World Chess Championship: Ding Liren surprises with winning formula against Gukesh

No, Ding Liren said on Monday, twelve is not his lucky number. The assumption was obvious. Because Ding had done it again: For the second time in a row, he had achieved an unexpected and impressive victory in the twelfth game of the World Chess Championship.

A year and a half ago, when he was an underdog against the Russian Jan Nepomnyashchi, just as he is now an underdog against the Indian Gukesh Dommaraju, Ding was also behind by one point before the twelfth game. A tricky situation, because being behind so late in the World Cup match creates a lot of pressure: you have to attack and take risks. A win is needed, and quickly. The other person, on the other hand, can concentrate on avoiding errors. For him, the following applies: If you don’t make any mistakes, if you defend precisely, you won’t lose in chess. And that’s all that matters to whoever is ahead, three games before the end of the match.

But Ding Liren, who sometimes speaks so quietly that you can hardly understand him at the press conferences for the World Cup match in Singapore – this Ding Liren, of all people, seems to be thriving under the pressure of being behind. In April 2023 he had four draws against Nepomnyashchi before he was able to equalize his third deficit of the match in a spectacular twelfth game.

This time, against Gukesh, the starting position was different, you could also say it was a lot more difficult. Because just the day before, Ding didn’t look like a champion at all. He seemed much more like someone who just wanted to get away. In the eleventh game, Gukesh had plunged the Chinese into misery with a particularly resonant opening variation, the “Blumenfeldgambit im Suit”. Early in the game, Ding thought about his next move for 40 minutes, “just to make stupid calculations,” as he said afterwards. It was time that he later lacked. He made a mistake on move 28 and knew it immediately.

During the press conference that followed, Ding’s tired eyes stared into space. He did say: “The last time I came back was in the twelfth game. I’ll try it again tomorrow.” But at that point that sounded like a rallying cry. After six minutes, presenter Maurice Ashley mercifully let him go. For the rest of the event, opponent Gukesh was able to be celebrated by the Indian media representatives. Did he hear the cheers from the fans? “Gukesh, Gukesh, Gukesh” and “India, India, India”they chanted in the spectator area after his victory. Gukesh smiled, “Indian fans are the best in the world.”

The next day, however, there was suddenly a completely different thing sitting opposite him at the board. A courageous, aggressive thing played with an incredible precision that was reminiscent of that phase of his career when he remained unbeaten in 100 games in a row. That was more than six years ago now. But here he was again, the player who calculated the positions in his head as accurately as only chess computers can. Gukesh didn’t play badly at all, he was just a bit imprecise in the middle game. He had no chance.

Afterwards it was Ding who smiled. With infectious joy, he analyzed what had happened live on the podium, which this time the defeated Gukesh was allowed to leave early. “That was perhaps the best game I have played recently,” Ding said at the press conference. Opposition pointless. But the question everyone was asking was: How did Ding manage to do that?

If the score is 7:7 after 14 games, there will be a tiebreak in rapid chess

The day before, after the painful defeat, he went to bed a little earlier than his normal routine, Ding reported, “and this morning I drank a cup of coffee.” This made him a little more energetic. Plus, he added mischievously, “I did something to my hair.” The chess world champion’s recipe for success is: caffeine and hair gel.

And on the board? “I had to push for the win today,” Ding said. However, he didn’t want to let go of a reporter’s slight accusation that he hadn’t done the same in the last few games. In previous games, the positions were simply riskier, he emphasized. In the previous few days, Ding Gukesh had offered a draw twice from slightly advantageous positions – which the Indian rejected each time. For many, this was a sign that the Indian it wants more. By the twelfth game at the latest it should be clear: Ding wants it at least as much. The score is now 6:6, with two regular games still to come. Then it would go to the tiebreak, where first rapid and then blitz chess would be played.

By the way: If he has a lucky number, Ding said on Monday, it would be seventeen: “Because I am the 17th world chess champion.” The probability of a new one, i.e. number 18, fell rapidly on Monday.