It’s Game 6 in the World Chess Championship as both India’s D Gukesh and China’s Ding Liren will push to take an advantage with the scores being level at 2.5 points each.
The previous Game 5 ended up being a draw as reigning world champion Ding had a good chance to pile up the pressure but he missed on his advantage in the endgame.
Defending the black pieces, Ding efficiently neutralised his opponent’s variation in the French defence and seemed well on his way to score a second win. However, he failed to be precise with his moves, allowing Gukesh to claim a draw after 40 moves.
In fact, Gukesh blundered after a risky g4 move but to his relief, the world champion failed to realise his advantage.
“I didn’t see the idea with 28…Rc8, I was thinking of moving the king to the kingside, like some kind of Berlin pawn structure. I didn’t realise that it was a big advantage for me,” Ding said after the match.
Gukesh, meanwhile, admitted that he was worried but ultimately relieved that Ding failed to make it count.
“Towards the end of the game, I was very worried about my position after the manoeuvre 27…Be6 followed by 28…Rc8. I was quite relieved when my opponent played 27…Bc6, as I thought it would be a draw” Gukesh said in the postgame press conference.
The sixth game of the World Championship match will take place on Sunday, December 1, with the game starting at 2:30 PM IST. Ding will be playing the White.
You can follow all the updates from game 6 on our live blog:
