Drawing at one's own bidding- Psychology in play - Game six

A long theoretical line, albeit an obscure one happened with Ding returning to his all-time favourite first move of the Queen Pawn. Gukesh settled into a long thought and the general consensus was Ding has put him under pressure both in the position and on the clock. But as it turned out Ding too thought for a long time once he encountered a new move and then offered a repetition of moves. And Gukesh decided to spurn the repetition even though it felt that he was worse objectively. This led to a lot of discussion of psychology and mind games and various other non-chess ideas! I get a feeling that after the loss in the third game, Ding had put a temporary break to going for unclear complications even if it seems to favour him and instead try to outplay Gukesh in simple positions. 

Let us delve in to the game and see, how it turned out. 

Equilibrium - the beauty of chess - Game 5

"Chess is a game of equilibrium"- William Cluley

Gukesh's White games have been the most interesting ones in this World Championship match. It is perhaps because he is playing more daring chess and Ding also plays his part. When Ding starts with White, he keeps the game pretty quiet and in control. The daring of youth is essential perhaps to provide fireworks to the spectators!

Aiming for perfection, really? - Game 4

White went for a very quiet and interesting idea in a Nimzo Larsen Opening but perhaps did not come with too much of an intention to fight! But both players continue to vary their openings a lot and try to surprise each other.

Under the pressure of the ticking clock! Game -3

"The aim of opening preparation is to get a playable position in the middlegame" - Lajos Portisch 

World Champion Ding Liren predicted that Gukesh would come with all guns blazing, and that the third game would be a big fight and wasn't he spot on! There were lot of interesting moments which showed some of the strong as well as weak points of both the players.

The game started with

Game 2 Not a Boring draw!

 

After having won the first game unexpectedly so to speak with the Black pieces, Ding's situation was sort of unique for him as he never got the lead in last year's event until he actually won the World Championship!

So, was he going to try and increase his lead, or play safe keeping slight chances? Gukesh needs to play stable and not go all out in this game. As Magnus quipped, he could not win the match in this game, but he could almost lose it if he lost the current game! Although here too the World Championship in 1972 between Fischer and Spassky and the one in 1954 between Botvinnik and Smyslov show that things are not too simple even with a 2-0 lead! But again, one has to mention that they were 24 game events.

World Championship 2024 diaries Game 1

 "World Championship match is an emotional experience" - Vladimir Kramnik 

The World Championship match between Gukesh and Ding is underway, and this is one of the rare occasions where the challenger is rated higher than the champion according to rating and current results going by the past one year. While there have been varied kind of predictions going on about the outcome of the match, Magnus predicted that the match could be more even than many might think. 

Game 1 is always a nervous story for the challenger as the experienced top challengers themselves say! Remember, game 1 of Anand-Carlsen 2013, Chennai when Carlsen was visibly nervous and by his own admission escaped with a draw!

Outwardly Gukesh seemed confident, though he later admitted in the press conference there was bound to be nervousness and indeed he was, but he felt alright once the game began! Let us start delving in to the game