World Championship 2024 diaries Game 10

by Sundararajan Kidambi - 10/12/2024

FIDE World Championship Match 2024 presented by Google, has only two Classical games remaining. The tenth game was a quiet one. Everyone correctly predicted it to be the 'calm before storm'. The following two games ended decisively. GM Sundararajan Kidambi analyzes Game 10. He also takes a look at the very few interesting moments of the game. Check out the dissection by Kidambi of the tenth game and enrich your understanding of it. If you like his explanations, do mention it in the comments, so that it inspires Kidambi to share more from his fountain of knowledge. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Calm before the storm

In connection with the last game, this was perhaps also the game where the equilibrium was not disturbed at all, or rather even tried to! Ding perhaps got a very very slight edge or at least a pleasant position from the opening. But he resolutely avoided creating any sort of imbalance and allowed the game to drift to a draw rather easily maintaining the deadlock in the scores!

Sundararajan Kidambi analyzes FIDE World Championship Match 2024 Game 10 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 e6 4.e3 c5 5.Be2!? Bd6 6.dxc5 Bxc5 7.c4!?

White has transposed the game from London to a Queen's Gambit Declined.

7...0-0 8.0-0 Nc6

Ding Liren - Gukesh, Game 10

Position after 8...Nc6

Gukesh played this quickly

8...dxc4 9.Bxc4 Qe7 Black and try and develop the knight on d7 is more typical of a Queen's Gambit Accepted player.

9.Nc3!

White commits Nc3 only after Black does the same too.

9...dxc4 10.Bxc4 Nh5

Position after 10...Nh5

After a long thought Gukesh typically tries to solve the position in a concrete fashion.

Clearly Gukesh did not like to defend a passive endgame after 10...Qxd1 11.Rfxd1 as it happened in a rapid game between Rapport and Aronian, Gibraltar 2018

11.Bg5

11.Qc2!? Nxf4 12.exf4 White could create an imbalance and play this structure like the famous Kramnik-Carlsen, game in 2010, though this is a better version of Black.

12...Nf6 13.Nxf6+ Bxf6 14.Qxd8 Rxd8 15.Bxf6

Ding decided to play it very safe and allowed Black to equalise easily.

15...gxf6

Position after 15...gxf6

With only one theoretical weakness on f6, this was perhaps not even a hint of a try, and the game resulted in an easy draw after 36 moves.

Ding Liren vs D Gukesh, Game 10 | Photo: FIDE/Eng Chin An

About the author

GM Sundararajan Kidambi is considered by many Indian players as the one with impeccable knowledge of chess classics | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

ChessBase India is happy to see GM Sundararajan Kidambi writing his sixth game review of World Championship Match 2024 in his blog "Musings on Chess". Knowing what an encyclopedic knowledge the grandmaster from Chennai possesses, I think we are in for a treat! He is likely to write more about the ongoing World Championship Match. We will keep reminding him about it! We are awaiting to read his next post of the year and be enriched.