Bengaluru: Sport 6 of the FIDE World Championship has picked up a little bit of a repute over time. Three years in the past, Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi slugged it out for near eight hours and 136 strikes, the longest in World Championship historical past, and Carlsen emerged with a win. It introduced a breakthrough – the primary decisive consequence within the classical stage of a World Championship match, breaking a streak of 5 years and 19 consecutive attracts.
India’s D Gukesh and China’s Ding Liren in the course of the sixth sport of the World Chess Championship in Singapore on Sunday. (PTI)
On Sunday, with the White items, reigning world champion Ding Liren blitzed out his preparation and appeared to be comfortably in management earlier than contemplating enjoying out a three-fold repetition, to some shock. Challenger Gukesh, dwelling as much as Sport 6 custom, selected drama and battle. In a barely inferior endgame, the Indian teen declined a three-fold repetition, rejecting an early draw provide and selected to bravely forge forward, pushing his Queen to the h4 sq. (as an alternative of Qe7) on transfer 26.
It was a chance. One that would have backfired. GM Peter Leko referred to as it a “huge mistake” on the chess24 stay broadcast stream, likening it to a unadorned man leaping on to a cactus. Gukesh defended nicely, the worst by no means got here his manner and the sport resulted in a draw anyway after 46 strikes. The match is now tied at 3-3, heading into the second relaxation day on Monday.
A World Championship match the place you’re locked in a one-on-one battle is a lot about entering into the thoughts of your opponent. Your opponent is continually searching for cues in your strategy and reactions, any info on how assured or hesitant you’re, can be utilized towards you. In Sport 5, Ding determined to not go for the kill. He let Gukesh off the hook quite simply, and later within the press convention mentioned that he didn’t fairly realise that he had a bonus and will press for a win. In Sport 6, Ding was “totally surprised” by Gukesh’s choice to play on and reject the three-fold repetition, and later mentioned that he virtually wrote down Qe7 (repeating transfer) on the scoresheet.
“I thought I might be slightly worse…I wasn’t even fully sure about it…I thought with files open in front of his King I always had counterplay and saw no reason to take repetition. Since he’s going for a repetition, I thought I’ll make a few more moves and see what happens. Obviously, I wasn’t playing for a win or anything,” mentioned Gukesh, explaining his choice. “I just like playing chess. I thought the position had more play in it.”
For the primary time on this match, Ding selected the 1.d4 (queen pawn) opening and opted for the London system – a reprisal of Sport 6 towards Nepomniachtchi, in the course of the World Championship match final 12 months. Ding had gained that sport to degree the match 3-3.
On Sunday, he spent barely seven minutes for the primary 20 strikes, indicating he was snug in his preparation whereas Gukesh fell behind on the clock by over 50 minutes. Gukesh’s 20. Qf5 transfer although – which isn’t the primary transfer recommended by the engine – appeared to throw Ding off, and he settled into thought for 42 minutes.
“I knew the position till I played 16…Rb8, but I never really felt I was in danger,” mentioned Gukesh. “Maybe I’m slightly worse but it should be hard to convert with White because you can’t really push the Queenside pawns that easily and I will always have some play on his King, so I wasn’t really worried at any point.”
Forward of Sport 6, Ding’s technique had been to press with the Black items, quite than White. On Sunday he selected to reach on the board with a plan to hunt initiative and push for a win, however he ended up being the primary to take a step again and provide a draw. He was requested quite plainly within the press convention whether or not his choice to not ambitiously push for a win whereas having fun with a place of relative energy on the board was rooted in insecurity or well being points.
It have to be mentioned that within the video games performed to this point, it’s been Ding who’s had a larger variety of alternatives to play for a win. In a match like this, it’s not simple to get as many possibilities and typically it might come all the way down to the pictures you don’t take.
“Sometimes I play with the White pieces like Black,” mentioned Ding. “This time I pushed forward for an advantage,” he mentioned, earlier than lamenting letting just a few alternatives get away. “I feel like I am letting my advantage slip away at a critical moment. I have to improve this in the following games.”
Gukesh supplied that he thinks his personal play has room for enchancment. “So far, it’s an equal match. Considering I was trailing after the first game, I’m happy to be here.”
Off the board, Ding was thrown off by a query on the ‘Ding Chilling’ meme that’s been doing the rounds. It’s rooted in US professional wrestler and actor John Cena’s promo for the Quick and Livid films in China. It confirmed Cena talking in Mandarin and consuming ice cream. His pronunciation of Bing Qi Lin, ice cream in Mandarin, has since been picked up and parodied by YouTubers as Bing Chilling. It has now discovered its manner into the social media chatter as ‘Ding Chilling’.
“What is the meaning of chill?” Ding requested, because the press room roared in laughter. “I didn’t have ice cream here.” The often stoic Gukesh was in splits.