World Chess Championship: D Gukesh searches high and low for one against Wily Ding

World No.3 Hikaru Nakamura pointed out on his YouTube stream that, ‘Ding was not intentional while roasting Gukesh’. This reaction from Hikaru came following Ding Liren’s message to D. Gukesh which seems to be like ‘Prove it over the board’.

Though Gukesh dominated the Singapore match in this World Chess Championship 2024, the scores after nine of 14 games remain level at 4.5. However, Ding is gradually putting his opponent under pressure.

So far, Gukesh had the upper hand in this classical chess battle but failed to land the uppercut. If Ding emerges with a decisive counterpunch, taking the lead in the game, both the recovery margin and scope for mental regrouping will be minimal. In addition, Ding seems a more rapid player if the match goes to a tiebreak in case of a 7-7 tie.

Magnus Carlsen, the former world champion, said ‘Ding will try to control the game, but he is not capable, and Gukesh is not actively trying to control. This game is fascinating as both of them had their good and weak moments.

Carlsen added, ‘There should come a point when Gukesh realizes that the stakes are too high for taking risks he is taking recently. However, f he wishes to take the risk this game will be fascinating’.

A string of six consecutive draws into the World Championship match since 2006 is old hat, but these are more than just the first draws to have happened after decisive matches; they do not all come after a 0-0 deadlock.

In World Championship history, a younger player occupying the higher seed over existing champions is not new. But Carlsen, in comparison to the present Gukesh, was a higher skill and wily at playing in 2013 against Anand. There cannot be any complaints about the younger one being unfocused or unprepared.