Singapore. Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh played a draw with defending champion Ding Liren in the second game of the World Chess Championship here on Tuesday. Gukesh, who lost the opening match of this fourteen-game match on Monday, made a good comeback by holding the experienced Chinese player to a draw while playing with black pieces. Liren, who won the first match, now has a lead of 1.5-0.5.
The Chennai player said after the match was drawn, “A draw with black pieces is always good in a World Championship match. “This match is still in its early stages and we still have a lot of time.” Eighteen-year-old Gukesh is the youngest contender for the world title and is trying to become the first Indian after Vishwanathan Anand to win the title. Anand has won this title five times in his illustrious career. While Gakesh was struggling with his moves in the initial match, he did not make any mistakes on the second day.
Due to the lead of one point, Liren also did not consider it right to take too much risk by adopting an aggressive stance against the Indian player. Gukesh agreed to a draw after his 23rd move with the black pieces. Liren had won the last World Championship title against Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi after falling three times. In such a situation, Gukesh also has every chance to make a comeback.
Gukesh said, “There is bound to be pressure on any player playing in the World Championship. There is a lot of pressure here. However, I see it as a challenge that I can represent so many people and my country.” He said, “I am concentrating on one match at a time. Hopefully I can turn things in my favor.” In this championship, the player who reaches 7.5 points will become the winner. Its prize money is 2.5 million dollars.
32-year-old Liren from China said that he was satisfied with drawing the second game. He said, “In the initial match I tried something new and obviously to do this you need a lot of memory. Even today I tried something out of the box. “I have prepared a lot for such moves.”