bg2 Nfd7 13. O-O Ne5 14. Qf4 Rd8 15. Rd1 g6 16. a4 h5 17. b6 Qd6 18. Ba3 Bh6 19. Bxc5 Qxc5 20. Qe4 Nc6 21. Na3 Rd7 22. Nc2 Qxb6 23. Rab1 Qc7 24. Rb5 O-O 25. Na1 Rb8 26. Nb3 e6 27. Nc5 Re7 28. Rdb1 Qc8?? 29. Qxc6!! 1-0.
Photo Courtesy: FIDE (International Chess Federation)
