China's Ding Liren fought back against Gukesh Dommaraju on Monday in the 12th game of their $2.5m world championship match in Singapore, a day after the spirited Indian teenager seemed to have seized control of the tightly contested best-of-14-games showdown with a dramatic Game 11 victory. The decisive outcome after 39 moves and nearly four hours marked a significant turnaround for the 32-year-old defending champion from Zhejiang province, who had appeared visibly distressed following a one-move blunder that cost him a crucial game less than 24 hours earlier.
Sunday's game had left Gukesh with a strong grip on the trophy, while Monday's defeat left the disheartened challenger struggling to hold back tears for nearly a minute before signing his scoresheet and leaving the playing hall. Ding, playing with the white pieces, opened with the English (1 c4) for the second time in the match, aiming for long-term pressure with g3 and Bg2. Despite falling behind by more than a half hour on time before making his 10th move, he managed to counter black's main strategy and find all the right moves that left Gukesh uncomfortable and without counterplay.
Confused by a state of middlegame zugzwang, Gukesh first faltered on his 17th move, spending 26 minutes and falling behind on time before retreating his light-square bishop (17...Bg6!?). Ding swiftly responded with 18 d4!, creating a clear winning opportunity for white. After capitalizing on another mistake (22...Bg5?!) with the decisive 23 Nf4, the game seemed almost over according to the supercomputers evaluating the moves. However, Ding still had to find the moves under increasing time pressure, relying on exceptional composure and calculation. The champion continued to apply pressure until Gukesh finally resigned after 3 hours and 54 minutes.
Ding entered his first defense of the world championship having gone 28 classical games without a win, a concerning streak that saw him drop to 23rd in the world rankings and prompted oddsmakers to consider him a 3-1 longshot in the best-of-14-games match. Game 2 was a quiet draw, followed by Gukesh's resounding win in Game 3. The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and 10th games were all draws, before Gukesh's surprising win on Sunday seemed to take control of the match.
Both players will look forward to Tuesday's rest day before the match resumes on Wednesday with Gukesh playing with the white pieces in Game 13. Ding's ability to recover on the world championship stage became well-known when he won the title last year against Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi, coming from behind three times during the classical stage before winning the match in tiebreakers despite never leading once in the three-week encounter.
The fifth-ranked Gukesh, an 18-year-old from Chennai, is aiming to break the record for the youngest ever undisputed world champion, currently held by Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he defeated Anatoly Karpov in their 1985 rematch in Moscow. A full report will follow.
Source link: https://www.theguardian.com
