Chess
World Chess C’ship: An entertaining game 9 ends in a 54-move stalemate
D Gukesh, continued to press for a victory even as Liren found news ways to defend.
"We've played entertaining chess. Five more exciting games to go," said young Gukesh after game 9. (Photo Credit: FIDE)
When game 9 began on Thursday evening at Singapore, Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri predicted a victory for D Gukesh.
After all, the Indian challenger was playing with white pieces.
But as it turned out, after 54-moves, victory eluded the two stalwarts and the World Championship stays level on 4.5 points.
An entertaining middle-game
Earlier, Gukesh began proceedings with the Catalan Opening with white pieces.
Subsequently, both players made quick moves but Liren, as he has been right through this series, took more time than the challenger.
By the time 12 moves were made, the Chinese had already consumed 30 more minutes.
At this stage, Leela Zero, the AI-based chess model whose predictions are being used by the official FIDE broadcast, had Gukesh at a 22.8 percent win probability, higher than Liren (18.8 percent).
Then, however, and rather suddenly, thing began heating up in the middle of the board, with pieces falling off the board.
Quite naturally, Liren then began taking his time, seemingly having been caught off guard from the opening skirmishes.
The world champion spent almost 19 minutes on a move and then another 18 minutes on a subsequent move and at this stage, he was already 50 minutes behind on the clock compared to his opponent.
Thereafter, plenty of captures ensued with both players lose a pawn, a knight and a bishop, all in matter of six moves.
The Chinese champions was in a spot of bother at some point in the middle game. But once again, like he has done previously during the ongoing series, he found a way to defend and dig himself out of a hole.
And that was when Chess legend Susan Polgar predicted a draw.
🚨 The sequence of draws continues between Gukesh Dommaraju and Ding Liren in Game 9⃣
— The Bridge (@the_bridge_in) December 5, 2024
🇮🇳4.5-4.5🇨🇳#GukeshDing #FIDEWorldChampionship pic.twitter.com/9CF9FMBVsQ
In pursuit of victory
Gukesh, however, knowing that knows that after Friday’s rest day, Liren would have two games with white pieces, stayed on the board, still searching for a victory.
However, after 23 moves, the game began drifting towards a draw, which was eventually agreed upon after 54 moves.
Speaking to the media after the day’s play, Gukesh said that it was a game of ‘missed changes.’
"A few missed chances from me, and a few missed chances from him."
That said, he was quick to add that they have both entertained.
"We've played entertaining chess. Five more exciting games to go."
