World Championship, Game 11

Gukesh wins an up-and-down game to take his first lead.

If you thought the players were going to draw their way to a rapid playoff, well, you’re not alone. Seven consecutive draws, including especially the bloodless “battle” in game 10, pointed in that direction. But the challenger had other ideas, and won a short but sharp struggle in just 29 moves thanks in part (not wholly) to a blunder by the champ. Gukesh Dommaraju now leads Ding Liren 6-5 with three games to go.

The players have brought out new openings in almost every game, and this one was no different. Gukesh essayed the Reti, an opening that’s certainly rarer than the Berlin or the Giuoco Piano but certainly well-known. Nevertheless, and despite having had the position before, Ding thought for a staggering 38 minutes on move four(!), followed by a more justifiable 22 minute think after Gukesh’s nearly new fifth move.

Yet things turned around a few moves later when Gukesh mixed something up in his prep. After Ding’s 10…Nbd7 the challenger realized he had gone awry, and now he spent a full hour on his next move. His initial reaction was a good one, but his 15th move was a further error, after which he was in serious trouble. Had Ding played 15…e6 he would have won a pawn - at least - with a very good position. Ding was up on the clock at this point as well, so it’s not at all far-fetched that the champion might have finished the game leading the match 6-5, and with Gukesh having only one white game left he would have been in some trouble.

Instead, Ding found an initially attractive alternative in 15…g6, intending 16…h5 followed by 17…Bh6. Gukesh was initially quite worried, but found a great defense in 16.a4!! h5 17.b6! He soon achieved a comfortable position, and after a further error by Ding on move 21 Gukesh’s advantage became serious. Both sides made inaccuracies the rest of the way, due in part to their mutual time trouble. The advantage fluctuated but was always in Gukesh’s favor.

Finally, after the players exchanged a pair of errors, Ding uncorked the terrible 28…Qc8??, blundering a piece to a very simple tactic. His situation had been precarious, but after 29.Qxc6 there was nothing to think about: White was winning, end of story. Ding resigned several seconds after Gukesh’s move appeared on the board, and that was it. (The game, with my analysis, is here.)

With the win, Gukesh has his first lead of the match, and given his success in almost all the theoretical battles so far he’s looking good to become the youngest undisputed world chess champion in history. (The qualification is necessary, as Ruslan Ponomariov won the FIDE World Championship in 2002 when he was a month or two younger than Gukesh is now. In 2002 the title was split, with Vladimir Kramnik having the lineal title he won from Garry Kasparov in 2000.) But it’s far too soon for Gukesh to count his chickens (probably not the best metaphor, as he may follow a traditional Hindu diet). I haven’t watched much match commentary, but did catch a few minutes at the end of Anish Giri’s and Peter Leko’s coverage. For Leko, this match is a lot like his 2004 battle with Kramnik.

In that match, also a best-of-14 game contest, Kramnik, the champion, had been ill but won game 1 to take the lead. Leko came back, winning two games, to take a one-point lead into the final games. Kramnik put serious pressure on Leko, and finally, in the very last game, he managed to win and thereby tie the match. (That sufficed for him to retain the title - there were no rapid playoffs at that time. That didn’t start until the Kramnik vs. Veselin Topalov reunification match in 2006.) Additionally, it’s unnecessary to go back two decades for a parallel: just last year Ding entered game 12 a point down against Ian Nepomniachtchi, and won that game with White to even the scores. So there’s still all to play for, and Ding’s fans should not lose hope.

Game 12 starts in an hour or so, and then Tuesday will be a rest day for the players. There will be a game on Wednesday; whether they will still be playing on Thursday or (in case of a tie) Friday remains to be seen. Whatever happens, let’s hope for an exciting and well-played end to the match.