The Week in Chess

Ding Liren tried a side-line of the London System that seemed to catch Gukesh somewhat off-guard. Ding had himself faced this last year against Magnus Carlsen in the Tata Steel tournament.

Gukesh was not in any trouble but did use plenty of time whilst Ding was clearly in preparation. That prep probably ran out about move 20 and pretty soon Ding was seeking a draw. Gukesh saw no reason to end the game and turning down a draw offer such as this has psychological value. If the computers still favoured Ding it was not really very likely that he would cause problems in reality, 34.Qg5 with the idea of h4 was the way to keep an edge, after 34.Kc2 the position was at least equal for black and perhaps 36...Kg7 might have led to a small edge for black, as it was the game was drawn by repetition on move 42.

Score: Ding 3 Gukesh 3 - best of 14 games

Rest Day Monday 2nd December

Game 7 Gukesh - Ding Tuesday 3rd December.