World Chess Championship 2024: Ding, Gukesh focus on positives from second-round draw

Liren will go into the lead in the third game on Wednesday. He had little trouble in getting a draw in Game 2. He could thus maintain his slender lead, though another 12 games remain.

China’s Ding Liren (right) and India’s Gukesh Dommaraju compete during the World Chess Championship in Singapore. | Photo Credit: AFP

Ding Liren was walking into unfamiliar territory on Tuesday at Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore, for the second game of the World Chess Championship against D. Gukesh.

At last year’s World title match, he had gone behind Ian Nepomniachtchi on three occasions and he equalised every time before winning the tie-break.

This time around, he will go into the lead in the third game on Wednesday. He had little trouble in getting a draw in Game 2. He could thus maintain his slender lead, though another 12 games remain.

His largely unexpected win with black pieces in the opening game – he had started the match as very much the underdog despite being the defending champion – was timed beautifully. It was his first win in classical chess in 304 days, that too against somebody who has been playing like a beast in the format for the better part of the last couple of years.

Ding must not be too displeased with his 23-move draw, though he had the white pieces. It was a result Gukesh may not have minded much, either. After losing badly with white pieces, what you least want is a defeat with black pieces in the very next game. So splitting the point cannot be that bad, especially in a long, best-of-14 match.

As he did in the first game, Ding sprang a surprise in the opening. He began with pushing the pawn in front of his king, and not queen, which most people would have expected him to. The opening was Italian, and the variation was Four Knights.

The Chinese Grandmaster seemed to be better prepared as he played quickly, and unlike the opening game, it was his younger rival who needed more time to make his moves in the early part. And unlike the manic Monday, the action was more peaceful on the board.

The queens left the stage by the 13th move. Before them, all the four bishops had gone, too. That meant just the rooks and the knights remained on the board, accompanied by the pawns.

There wasn’t much Gukesh could have tried to create chances for an early equaliser in the match. The game was drawn by repetition of moves.

“A draw with black pieces in a World championship match is always nice,” said Gukesh. Ding admitted he was completely fine with the draw.

The third game will be played on Wednesday with Ding leading 1.5-0.5. The player who scores 7.5 points will become the champion.