World Championship Game 3: Gukesh delivers the equalizer by outplaying Ding Liren
D Gukesh defeated the world champion, Ding Liren for the very first time in a Classical rated game. He did it on the biggest stage at FIDE World Championship Match 2024 presented by Google. The teenager was pretty confident about his position when his opponent was down to his last minute. He was only thinking about the position after he got Rc1-d1. He wasn't playing for time. The Challenger had all intentions to finish things off cleanly. The match has definitely gotten with Gukesh's equalizer. The next game will be interesting to see how the world champion responds after suffering his first loss at this match. Tomorrow is the first rest day. Game 4 starts on Friday 29th November at 5 p.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Maria Emelianova
Gukesh beats Ding Liren for the first time in a Classical rated game
"It feels great. Last two days I was happy with my play. Today was even better. I feel good at the board. Today, I just managed to outplay my opponent which is always very nice." - D Gukesh on scoring his first win at the World Championship. "Starting from maybe 13.b4 or 17.Qe2, especially this 18.Nxd4 move, all these moves were pretty bad but I think it's also understandable since it was my first game in the World Championship, I was a bit nervous. It's a new setting for me. Even for example, Magnus in his first World Championship, he was not at his best at the start. So I think it's a very normal reaction. I was okay with that. It was a bad game but I was generally feeling good. I thought even though I was nervous, it was not too much to handle. I felt good, it was a bad game but I was generally feeling good. I always knew that once I settle, I will get back my rhythm." - Gukesh on Magnus Carlsen's remark, "...Not a single good decision, everything was wrong."
It's obviously not to misjudge a position so badly. As long as I played better than my opponent, I think it is enough. - Gukesh
Gukesh - Ding Liren: 1-0
This is the first time Gukesh defeated Ding Liren in a Classical rated game. What a way to do it at the biggest stage of all. Gukesh recalled correctly about his game following last year's battle between Vladimir Kramnik and Arjun Erigaisi at World Rapid Team. Till 13.hxg4 it was the same when Ding deviated 13...Nbd7 instead of Arjun's 13...Bxb3. He remembered the crucial detail of Black going wrong in that game instead of how the game went.
"I was prepared until 13th move. I guess he was trying to remember something, maybe he mixed up something. I thought how he reacted was not the most precise way. Then I think I just got a very nice position after 15.g5. All these 17.f3, 19.e4 looks really shaky for Black." - The challenger on how his opening went and his opponent spending so much time in the in that phase. Instead of 13...Nbd7, the world champion thought of 13...Ne4 14.Nxe4 Bxe4 15.Nd2 Na6 and he was not sure about the evaluation of the position.
"I think my position was in trouble because a normal move 18...Ne6 doesn't work due to 19.Rc1. Also, 18...Be7 I refuted due to 19.Rc1 Bf5 20.e4 Be6 21.exd5 Bxd5 22.Nxd5 cxd5 23.Rc7 after Ne6 24.Rxb7 a6" - Ding Liren on whether he realized how much trouble his position was in when he played 18...Rh5?? "...I guess during the game we both thought White is doing well which is what matters." - Gukesh answered whether he saw the line 18...Be7 which his opponent mentioned.
Ding Liren admitted missing 23.Ne2 as he thought White had to play 23.Rg2. For him, this was the decisive mistake.
"After 18...Rh5?? I thought with 19.e4 I am winning a piece but he gets a couple of pawns. The dark squares are a bit soft. I didn't think I was completely winning. I knew that I should be better or close to winning. Then I think I played quite precisely because I was also considering 22.Ne2 instead of 22.Bf2 but then he can go Nxb3 similar to what happened in the game 23.Rxc2 Nxd2 24.Rxd2 Bb4 the difference is now g5 is hanging 25.Nc3 Rxg5 so I thought it is better to start with 22.Bf2 than Ne2. I just thought I had to be like super precise not to give him any drawing chances. I did not really where he could improve actually. Maybe 30...Ke7 was the final mistake but already I thought I was doing pretty well. The tactic at the very end was very nice that I had calculated.
38.Bxf5 is what I was going to play." - Gukesh explained his entire thought process after 37...Rh5??
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Every game starts at 5 p.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. IST. There is a rest day after every three games.
