Ding Liren managed to secure a tense draw against Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju in the 13th game of their world championship showdown on Wednesday, leaving the match tied at 6½-6½ with one game remaining. The 32-year-old defending champion seemed visibly unsettled at the board, having less than five minutes to complete the final 10 moves before the time control. However, he displayed exceptional defensive skills under immense pressure, stabilizing the position before the game concluded peacefully due to threefold repetition after over five hours of play. The 14th game is scheduled for Thursday.
Gukesh, who had the white pieces in the final opportunity, showed no signs of nerves. He opened with 1 e4 for the third time, with Ding responding with the French Defense. Gukesh quickly played his moves before introducing a near-novelty with 8 Be3, prompting Ding to spend over 37 minutes on his response with 8...Nb6. Gukesh gained an advantage in the opening with a significant clock advantage, increasing the pressure with the tricky 22 Bf4! However, Ding’s passive 23...Rb7 left him in a precarious position. Gukesh’s decision to exchange material shortly after (25 Bxe7 Rexe7) eased the tension, seemingly allowing Ding to escape, but Ding’s choice to retreat his queen (30...Qf7?!) instead of capturing on e1 weakened his position.
“I thought that after 24 Bd6 I should have a quite nice advantage, which probably was the case, but I couldn’t see a knockout blow,” Gukesh reflected. “Maybe there wasn’t one.” The pivotal moment came when Ding had to find the only move that wasn’t losing, 31...Rf8. Despite Gukesh’s advantage, he was unable to capitalize, and neither player could make progress in the rook endgame. They agreed to a draw after 69 moves and 5 hours and 6 minutes of play.
Ding entered the championship on a 28-game winless streak in classical games, causing his world ranking to drop to 23rd. Oddsmakers had him as a 3-1 underdog in the match. However, he surprised everyone by winning Game 1 as black, ending his 10-month winless streak. Game 2 was a draw, followed by Gukesh’s victory in Game 3. The subsequent games from four to ten were all draws. Gukesh won Game 11 on Sunday, but Ding retaliated in Game 12 on Monday.
The $2.5 million competition resumes on Thursday with Ding playing as white in Game 14. If the game ends in a draw, leading to a 7-7 tie, a series of tiebreak games with faster time controls will be played on Friday. This was the format that allowed Ding to win the title last year against Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi. Despite being considered the underdog due to his recent form, Ding would be a slight favorite if the match were decided in rapid or blitz games.
Eighteen-year-old Gukesh, currently ranked fifth in the world, aims to break Garry Kasparov’s record as the youngest undisputed world champion. Kasparov was 22 when he defeated Anatoly Karpov in their 1985 rematch in Moscow.
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