TWIC is 30. First issue 17th September 1994.
FIDE World Chess Championship 2024 (5)
Ding has a brief chance to push for a win against Gukesh in drawn game 5
Mark Crowther - Saturday 30th November 2024
Gukesh and Ding at the start of game 5. Photo © FIDE taken from their press release. | https://worldchampionship.fide.com
Ding Liren showed a little of why he's such a respected player in outplaying Gukesh with black in an Exchange French in game 5 of the World Chess Championship, also the way he spoiled this chance in only a few of moves is rather typical of his current problems. Nevertheless after a really insipid performance in game four there were definitely signs of life in the Ding campaign today.
Game Summary below.
Score Ding 2.5 - Gukesh 2.5
Game 6 Ding-Gukesh Sunday 1st December.
Game 5 Summary
Ding returned to the French Defence and Gukesh tried the Exchange Variation. This variation long had a drawish reputation and indeed a cowardly one, there was a notorious comeuppance for Mikhail Gurevich when he tried it in order to secure a draw he needed against Nigel Short in the Manila Interzonal of 1990. The motivations are different today, the play is similar to the Petroff Defence and lessons from that opening have led to new ideas, although as we saw today the capacity of this choice to rebound is still there. Symmetrical positions can be drawish but seemingly small advantages can prove lethal too.
The way Ding played it with 5...c5 and 6...c4 meant there was an imbalance in the position, Queens came off on move 8 and Ding castled by hand. Ding's queenside was a little tied up but he had a potential advantage on that wing. Ding then spent a very long time over 14...h6 and 15...Nh5, an excellent setup, he said he was evaluating what happened after the played 17.g4 and he was at least equal.
Gukesh then made an error of judgement with his 23.dxe5 rather than 23.Rxe5= Ding's 23....Nd3! made him realised he should be looking to make a draw. Gukesh was exceedingly concerned by 27...Be6 and it's not clear why Ding didn't play this. 27...Bc6?! already lost much of his newly won advantage, and 29...Bc6?! (29...Bh5 was still interesting) lost the rest. On move 33 they had a bishops of opposite coloured endgame which was as drawn as it's possible to be and they shared the point on move 40.
| WCh Singapore SIN | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gukesh, D | - | Ding, Liren | 0-1 | 42 | C11 | French Defence |
| Ding, Liren | - | Gukesh, D | ½-½ | 23 | C50 | Giuoco Piano |
| Gukesh, D | - | Ding, Liren | 1-0 | 37 | D02 | Queen's Pawn Game |
| Ding, Liren | - | Gukesh, D | ½-½ | 42 | A06 | Zukertort Opening |
| Gukesh, D | - | Ding, Liren | ½-½ | 40 | C01 | French Exchange |
| WCh Singapore (SIN), 25xi-13 xii 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Ti | NAT | Rtng | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Total | Perf |
| Ding, Liren | g | CHN | 2728 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | 2½ | 2783 |
| Gukesh, D | g | IND | 2783 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | 2½ | 2728 |
Game 5 Commentary
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