World Championship Game 7: Ding Liren escapes by the skin of his teeth

 “When you cross the playing hall, you can really feel the tension.” (Anna Muzychuk)

The champion Ding Liren dodged a bullet this afternoon. After his huge blunder on move forty, it looked like the challenger was poised to make an important step towards claiming the FIDE World Champion title.

Gukesh’s opening strategy was point-on. His team prepared a strong novelty on move seven in a well-known line, allowing him to stay ahead on the clock for most of the game. The champion defended accurately, but at a huge time cost, and with only a few moves to go, he was under acute time pressure.

With only seven seconds left on his clock, Ding Liren blundered on the last move before the time control. Instead of 40…Ke5?, he should have played 40…Nc8, followed by 41…Nb6, with a blockade and very good chances to draw.

But just when victory seemed locked up for the challenger, nerves kicked in. Converting his endgame advantage was not an easy task, and low on time, Gukesh was unable to find the win. 

Let’s dive into the details of what actually happened this afternoon in the Sentosa World Resorts Equarius Hotel in Singapore.

The ceremonial first move was performed by Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, and Second Minister for Law. He chose to open with 1.d4, but after a few seconds, Gukesh took it back and played 1.Nf3 instead, one of his three main opening moves.

Ding Liren took a couple of minutes to consider his options and decided on the classical variation of the Neo-Grünfeld defense, with 1…d5 and 2…g6. An expert in this line with White and Black, he had already played this setup on fourteen occasions from 2010 to 2021, against top players such as Nakamura, Kramnik, Svidler and Wesley So.

Gukesh blitzed out his opening moves and stunned all the fans with the novelty 7.Re1, a pawn gambit that had never been played before in more than 5000 master games.

Ding went into the tank for twenty-five minutes, trying to understand what was going on, and eventually decided to accept the pawn sacrifice, creating an unbalanced position: an extra pawn for Black in exchange for certain positional compensation.

„This line is very interesting for me as I play this line with Black regularly. This is the first time I see 7.Re1. It’s a very rare move indeed but with a strong idea behind it, and actually, it’s a bit scary to capture the pawn with 7…dxc4,“ explained GM Anna Muzychuk in the commentary booth.  

A couple of moves later, the champion made a key decision. Instead of protecting his extra pawn with 9…b5 (the suggestion of engines), Ding Liren decided to give it back and also surrender his bishop pair to enjoy a superior pawn structure. „My first mistake was 9…c5 as after 10.d5 my opponent gets a better position and I have a hard defense,“ explained Ding after the game.

The resulting position seemed slightly better for Gukesh, and additionally he was clearly up on the clock. A few developing moves down the road, the second key position arose.

In all of his previous games with White, Gukesh had played g2-g4 at some point. „Now, g3-g4 would be a very Gukesh move,“ GM Howell called on commentary. Meanwhile, FIDE media polled the question on X, and included the mirror option b2-b4.

Although giving his opponent a protected passed pawn seemed very dangerous, Gukesh bravely pushed his b-pawn on move nineteen. The game was on!

White got a pair of bishops and an isolated passed pawn against a well-deployed Black army with a protected passed pawn for the endgame. „I thought I should be winning before the queen exchange and also after the queen exchange,“ explained Gukesh in the press conference. „I thought my position after 19.b4 was hopeless,“ was Ding’s very frank opinion.

Meanwhile, in the commentary booth, GM Anna Muzychuk enjoyed every minute of the event. „Every World Championship match is a wonderful story; it’s unique. No matter how it goes, I enjoy watching every game.“

Back on the board, things were getting difficult for the champion. Ding only had 27 minutes left on the clock (Gukesh had 52) for 21 moves in an extremely complicated position, a fact observed by GM Danyyil Dvirnyy on „X“.

Additionally, former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik wasn’t impressed at all by the champion’s play, and he made his opinion known on „X“.

Taking all of this into account, it’s actually a miracle that he survived to the endgame, as there were many pitfalls along the way. Gukesh could have sealed the deal on several occasions (30.Be3 instead of 30.Qf4, 32.Bg5 instead of 32.Qxf5, and finally 37.Rd2 instead of 37.Rf4) but allowed Ding to stay in the game.

Put yourself in Ding Liren’s shoes. Would you play 40…Ke5 centralizing the king or 40…Nc8 to blockade on d6 or b6?

With only seven seconds left on the clock to reach move forty, Ding blundered big.  Instead of the inferior 40…Ke5?, he should have played 40…Nc8! followed by 41…Nd6, with a blockade and very good chances to draw. After 41.Rh4! Ding lost his h-pawn, and things looked very bleak for Black indeed.

But just when victory seemed locked up for the challenger, nerves took their toll. Converting the endgame was not an easy task and, low on time, Gukesh was unable to find the win. Instead of 44.Ke1 played in the game, the correct move was 44.h4 (44.Ra6 also looks quite strong), and the rook ending after 44…Nd2+ is winning for White.

„I thought that the endgame with the weak f-pawns and my extra pawn should be enough to win, but it turned out to be more difficult than I expected,“ Gukesh explained at the press conference after the game. „For sure, 46.Bd1 was a bad move due to a miscalculation. I don’t know exactly where the win was, but I should be winning,“ he lamented.

With seven of the fourteen scheduled classical games played, the match remains tied 3.5-3.5 heading into the second half.

The eighth game of the match is scheduled for Wednesday, December 4, at 5 PM local time in Singapore with Ding Liren playing White.

FACT SHEET, Game 7, FIDE World Championship:

White: Gukesh D
Black: Ding Liren
Result: 0.5-0.5
Game length: 72 moves
Opening: Neo-Grünfeld Defense
Variation: Classical Variation
Match score: 3.5-3.5

Although the FIDE World Championship is by far the main event, the local organizers, along with FIDE, have programmed a wide range of side activities for all the fans coming to Sentosa for the match.

On the agenda this afternoon, three-time Women’s Rapid World Champion GM Anna Muzychuk offered a talk in the VIP lounge open to all and then gave her thoughts on the game in progress as a guest in the commentary room.

Additionally, popular chess streamers IM Eric Rosen and WGM Nemo joined the host IM Irene Sukandar in the fan zone, providing entertainment for the hundreds of onsite spectators. GM Anna Muzychuk also joined them for the joy of all the chess fans. 

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)

Photos: Eng Chin An and Maria Emelianova

Official website: worldchampionship.fide.com/

Full programme of side-events: worldchampionship.fide.com/events

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.