Gukesh vs. Ding, Game 14 Opening: The Beginning of the End
The fourteenth game of the 2024 Chess World Championship starts with 1. Nf3, the fourth time it has presented in the match. Ding Liren (White) chose a fianchetto setup with g3-Bg2 while Gukesh (Black) claimed the centre with …d5 and …c5 pawn pushes, a slightly uncommon choice that led Ding to counter-strike with d4 and form a resemblance to a reverse Grünfeld.
Gukesh produced his surprise on move six, 6. …Nge7!?, a move considered fair by the machines albeit not necessarily tracking to equality for Black. Ding took about 13 minutes to engage in central conflict, and then another five minutes to retreat his queen back to d1 on move 9. Gukesh once again seems comfortably prepared, but as we have seen so many times, that does not correlate strongly with the outcome of the game. And being the final classical game of the match, if either player wins this game, they will be World Champion!
The first 10 moves of game 14 are given below. Follow the game live on Lichess, or on stream with commentary by Grandmasters Peter Leko and Daniel Naroditsky.
