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Gukesh, Ding Both Miss Wins In Crazy Game 8 Draw
A 5th draw in a row, but once again it was absolutely wild. Photo: Eng Chin An/Chess.com.

Gukesh, Ding Both Miss Wins In Crazy Game 8 Draw

Colin_McGourty
Colin_McGourty
Staff
| 88 | Chess Event Coverage

Both GM Gukesh Dommaraju and World Champion Ding Liren missed wins as game eight of the 2024 FIDE World Championship ended in a 51-move draw. Ding switched to 1.c4, was again surprised in the opening, but had stabilized just when he blundered into a trap. Gukesh pounced and was winning, but one wrong choice saw the momentum shift again. Ding missed how good his position was and was ready to settle for a draw, but Gukesh rejected the repetition. There was no last twist, however, and the scores are level at 4-4, with six games to go.  

Game nine, the last before another rest day, starts Thursday, December 5, 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 . . . . . . 4
  Gukesh Dommaraju 2783 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ . . . . . . 4
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.
Once again an entertaining game left a lot to talk about. Photo: Eng Chin An/FIDE.

Grandmaster Game Analysis, By GM Rafael Leitao

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

Ding Opts For 1.c4 But Team Gukesh Is Ready

Gukesh has begun to take over in the openings. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

We were entering the second half of the match, but Ding still hadn't run out of first moves to try. After 1.e4, 1.Nf3, and 1.d4, it was the turn of the English Opening, 1.c4.

As on previous days the players soon deviated from well-trodden paths, and it was Gukesh who came up with the key new move, 7...f6!.

It wasn't a move that could blow White out of the water, but GM Peter Leko explained it was far from harmless:

Ding is taking his time. It's not a pleasant situation. It's certainly not a risk-free position, it has imbalances, and knowing that your opponent is prepared and he has studied this position, he knows the ideas, it's kind of Freestyle chess!

Ding was on his own, and here took a 14-minute think, explaining he was considering seizing space on the queenside with 8.b4!? before opting for the more natural 8.0-0. Once again Gukesh's preparation didn't end there, so that Ding already began to fall behind on the clock. 

Gukesh credited his team as he talked about 7...f6:

It was part of my preparation and I would like to also mention my team, they’ve been doing a great job, not only Gaju [GM Grzegorz Gajewski] but my other team members as well, and we managed to surprise him in the opening, so they’re doing a great job and I’d like to thank my team so far. Hopefully more such interesting ideas will come! 

It was hard not to be impressed. 

In an interview after the game, however, Ding assessed the opening battle as equal, though he admitted the tide had recently turned in the direction of his opponent. 

Considering the amount of openings surprises, maybe it’s even. Before I gave him a lot of surprises, but in the last two rounds he gave me a return. 

An intriguing battle would follow.

In The Footsteps Of Max Euwe

It wasn't clear if the intention was to get his opponent out of his preparation, but Ding went for a very unusual handling of the position, again "over-fianchettoing" his dark-squared bishop to a3, and going for a very double-edged push of his f-pawn. 

"Actually I didn’t feel so much nervous during the game, I just felt uncomfortable out of the opening," Ding would later say, but his approach didn't seem bad and offered chances for him to seize the initiative if his opponent went astray.

Ding Liren may have been uncomfortable, but he didn't stop finding good moves. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Neither player could be familiar with the position that arose, with Ding breaking the record for the number of moves a world championship participant had chosen not to push either of his central pawns... by five moves! 

That game from 89 years ago was a quick 16-move draw, but the modern-game would develop into an intense struggle.  

Gukesh Springs A Trap

Ding once again got down to around half an hour for 20 moves, but as he mentioned in the press conference, that wasn't necessarily a problem. He noted, "If I can play in quality in time trouble, I prefer to stay low in time."

Just when he seemed to have solved all his problems, and could even be slightly better after 22.Bb2! or 22.Qd2, he stumbled into a concealed trap with the move 22.Rb1?. The black b-pawn hadn't moved at all in the first three games of the match, but here 22...b5! was a potential game and match-winning blow. 

"I thought I was much better, probably close to winning," said Gukesh, with the point being revealed in the game. After 23.cxb5 Black wasn't losing a pawn due to 23...Qb6+!, and instead got powerful connected passed pawns, while the a2-pawn was a sitting duck.

Gukesh was again applying maximum pressure. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

What may actually have saved Ding was his lack of time, so that he quickly went for an idea that he later admitted was "based on a miscalculation." He gave up the a-pawn so as to be able to play Bb2-d4, a maneuver that had an impact on Gukesh, who noted, "the position got very tricky—I had to be precise."

Gukesh Lets Ding Escape—And Take Over

Ding had thought Black had to play 26...Qb8? when he saw that 27.Ra1! would give him "great compensation," while Gukesh saw that he could interpose with a knight on c5, but which knight? It turned out that it had to be the d7-knight, but Gukesh felt 26...Ndc5! "looked weird," and he saw no reason not to quickly go for 26...Nac5?!, since he thought he'd calculated a win there. It was a big moment for the match.

From here events moved fast, with 27.Rc1 Bb3 running into 28.Qe1!, after which Ding suddenly wasn't losing anymore. 

Gukesh had expected only 28.Qd2?, when he correctly evaluated 28...b4! as winning, and commented, "It was actually very impressive that my opponent found this Qe1 so quickly—so yes, great defense by him!" The queen is heading to f2, while 28...Nxd3?, the reason you might not even consider putting the queen on e1, fails to 29.Qc3!. 

Ding explained how he'd found this resource:

We need to find the best move in a worse position to stay in the game, and yesterday I ran out of any ideas except f6, to have the threat of Rd3, and today Qe1 is the only way to create counterplay. In a worse position we have to be patient and wait for our chances.

In a worse position we have to be patient and wait for our chances. 

—Ding Liren

What was interesting here, however, was that the queen move wasn't just a way to survive but suddenly put the pressure on Black. The computer gives 28...a4! an arrow in the image above as clearly the best move, but it looks like a way to bail out toward a drawish endgame after 29.Qb4.

Ding Liren's position suddenly became much better than he realized. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Why should Gukesh bail out? We got to see that in the game, since after 28...Be6? 29.Qf2! Rc8 30.Be3! Ding was actually winning.

The immediate threat is for white to play d4 and win the c5-knight, or the undefended rook on c8 it's pinned against.

Gukesh put the rook on a defended square with 30...Rc7, but it turns out after the mysterious 31.Ne1!! White is clearly winning. Ding's 31.Nd4! was also strong, however, and a good move to play in time trouble, since it was linked to a clear plan that was evident when the knight came to c6. 

By force we soon got a position with White up an exchange, while Black had compensation with his passed pawns. Gukesh commented:

I saw this position that happened in the game with Nc6… and I thought probably all my advantage is gone, but I did not think it was even bad for me. Now that I see the position it’s quite obvious, but during the game it was not. 

I thought probably all my advantage is gone, but I did not think it was even bad for me. 

—Gukesh Dommaraju

It turned out neither player had fully understood the situation on the board.

Draw As Ding Underestimates, Gukesh Overestimates Position

"My heart cannot take the tension," said Leko, while GM Maurice Ashley was losing his hair...

... but for the players there were fewer twists during the game. Ding was unaware he'd missed a win until after the game: 

As in the last world championship match there are a lot of ups and downs and not so many perfect games. In the last world championship, also one game he was winning at some point and then suddenly I’m winning at the end. But today during the game I didn’t realize I was winning at some point. I think he missed some important details that let me get back into the game. Before that he was totally outplaying me, again.

Today during the game I didn't realize I was winning at some point. 

—Ding Liren

That made it even less surprising that Ding was ready to take a draw by repetition when it emerged.

It should be noted, however, that even after making the time control he could have dodged the potential repetition by playing 41.Bd4! instead of 41.Qd4. Winning that position would be very tough, but a computer would likely manage.

As it was, however, the baton was passed to Gukesh to decide if he wanted a draw or not. 41...Qg2 and the game would be over, but instead, for the second time in the match, Gukesh played on despite being no better, this time with 41...Qa2!?.

It wasn't a shock to Ding this time, but GM Daniel Naroditsky almost died on air. 

"I just like playing chess!" Gukesh had famously said about his choice in game six, but here he put the decision down to a misjudgment:

I didn’t think I was in much danger. I always thought with his weak king and my strong pawn on b3 I should have play. I thought even I might have some chances, but ok, it was just a misjudgment of the position. 

Objectively the position was still equal after avoiding the repetition, but it was Black who had to prove it, so that the main justification for playing on may again have been to put pressure on Ding and force him to play a long game. Gukesh is still feeling good.

In the game, no harm was done to either player by the extra half hour of play, with Ding eventually going for a line that left his opponent no choice but to force a draw.

It's now 4-4, with a maximum of six classical games to go, with Ding saying the match is what he'd expected, since all his recent matches have been decided by the narrowest of margins.

In the press conference, the players got to see what they'd overlooked during the game. Photo: Eng Chin An/FIDE.

Gukesh will have White in Thursday's game nine, with Ding knowing that a tough test likely lies ahead before he finally gets to enjoy another rest day! 

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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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