Gukesh vs. Ding, Game 12 Opening: Settling in for the long haul

The twelfth game of the 2024 Chess World Championship has Ding Liren (White) turning to the English, 1.c4, as he seeks to regain his balance in the match. Gukesh (Black) chose 1. …e6, in contrast to his 1. …e5 of game 8. That prompted Ding to take a few minutes on move two before deciding on a Catalan-esque setup with 2. g3 and 3. Bg2. Gukesh’s 4. …d4 trails well behind continuing the Queen’s Gambit Declined image with …Be7 or the capture …dxc4 in the database.

By move 8, the game is outside of anything known at the top level. Gukesh has only taken three minutes, so he seems to be quite comfortable with the early-game outcome, while Ding is down 25 minutes and counting as he ponders his ninth move. White will have chances in this one, and we have to think Ding will push hard to convert any advantage.

The first 8 moves of game 12 are given below. Follow the game live on Lichess, or on stream with commentary by Grandmasters Anish Giri and Peter Leko.