The most exciting game of the match ends in a draw
The eighth game of the 2024 FIDE World Championship, presented by Google, will go down in history as one of the most exciting encounters ever played in title matches. It was a struggle all the way through, with chances for both players, which finally ended in a draw after the challenger once again rejected a draw by threefold repetition.
The game began with the traditional ceremonial move, played by two distinguished guests. Opening 1.b3 with White, Mr. Kingston Kwek is a cryptocurrency entrepreneur and the founder of Academic Labs, or "AAX,” a sponsor of the chess championships. An avid chess player himself, Kwek enjoys playing against chess engines and on online platforms.
Grandmaster Kevin Goh Wei Ming, an eight-time Singapore National Champion, has represented his country in eight World Chess Olympiads and three South-East Asian Games. He is a Chartered Accountant and was the CFO of one of the fasting growing biomedical start-ups from Singapore before joining the Singapore Chess Federation as its CEO. He is also the chair of the Local Organizing Committee. On his move with Black, Kevin decided to counter with 1…a5, a move which elicited a smile from Ding Liren.
The champion Ding Liren opened the game with 1.c4, the English Opening. Following the trend shown so far by both players, Ding Liren decided not to repeat any of the opening moves used previously – we had a fresh position on the board!
“I have been playing the English Opening for the last ten years and one of the downsides in the variations in which Black plays a quick …e5 is that there are so many options,” observed GM David Howell in the commentary booth. He added, “When I am preparing a game, I often find that I am going down these rabbit holes, twenty moves deep in some variations, and then my opponent surprises me on move two or three. Suddenly you find yourself in waters that you haven’t researched recently.”
The challenger Gukesh D replied almost instantly and essentially blitzed out his first ten moves, once again displaying excellent opening knowledge and specific preparation for the match. Ding had the two bishops, Gukesh controlled the center.
Gukesh was delighted with his opening choice: “I want to congratulate my team, not only my head coach Gajewski, but also all the other coaches. They are doing an excellent job and I thank them for their interesting ideas,” he said after the game.
Meanwhile, Ding Liren seemed to struggle with remembering his own preparation, and soon he was, once again, clearly behind on the clock. After barely thirteen moves, he had already spent nearly half of his thinking time. The position was remarkable – it’s not every day that you see the two center pawns on their original squares.
International Master and chess streamer Eric Rosen gave his opinion on the match in the commentary booth: “Coming into the match, I honestly thought it was going to be a blowout in Gukesh’s favour, but now I think we’re in store for another close finish”.
The game remained more or less equal for several moves while both players tried to finish their development and find the best squares for their pieces. However, the clock was ticking for the champion, and with less than 15 minutes for 15 moves, he inexplicably went for 25.Bb2, sacrificing his a2-pawn.
After the game, Ding explained his reasoning behind the move: “I sacrificed the a2 pawn based on a miscalculation, because I figured that he couldn’t block on c5 with any of the knights, and that would allow me to play Ra1 and pick up the a5 pawn”.
“Ding might have overplayed his hand here,” observed David Howell, after Gukesh captured the pawn.
The key position of the game arose on move twenty-six.
Put yourself in Gukesh’s shoes. Would you play 26…Nac5 or 26…Ndc5?
In a very tricky position, Gukesh D. played the natural 26…Nac5, whereas the not-so-logical 26…Ndc5 was the correct move to cement the advantage according to the engines.
Reflecting on his decision during the press conference, he admitted: “Blocking with 26…Ndc5 (instead of 26…Nac5) looked weird to me. I thought that my move was winning, but I missed his key move 28.Qe1, when 28…Nxd3 loses to 29.Qc3. If I had spotted this idea, then I would probably have thought a bit more. It was a very tricky position, and he found these ideas very quickly – great defense by my opponent.”
Ding immediately blitzed out 27.Rc1 smelling blood. “Ding’s in the zone!” exclaimed GM David Howell. “He’s found the way to trick Gukesh and turn the game around,” observed IM Jovanka Houska, co-host.
Forcing his hand, Ding was able to win the exchange, but Gukesh’s two passed pawns were scary. Maybe 31.Ne1 was a better way to go for a win instead of 31.Nd4. Sensing the danger, Ding proposed a draw via a three-fold repetition, but at the last minute Gukesh decided to play on.
However, a few moves later, both players recognized the lingering dangers in the position. Ding decided to force the exchange of queens and return the extra material, and a draw was agreed.
Ding Liren was visibly happy with the result. “He outplayed me once again, but then he missed some important details and let me back into the game,” the champion acknowledged during the press-conference.
In the commentary booth, the local organizer explained the process of getting a top international company to support the event: “Google is very pleased with how the project is going: there are a lot of impressions online and a lot of interest all over the world. It’s all very positive, and hopefully we can continue discussions for more events and collaborations,” said GM Kevin Goh Wei Ming.
The ninth game of the match will take place on Thursday, December 5th at 5 PM local time in Singapore. Gukesh will play White.
FACT SHEET, Game 8, FIDE World Championship: White: Ding Liren Black: Gukesh D Result: 0.5-0.5 Match score: 4-4 Game length: 51 moves Opening: English Opening Variation: King's Variation, Kramnik-Shirov Counterattack
Although the FIDE World Championship is by far the main event, the local organizers along with FIDE have programmed a wide range of side events for all the fans coming to Sentosa for the match.
On the agenda today, five-time World Champion Vishy Anand held a meet-and-greet in with local kids, in which he signed autographs and photo opportunity. During the afternoon, American International Master and chess streamer Eric Rosen gave a masterclass in the VIP lounge and then joined GM David Howell and IM Jovanka Houska in the commentary room.
Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore) Photos: Eng Chin An and Maria Emelianova
About the event
Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.
The first of the fourteen scheduled games took place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm with Gukesh opening with White. Hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa the match is broadcast live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.