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7th Draw In A Row Leaves Ding-Gukesh Level With 4 Games To Go
Nothing can separate Ding Liren and Gukesh Dommaraju right now! Photo: Eng Chin An/FIDE.

7th Draw In A Row Leaves Ding-Gukesh Level With 4 Games To Go

Colin_McGourty
Colin_McGourty
Staff
| 116 | Chess Event Coverage

World Champion Ding Liren hesitated on move one against GM Gukesh Dommaraju in game 10 of the 2024 FIDE World Championship, but then he repeated 1.d4 and the London System and got a risk-free position with a small edge. He failed to apply any pressure, however, and the game fizzled out into a 36-move draw. The match is now tied at 5-5 with just four games to go. 

Game 11 starts Sunday, December 8, at 4:00 a.m. ET / 10:00 CET /  2:30 p.m. IST / 5:00 p.m. local time in Singapore.

Match Score

Name Rating 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 Score
  Ding Liren 2728 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ . . . . 5
  Gukesh Dommaraju 2783 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ . . . . 5
How to watch the 2024 FIDE World Championship
You can watch the 2024 FIDE World Championship live on Chess.com/TV and on the Chess24 Twitch and YouTube channels, while GM Hikaru Nakamura is streaming on Kick. IM Andras Toth is analyzing the games in a Chessable course. 
Watch the live broadcast, hosted by GM Anish Giri, GM Peter Leko, and John Sargent.
Ding Liren arrives at the board for game 10. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Grandmaster Game Analysis, By GM Rafael Leitao

GM Rafael Leitao analyzes game 10 of the match below.

Ding Returns To The London

Going into game 10 of the match, World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who heavily favored Gukesh before the match, had declared there was no longer a favorite.

Ding also had the advantage of having the white pieces in three of the remaining five classical games, but how would he use the advantage of the first move? He'd played 1.e4, 1.Nf3, 1.d4, and 1.c4, in that order, exhausting all the options that wouldn't come as at least a mild shock on move one of a world championship game.

GM Anish Giri was joined by GM Peter Leko for our live commentary, and both agreed that Ding wouldn't avoid pushing his central pawns for 19 moves as he had in game eight—in fact, they both agreed that he'd return to his favorite move, 1.d4.

That's just what happened, though only after a remarkable moment of hesitancy just as Ding was about to move the d-pawn. 

The world champion laughed when asked about it afterward, explaining, "I realized it’s the same to start with 1.d4 or 1.Nf3, because he will also go 1…d5, like in the previous rounds, and I can transpose to the game by playing 2.d4."

Ding Liren surprised himself on move 1. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

It was a curious moment to have that thought—and one might wonder if Gukesh is that predictable, but Ding got the same London System that he'd played in game six. The first twist came with 5.Be2 in a position where 5.c3 would have repeated the earlier game.  

Gukesh confessed, "In the opening I was aware of this Be2 idea, but I couldn’t remember the exact details," and it's likely 5...Bd6!?, which surprised Ding, was less accurate than 5...Qb6, which is the move Team Ding had probably focused on.

Gukesh was the one surprised first in the opening in game 10. Photo: Eng Chin An/FIDE.

Ding was able to follow a plan his second GM Richard Rapport had played previously and push for c4, to reach a symmetrical position where White's superior bishops gave him some advantage. The commentators felt it was a small opening victory for White.

 1.5 Moves Of Action

Gukesh paused for 26 minutes in the above position, with Ding later telling FM Mike Klein, "It's a rare case that he's thinking more in the opening than me."

The move that Gukesh came up with, however, was strong: 10...Nh5!

He explained it on logical principles, commenting:

I know that Nh5 is one of the common ideas. It’s also why White very often with the bishop on f4 goes h3, to not lose the bishop, so I thought here Nh5 was maybe possible, and then I had to calculate some lines.

The actual concrete lines were the key, however, with Ding, who hadn't foreseen the move, later regretting that he thought for just 25 minutes. Giri would explain in his fast recap, "The game really lasted for about 1.5 moves."

It's precisely here where other options were possible. 11.Ne4! was the move that worried Gukesh, and the response he was planning (11...Be7 12.Bd6 Bxd6) would at least have given White more chances than in the game.

"There are many moves, and I chose a harmless one!" said Ding about his 11.Bg5, admitting that he'd overlooked the strength of Gukesh's retreating move 11...Be7!. In the press conference, Ding showed what he'd been "betting on"—11...Qxd1.

After 11...Be7 12.Ne4 Nf6! Gukesh was already confident in his position.   

The Quietest Draw Of The Match So Far

When Ding then went for an exchange of queens on d8, Leko called it "a silent draw offer."

Ding essentially agreed, describing the position as "a very drawish endgame." For once neither player tried to interfere with the inevitable, which was "a solid draw" (an expression Gukesh used twice), with sky-high accuracy scores, as noted by GM Ian Nepomniachtchi. 

The only obstacle for the players was that draw offers aren't allowed before move 40, so they had to manufacture a repetition of moves, as they did, to end the game on move 36.

Despite being the seventh draw in a row, this was by far the driest of the match so far, with even the uneventful game nine having contained far more drama. We've been spoiled in the last couple of years, but in terms of world championship history, this was just one of countless such draws we've seen, especially in the legendary Kasparov-Karpov matches. Their first match featured 17 draws in a row. 

Most of the draws in Singapore have been exciting, but not this one. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Potential tiebreaks are looming large, with just four games to go, but our commentators aren't convinced that they necessarily favor Ding, the number-two on the rapid rating list. Giri commented, "I think Ding thinks he's a favorite in the rapid tiebreaks, but I don't think so myself—I think Gukesh would be a favorite, but maybe less of a favorite [than in classical chess]." Leko, meanwhile, noted, "If you will ask me who is a favorite in a world championship rapid tiebreak, I would say only Magnus Carlsen!"

If you will ask me who is a favorite in a world championship rapid tiebreak, I would say only Magnus Carlsen!

—Peter Leko

His point was that for everyone else nerves take over.

Once again both players looked comfortable in the post-game press conference. Photo: Eng Chin An/FIDE.

Both players were asked if the short distance to the end of the match was weighing on them, and while Gukesh stuck to his mantra of just trying to play good moves and good games, Ding admitted there was an influence: "That means there’s not so much room to make mistakes—every loss will result in a very bad situation and we need to be careful on every move."

There’s not so much room to make mistakes—every loss will result in a very bad situation and we need to be careful on every move.

—Ding Liren

Neither player felt the match had truly reached an impasse, however. Ding pointed out "sometimes we overevaluate the importance of the opening," as he explained that if you play with computer-like precision you can still win an equal position.

Gukesh, in turn, pointed out that both sides were getting chances and that avoiding mistakes is easier said than done: "It’s hard in chess not to make mistakes—mistakes happen however much you try not to make them!"

It's hard in chess not to make mistakes—mistakes happen however much you try not to make them!

—Gukesh Dommaraju 

"He’ll be happy to hear that he’s a chess player!" Gukesh said with a smile when his father was described as a chess player. Photo: Eng Chin An/FIDE.

Perhaps the best reply of the press conference came when Ding was asked what he'd learned about himself during the match, a tricky question probing at mental or chess-technical areas players might not want to discuss publicly. He came up with: "I’m always the first one to arrive!"

Indeed, we could see Ding sitting and waiting as Gukesh arrived for game 10.

Maybe that's an area Team Gukesh can try to switch things up, but in any case, Sunday's game 11, when Gukesh has the white pieces for the penultimate time, should be unmissable. Will this be the day the deadlock is broken... 

Or will the match remain perfectly balanced?

Video Playlists

Check out Chess.com's playlist of Game Reviews and Interviews.

You can also follow along with the video recaps by your favorite partner streamers, like GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Anish Giri, IM Levy Rozman (GothamChess), GM Ben Finegold, GM Aman Hambleton (Chessbrah), GM Arturs Neiksans, FM Nemo Zhou, Epic Chess, and Chess Dojo in the playlist here.

The 2024 FIDE World Championship in Singapore decides the next world champion. 18-year-old Indian Challenger Gukesh Dommaraju takes on Chinese Defending Champion Ding Liren in a 14-game match, with the first to 7.5 points winning. The players have two hours for 40 moves, then 30 minutes to the end of the game, with 30 seconds added each move from move 41 onwards. The prize fund is $2,500,000, with $200,000 for a win and the remaining money split equally. If tied 7-7, a playoff will take place, starting with four games of 15+10 rapid chess.

Previous world championship coverage:

Colin_McGourty
Colin McGourty

Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.

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