World Chess Championship: after a terrible standoff, Gukesh and Ding Liren still tied

At the Singapore World Chess Championship, which takes place from November 25 to December 15, we have been witnessing for several days a terrible standoff between the title holder, the Chinese Ding Liren, and his Indian challenger of just 18 years old, Dommaraju Gukesh. After the merciless battles of the 1^ere et 3^e rounds which saw the two protagonists each achieve a great victory in a French defense then in a refused queen’s gambit, the players maintained the status quo by stringing together six high-intensity draws.

The score is now 4.5 to 4.5 and there remain 5 classic games at a rate of 40 moves to play in 2 hours of reflection before deciding in the event of a tie by playing tie-breaks in rapid games. While waiting for this final phase where the nerves are put to the test, the two champions will strive to produce a string of theoretical novelties as they tried to do, without success, during the last games. For the moment, the two grandmasters have succeeded each time in thwarting the positional traps, Gukesh, by displaying incredible maturity for his age, Ding Liren, by showing an almost superhuman capacity for concentration in critical moments…

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You will find, below, the entirety of rounds 3 to 9. A Réti opening, in which Ding Liren tried to hinder black castling, a French defense variant of exchange with a venomous appearance, an English game, A Grünfeld defense , a very fashionable London system, a Catalan part dear to the spiritual grand master Tartakover… the two swashbucklers have so far shown the full extent and richness of their theoretical preparation. The rest of the championship should have other exciting surprises in store for us… On your chessboards.

Ding Liren – Gukesh, 4th part of the Singapore match, start of Réti

1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.b3 Ff5 4.Fe2 h6 5.Fa3 Cbd7 6.0–0 e6 7.Fxf8 Cxf8 8.c4 C8d7 9.Cc3 0–0 10.cxd5 exd5 11.b4 c6 12.Cd4 Fh7 13.Bb3 Ce5 14.a4 Nc8 15.a5 b6 16.Nf3 Cxf3+ 17.Bxf3 d4 18.Ce2 dxe3 19.dxe3 Fe4 20.Tfd1 De7 21.Fxe4 Cxe4 22.axb6 axb6 23.Cc3 Tfd8 24.Cxe4 Dxe4 25.h3 c5 26.Txd8+ Txd8 27.bxc5 bxc5 28.Tc1 De5 29.Dc2 Td5 30.g3 f5 31.Rg2 Rh7 32.Dc4 Dd6 33.e4 Te5 34.exf5 Txf5 35.De4 Dd5 36.Dxd5 Txd5 37.Rf3 Rg6 38.Re4 Td4+ 39.Re3 Td5 40.Re4 Td4+ 41.Re3 Td5 42.Re4 Td4+, nulle, ½–½

Gukesh – Ding Liren, 5th game of the Singapore match, French exchange variant

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Cf3 Cf6 5.Fd3 c5 6.c3 c4 7.Fc2 Fd6 8.De2+ De7 9.Dxe7+ Rxe7 10.0–0 Te8 11.Te1+ Rf8 12.Txe8+ Rxe8 13.Fg5 Cbd7 14.Cbd2 h6 15.Fh4 Ch5 16.Te1+ Rf8 17.g4 Cf4 18.Fg3 Cb6 19.g5 hxg5 20.Cxg5 Fd7 21.Cgf3 Te8 22.Ce5 Fxe5 23.dxe5? Cd3 24.Fxd3 cxd3 25.f3 Cc4 26.Cxc4 dxc4 27.Te4 Fc6 28.Td4 Fxf3 29.Rf2 Fc6 30.Txc4 Td8 31.Td4 Txd4 32.cxd4 Fd5 33.b3 Re7 34.Re3 Re6 35.Rxd3 g6 36.Rc3 a6 37.Rd3 Rf5 38.Re3 Re6 39.Rd3 Rf5 40.Re3 Re6, nulle, ½–½

Ding Liren – Gukesh, Singapore Match 6th Round, London System

1.d4 Cf6 2.Ff4 d5 3.e3 e6 4.Cf3 c5 5.c3 Fd6 6.Fb5+ Cc6 7.Fxc6+ bxc6 8.Fxd6 Dxd6 9.Da4 0–0 10.Da3 Ce4 11.Cfd2 e5 12.Cxe4 dxe4 13.Dxc5 Dg6 14.Cd2 Dxg2 15.0–0–0 Dxf2 16.dxe5 Tb8 17.Cc4 Fe6 18.Td2 Df3 19.Te1 Fxc4 20.Dxc4 Df5 21.Dxc6 Dxe5 22.Dd5 De7 23.Dd6 Dg5 24.Dd5 De7 25.Dd6 Dg5 26.Dd5 Dh4 27.Ted1 g6 28.De5 Tbe8 29.Dg3 Dh5 30.Df4 Da5 31.a3 Db5 32.Td4 De2 33.T1d2 Df3 34.Rc2 Dxf4 35.exf4 f5 36.h4 e3! 37.Te2 Te7 38.Rd3 Tfe8 39.h5 gxh5 40.Td5 h4 41.Txf5 Td7+ 42.Rc2 Rg7 43.Tg2+ Rh8 44.Te2 Rg7 45.Tg2+ Rh8 46.Te2 Rg7, nulle, ½–½

Gukesh – Ding Liren, 7th part of the Singapore match, Grünfeld defense

1.Cf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.d4 Fg7 4.c4 c6 5.Fg2 Cf6 6.0–0 0–0 7.Te1 dxc4 8.e4 Fg4 9.Cbd2 c5 10.d5 e6 11.h3 Fxf3 12.Fxf3 exd5 13.exd5 Cbd7 14.Cxc4 b5 15.Ca3 Db6 16.Ff4 Tfe8 17.Dd2 Tad8 18.Cc2 Cf8 19.b4 c4 20.Fe3 Da6 21.Fd4 Txe1+ 22.Txe1 Dxa2 23.Ta1 Db3 24.Ta3 Db1+ 25.Rg2 Td7 26.Ta5 Db3 27.Ta3 Db1 28.Ta5 Db3 29.Txb5 Dd3 30.Df4 Dxc2 31.Fxf6 Df5 32.Dxf5 gxf5 33.Fxg7 Rxg7 34.Tc5 Cg6 35.Txc4 Ce5 36.Td4 Cc6 37.Tf4 Ce7 38.b5 Rf6 39.Td4 h6 40.Rf1Re5 41.Th4 Cxd5 42.Txh6 Cc3 43.Tc6 Ce4 44.Re1?!, 44.h4! maintained the advantage, 44…f6 45.h4 Td3 46.Fd1 f4 47.gxf4+ Rxf4 48.Fc2 Td5 49.Tc4 f5 50.Tb4 Rf3 51.Fd1+ Rg2 52.Tb3 Te5 53.f4 Te7 54.Te3 Th7 55.h5 Cf6 56 .Te5 Cxh5 57.Txf5 Cg3 58.Tf8 Tb7 59.Fa4 Rf3 60.f5 Rf4 61.f6 Ce4 62.Fc2 Cd6 63.Td8 Re5 64.Fb3 Cf7 65.Td5+ Rxf6 66.Rd2 Tb6 67.Fc4 Td6 68. Rc3 Txd5 69. Fxd5 Cd6 70. Rb4 Cxb5 71. Rxb5 a6+ 72. Rxa6, nulle, ½–½

Ding Liren – Gukesh, 8th game of the Singapore match, English game

1.c4 e5 2.Cc3 Fb4 3.Cd5 Fe7 4.Cf3 d6 5.g3 c6 6.Cxe7 Cxe7 7.Fg2 f6 8.0–0 Fe6 9.b3 d5 10.Fa3 0–0 11.Tc1 a5 12.Ce1 Te8 13.f4 exf4 14.Txf4 dxc4 15.bxc4 Cg6 16.Te4 Ca6 17.Cc2 Dc7 18.Cd4 Ff7 19.d3 Ce5 20.Cf3 Cd7 21.Txe8+ Txe8 22.Tb1 b5 23.cxb5 Db6+ 24.Rf1 cxb5 25.Fb2 Fxa2 26.Fd4 Cac5?!, the paradoxical 26…Ndc5! 27.Rc1 Bf7 28.Nd2 Qd6! was stronger… 27. Tc1 Fb3 28. De1 Fe6 29. Df2 Tc8 30. Fe3 Tc7 31. Cd4 Ff7 32. Cc6 Txc6 33. Fxc6 Dxc6 34. Fxc5 h6 35. Re1 b4 36. Dd4 Ce5 37. Rd2 Dg2 38. Df2 Dd5 39.Dd4 Dg2 40.Df2 Dd5 41.Dd4 Da2+ 42.Tc2 De6 43.Dd8+ Rh7 44.Dxa5 b3 45.Tc1 Dd5 46.Db4 Dg2 47.De4+ Dxe4 48.dxe4 b2 49.Tb1 Fa2 50.Txb2 Cc4+ 51. Rc3 Cxb2 nulle, ½–½

Gukesh – Ding Liren, 9th game of the Singapore match, Catalan opening

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Fb4+ 4.Fd2 Fe7 5.Fg2 d5 6.Nf3 0–0 7.0–0 c6 8.Dc2 Cbd7 9.Td1 b6 10.Fc3 Fb7 11.Cbd2 Dc7 12.Tac1 Tfd8 13.b4 c5 14.bxc5 bxc5 15.Bb2 Cb6 16.Fa5 dxc4 17.Nxc4 Bxf3 18.Bxb6 axb6 19.Bxf3 Ta6 20.Bb5?!, more tenacious would have been 20.Ne5!20… Txa2 21. 31.h3 h5 32.Ta1 Tc2 33.Fb5 Tc5 34.Fd3 Cd7 35.f4 gxf4 36.gxf4 Tc3 37.Rf2 Cc5 38.Re3 Cxd3 39.exd3 Tc2 40.Rf3 Td2 41.Ta3 Rg6 42.Tb3 f6 43.Ta3 Rf5 44.Ta5+ e5 45.fxe5 Txd3+ 46.Re2 Txh3 47.exf6+ Rxf6 48.Rf2 h4 49.Rg2 Tg3+ 50.Rh2 Rg6 51.Tb5 Tg5 52.Txg5+ Rxg5 53.Rh3 Rf6 54.Rxh4, null, ½–½