Singapore. Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh leveled the points in the World Chess Championship by registering his first win in the third round on Wednesday by defeating defending champion Ding Liren of China in ‘time control’. After losing the first match while playing with black pieces, Gukesh played a draw in the second match. Both players now have one and a half points. 18 year old Gukesh of India won in 37 moves.
Liren had to suffer the consequences of wasting a lot of time in the first leg of the match.
After registering victory playing with white pieces, Gukesh said in the press conference, “It feels very good.” I was happy with my game the last two days. Today I played better. Felt good on the board and I managed to defeat my opponent. By the thirteenth move Gukesh had a lead of one hour and had spent only four minutes. Liren had spent an hour and six minutes on the other side.
There is no time extension for 40 moves in the first 120 minutes of the game. Liren was affected due to the complexity of the match in the middle and Gukesh increased the pressure on him with perfect moves. Gukesh adopted the same strategy that former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia had adopted against Arjun Erigesi of India in a rapid match. Erigesi narrowly escaped defeat by drawing the match while Gukesh took advantage of Liren’s simple mistakes and won.
Liren had only two minutes left for the last nine moves and only ten seconds left for the last six moves. In the end he had no time left. Gukesh is eyeing to become the first Indian player after Vishwanathan Anand to win the World Championship. Anand won the World Championship five times and has been a mentor to Gukesh. Tomorrow is a rest day in the competition.