D Gukesh Vs Ding Liren Highlights, World Chess C'ship Game 2: Indian Pulls Off Draw After 23 Moves

Ding Liren won his first game in 304 days as D Gukesh suffered an opening day defeat in game 1 of the World Chess Championship 2024 in Singapore on Monday. All eyes will be on the Indian prodigy as he looks to level things up in Game 2.

“Ding scored his first classical game win in a long time! Gukesh just has to regroup and get the momentum back in game 2.Ding never lead in his previous World Championship match until the end. Gukesh has to adjust his time management and mindset. Still a long match. Not time to panic,” legendary player Susan Polgar posted on her Instagram account.

"This first result means that we are much more likely, I think, now to see an even match. Gukesh was nervous today, which is not a surprise. But what was a surprise to me, and I think a lot of others, is how ready Ding Liren was to take his chance. That was pretty impressive. I was following the game on the app, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I was seeing how quickly Ding was playing, and the confidence he was playing with around those times. Because it's not like any of his moves individually are that difficult, it's just that actually playing them, moving forward, spotting all those little tactics that he had to spot in order for this to work, it was not reminiscent of the Ding we've seen recently," Carlsen said on the Take Take Take app. 

"I think if you're a Ding fan, that has got to be super, super encouraging. For Levy, I think, and for chess fans, you want this to be an even contest. That was tremendously exciting to see," the Norwegian world no 1 added.

The Indian grandmaster is in deep thought ahead of the grand tie. Gukesh needs to win today if he have some say in this Championship match.

After the dignitaries have made their presence felt, it's time for the much-awaited clash. HERE WE GO!

Former world champion Magnus Carlsen on why this defeat might actually be good got Gukesh.

"I almost feel like a little bit of this was also Gukesh losing the game, as opposed to Ding Liren sort of willing it to a victory. This was a very good performance by Ding. Clearly, his best performance in a long time. But it was also a terrible performance (from Gukesh). It's hard to understand how bad this was from Gukesh. Gukesh didn't make a single good decision basically the whole game. Everything was wrong. He made an aggressive opening choice, but after that, it was just all..."This is the worst possible start. Maybe that will give Gukesh some relief. Well, I cannot really play worse than I did today, because this was... Imagine you just do sort of everything wrong. You let Ding outplay you. Not that Ding didn't take it, because he made a lot of good decisions himself, but then also when you're led a little bit back into the game, then you overthink it and lose without a fight," said Carlsen on the Take Take Take app. 

Ding starts with 1.e4 and Gukesh replies with e5.

This is how the board looks currently. The players have exchanged queens and for his 14th move, Liren has shifted his rook to avert a rook exchange.

Gukesh has now been pondering his 14th move for 20 minutes. He is down to 65 minutes on the clock and appears to be considering the consequences of his next move very carefully. The early defeat, coupled by the unique pressure of a world championship could well be preying on his mind.

After introspecting for over 25 minutes, Gukesh finally makes his move. He now has a time disadvantage of over 40 minutes and Tania Sachdev on air says white seems to be placed better than white as of now. It is now Liren's turn to take his time for the 15th move.

This time, Gukesh wastes no time in responding to Liren's knight e1 move by playing rook d6. Let us take a look at all the moves played so far:

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Nc6

3. Bc4 Bc5

4. d3 Nf6

5. Nc3 a6

6. a4 d6

7. O-O h6

8. Be3 Be6

9. a5 Bxc4

10. dxc4 O-O

11. xc5 dxc5

12. b3 xd1

13. fxd1 ad8

14. dc1 d4

15. e1 d6

Liren now opts for a king f1 move, and Gukesh again responds swiftly with a pawn g6. Gukesh now has 55 minutes and 20 seconds on the clock, while Liren has around 1 hour and 23 minutes as we speak (his move, seven minutes and counting).

After 22-plus minutes of thinking, Liren moves his rook to d1 for the 17th move. Gukesh's time disadvantage is now down to roughly 14 minutes, as he brings his rook to end of the d file for his 17th move. Experts seem to be calling this a draw, but as we saw yesterday, predict at your own peril.

World number one and all-time great Magnus Carlsen felt Gukesh "didn't make a single good decision the whole game" in the first game, which Liren won in stunning fashion. Check out exactly what Carlsen said on Take Take Take:

The game is looking a lot more level at this stage. Liren moves his king to f2 and Gukesh responds with pawn h5 for move 19. The 20th move follows soon after, as Liren plays his knight to e2 position and Gukesh moves his own knight to c6. Things getting interesting in the midgame.

And there we have it. Gukesh and Liren briefly glance at each other and agree to a draw after having completed 23 moves each. A creditable result for the 18-year-old Indian after what happened yesterday and also the initial push from Liren in the Italian game opening. Liren still leads 1-0, but Gukesh now likely to have more confidence for Game 3 and beyond.

For the record, this is how the 23 moves stack up:

1. e4 e5

2. f3 c6

3. c4 c5

4. d3 f6

5. c3 a6

6. a4 d6

7. O-O h6

8. e3 e6

9. a5 xc4

10. dxc4 O-O

11. xc5 dxc5

12. b3 xd1

13. fxd1 ad8

14. dc1 d4

15. e1 d6

16. f1 g6

17. d1 fd8

18. f3 g7

19. f2 h5

20. e2 c6

21. c3 d4

22. e2 c6

23. c3 d4

And this is how the board looked at the end:

Gukesh and Liren are now addressing a press conference. Here are excerpts of Gukesh's answers:

(On whether he was surprised by Liren's Italian game opening): "Not very surprised. It is a fairly familiar opening in the sport."

(On whether he is happy with the result): "Yes, a draw with black in the world championship is always nice. It is still early in the match, so we have to wait and watch."

(On pressure of shouldering the country's expectations): "There is obviously a lot of pressure. But i see it as a privilege to represent the country. I'm taking it one game at a time."

Game 3 will be played tomorrow (Wednesday, November 27) at 2:30pm IST in Singapore. It will be followed by a rest day, after which Game 4 will come up on Friday. Stay tuned for what is set to be a long and exciting 14-game match, replete with twists and turns along the way.