Indian Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju frittered away a strong positional and time advantage as reigning champion Ding Liren of China recovered from a blunder.
Ding put up a strong defence to escape with a draw in Game 7 of their FIDE World Chess Championship Final match at Resorts World Sentosa here on Tuesday.
In a game in which fortunes swung like a pendulum especially for Gukesh as he had a golden opportunity of winning the game and taking a one-point advantage in the 14-game encounter in which the player reaching 7.5 points will claim the title and also the lion’s share of the prize fund of US$2.5 million.
However, Gukesh Dommaraju missed a couple of strong move sequences that could have won him the game and then landed in severe time trouble as the Chinese Grandmaster traded pieces to steer the game to draw.
Ding Liren dodged the bullet as was in what he himself described as a “hopeless position” after a blunder on the 40th move, but took credit for finding an “interesting idea” that saved the day for him.
A draw was agreed after 72 moves in the five-and-half-hour marathon battle, the longest game in this match, with nothing to play for. Both players now have 3.5 points from seven games and will meet on Wednesday for the eighth game.
Gukesh’s opening strategy was on point. His team prepared a strong novelty on move seven in a well-known line, allowing him to stay ahead of the clock for most of the game. The Indian Grandmaster, the youngest player to win the Candidates, surprised everyone with his opening choice as they picked an interesting plan. Ding opted for Kings India Defence and the game then got transposed to Neo-Grunfeld Defense: Classical Defense pattern.
Gukesh had a huge positional and time advantage but he made a few bad moves and the Indian lost his advantage by simplifying the position. Ding put up a strong defence despite the time trouble as at one time he had 21 minutes for 20 moves to make the first-time control of 40 moves in 90 minutes.
With only seven seconds left on his clock, Ding Liren blundered on the last move before the time control. Instead of 40…Ke5, he should have played 40…Nc8-b6, with a blockade and very good chances to draw.
But just when victory seemed locked up for the challenger, nerves kicked in. Converting the endgame was not an easy task and, low on time, Gukesh was unable to find the win.
The 18-year-old Gukesh, hoping to become the youngest World Champion ever, lost his time advantage too when he took 20 minutes for his 28th move.
Though he found the best move in that position by moving his rook to a5, Ding managed to trade off the queens and though he made the 40th move with just seven seconds remaining, he managed to neutralise some of Gukesh’s advantage.
They reached a rook ending with minor pieces with Gukesh having an extra pawn but many experts felt that the advantage was not big enough.
Former women’s No.1 Susan Polgar felt that Gukesh’s decision to simplify the position had backfired.
Ding once again went behind on time as he had less than 10 minutes to complete the game.
He also played an inaccurate move on his 40th turn, according to Susan Polgar, which gave his Indian rival some advantage.
But Gukesh frittered away the positional as well as time advantage once again and played inaccurately as the position became equal.
Gukesh compounded his misery by missing a winning move as he retreated his bishop on the 46th move.
Ding continued to play accurately and Gukesh had seconds to make his moves as the game teetered on the brink of a draw, leaving Gukesh kicking himself for some of the moves they played.
Gukesh was disappointed and said missing some of the strong defensive moves put up by his opponent was “unpleasant”.
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