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Ding Escapes In Game 7 Thriller To Tie Gukesh At Halfway
Ding Liren pulled off an incredible escape after he twice looked doomed against Gukesh. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Ding Escapes In Game 7 Thriller To Tie Gukesh At Halfway

Colin_McGourty
Colin_McGourty
Staff
| 78 | Chess Event Coverage

India's GM Gukesh Dommaraju had Chinese World Champion Ding Liren on the ropes in game seven of the 2024 FIDE World Championship, with a heartbreaking move-40 blunder looking likely to cost Ding the game even after he'd found a way to survive. He did it again, however, finding another deep resource to escape what should have been a technically lost endgame. The match is level at 3.5-3.5 at the halfway mark.

Game eight starts Wednesday, December 4, 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 . . . . . . . 3.5
  Gukesh Dommaraju 2783 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ . . . . . . . 3.5
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 Peter Leko, GM Daniel Naroditsky, and John Sargent.
Game 7 was a stunning 5.5-hour show. Photo: Eng Chin An/FIDE.

Grandmaster Game Analysis, By GM Rafael Leitao

GM Rafael Leitao has analyzed game seven of the match below.

Gukesh Unleashes An Opening Surprise

Asked about pre-game rituals, Ding gave the simple response, "Get up, take a shower, and then have some coffee." For Gukesh, meanwhile, it turned out there was some Puzzle Rush thrown into the mix, with the 18-year-old world championship challenger hitting 53 puzzles in three minutes —his all-time best is 58.

He commented, "Puzzle Rush is always nice to do to warm up my mind."

Puzzle Rush is always nice to do to warm up my mind.

—Gukesh Dommaraju

Deep opening work had also been done, however, as we would soon see. Going into game seven, all the expectation was that Team Gukesh would have spent the rest day perfecting something much sharper than the Exchange French against Ding's French Defense, with GM Peter Leko even having set up the position on his board. 

It was a surprise, therefore, when the choice was instead the Reti, 1.Nf3.

Gukesh had once, in an interview with Chess.com, opted for that as the opening he'd like to be named after him, but it immediately got Ding thinking, before the real surprise followed later with 7.Re1!?.

"Forget everything you've ever thought about this position," said Leko, while Ding later wasn't trying to pretend he'd somehow known about the move. He confessed. "When I saw this move I’d just come back from the toilet and it was a total shock!"

When I saw this move I'd just come back from the toilet and it was a total shock!

—Ding Liren on 7.Re1   

Gukesh's modest-looking 7.Re1 was perhaps the best new idea of the match so far. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

The shock was understandable, with GM Magnus Carlsen calling it a "tremendous surprise found by the Gukesh camp... because you don't see these completely new ideas that often, even in a world championship match."

Ding Reacts Badly And Gets Into Trouble

Ding thought for 28 minutes before going for the most critical response 7...dxc4, but the plan he came up with wasn't great. Gukesh explained, "The main point is just to get a new position on the board, but my opponent didn’t react in a very precise way, so I guess the idea worked well!"

"I'm loving it!" said Leko initially when 9...c5?! appeared on the board, but Ding would soon regret it, feeling he should have gone for the standard 9...b5 instead.

The pawn push didn't significantly slow Gukesh down, so it may have been in his preparation, while Ding had another confession to make: "I overlooked 10.d5 [10...e6] 11.h3, this very simple idea, opening the diagonal for the light-squared bishop, so it’s a very risky decision."

Paradoxically, Ding here rattled off a series of best moves, with Leko even seeing signs of confidence in the Chinese star.

At the same time, Ding felt he was in deep trouble, and realized during the post-game press conference that his perception can be an issue. He noted, "Many times maybe my position is not so bad—maybe I should be more confident in my position."

Ding's positions are often not quite as bad as he thinks. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Ding admired the "creative" 19.b4 of his opponent and got down to under half an hour on the clock as he ultimately went for 19...c4, though he revealed in the press conference that he'd seen some spectacular tactics after 19...cxb4!?—he couldn't see a clear refutation, but understandably concluded, "I just don’t know if I can play like this or not."

This was one position where Ding couldn't chill, however, as there was danger everywhere.  

Gukesh's 20.Be3! caught Ding off-guard and he said he didn't know where to put his queen before placing it on a6, and later grabbing a pawn on a2. GM Anish Giri had correctly understood the mood of the world champion, who later admitted, "I thought my position was hopeless!"

Everything was going Gukesh's way, with the computer evaluation climbing into the "borderline-winning" range, while content creators began to film their recaps. He was finding the key moves...

...and an 18-year-old Indian prodigy looked destined to take the lead in the world championship match.

Gukesh would later seek to look on the bright side, commenting, "One huge positive is that I felt really good at the board and I was obviously outplaying him right from the start, so that’s a very good thing to know."

One huge positive is that I felt really good at the board and I was obviously outplaying him right from the start.

—Gukesh Dommaraju

A Queen Exchange Gives Ding Hope

For most of the game Gukesh was in total control, but he couldn't break through. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

A computer would have won White's position without hesitation, but the position again reminded us just how difficult the game is for fallible humans. Gukesh correctly slowed down now that he knew he was much better, but it was still hard to navigate. Ding made "nettlesome" moves with his queen, just as Gukesh had done in the previous game, and 30.Qf4!?, which Ding later said he felt was "very strong," was a miss (30.Be3! is the key move). 

Ding here had an amazing resource with 30...g5!, giving the f8-knight a square at the cost of a pawn, but his 30...Qxc2! was also strong, and after 31.Bxf6 Qf5! Gukesh decided to swap off queens (32.Bg5! may have been stronger). After bishops were also exchanged on g7 we got the following endgame.

Gukesh's logic was understandable, as was the concealed pain: "I thought this endgame with this f5-weakness and a pawn up should be winning, but probably it was more difficult than I had expected."

Ding sped up, and found a great resource with 36...Nc6!, later saying, "I’m happy to find this defensive idea, at least to create some counterplay." 

It looked as though Ding had defied expectations...

...and somehow saved a hopeless position. The game was about to fizzle out into a draw.

The Move 40 Curse Strikes Again

If Ding had known before the start what a rollercoaster he was in for... Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Not so fast, however! 40.Kf1! was a very clever move by Gukesh, not giving Ding a forced reply but leaving him to find an only move on the time control move, 40...Nc8!, to make a draw. Ding said he saw it, but felt it was passive, and with just seven seconds left on his clock made the objectively losing move 40...Ke5?.   

Gukesh quickly went for 41.Rh4!, getting the h-pawn for the d-pawn, but more importantly getting to put his rook on c6 owing to a little tactic. As Ding would later comment, "I was beaten many times, first in the opening, the middlegame, and...," trailing off before adding that he was also lost in the endgame.

"I nearly gave up when I saw 44.Ke1, because I don’t know how to create counterplay," said Ding, and as he got down to his last few minutes his position seemed hopeless on both the board and the clock.

Ding Pulls Off Another Great Escape

Ding found the strength to carry on, explaining, "I thought I’d try to take my luck and try to stay in the game!" His 44...f6! was a deep resource, with 45.h4!? (45.Rc8!) already inaccurate. One more inaccurate move, and Ding suddenly got to play the triumphant 46...f4!.  

It was close, but everything was working out for Ding tactically, and Gukesh found himself digging deep to try and find a win that wasn't there. The rollercoaster felt as though it could even go completely off the rails with a win for Ding, especially when Gukesh made a move with just two seconds left on his clock...

...but the Indian star later explained he was fully in control of his clock. There's no reason to doubt him, but there was also no way to change the outcome of the game.

"I feel Gukesh deserves to win the game and Ding deserves to save it, but we will only have one result!" said Leko, and that result was a draw that felt like a miraculous save by the current world champion.

In the aftermath Gukesh retained his calm, and could even see justice in the situation: "Obviously today is a missed chance, but also he missed some chances earlier on in the match, so I think it's fair that we are here." 

A fourth draw in a row, but what a game! Photo: Eng Chin An/FIDE.

The players were asked about some statistics that suggested that Singapore 2024 had been the most accurate world championship match so far. 

Gukesh said it didn't feel that way, noting, "That is quite a surprise because pretty much all the games there’s something funny happening, so I can’t really believe it’s the most accurate match so far." After some reflection, Ding (half-)joked, "Maybe before this game!"

The scores are level at 3.5-3.5 at the halfway point of the match, with absolutely everything to play for. "The biggest lesson is to stay focused and convert good positions," said Gukesh, while Ding can for one evening relish the fact that he'd dodged a bullet. He also got to eat some ice cream. 

There's no rest day until Friday, and in Wednesday's game eight it's Ding who'll have the white pieces and hope to be able to press for an advantage.  

Ding Liren got to smile at the post-game press conference, but there are potentially seven classical games still to come. Photo: Eng Chin An/FIDE.

Video Playlists

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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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