World Chess Championship: Gukesh sacrifices queen, beats Liren in 11th game

Indian teenage grandmaster Gukesh Dammaraju on Sunday beat defending champion Ding Liren in Game 11 of the World Chess Championship in Singapore, taking a vital one-point lead with the score at 5.5 points to Ding’s 4.5, with just three games remaining in the 14-round classical format.

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After seven consecutive draws, particularly the last two uneventful ones, former champion Magnus Carlsen and several chess commentators were eager to see ‘dynamites and blood’ on the board. They especially urged Gukesh to take risks in the 11th game, as Ding would retain the title if the match ended in a tie.

And the Indian chess sensation didn’t disappoint.

Gukesh once again took advantage in the opening, continuing to surprise the clearly underprepared defending champion Liren. Playing with white, Gukesh opted for the rare and spicy Reti-Blumenfeld Gambit, also called the Reversed Blumenfeld Gambit. In this opening, White sacrifices the c-pawn, drawing the black pawns into its territory and claiming them later. However, the gambit is risky, with high chances for both players to secure a win. “I knew it was a double-edged opening, but I went for it. I was prepared,” Gukesh reflected on the choice of the opening later.

The game lived up to expectations. Like almost all the previous ten games in the 14-round championship, Gukesh introduced a novelty on the 5^th move by pushing a pawn to a3. Ding spent 22 minutes responding with the routine Nf6, drawing criticism from commentators who called him unprepared and under-confident.

After five moves, Gukesh had used an incredible 32 seconds, compared to an hour, two minutes and 35 seconds by his opponent. This was despite the fact that Ding had beaten another Indian grandmaster, Adhiban, with black in the same opening just a year ago.

However, the situation changed when Ding found an outpost for his knight, forcing Gukesh to think for a record one hour and 17 seconds to find an equal response. Later, he confessed to reporters, “I owe a lot to my team for preparation and got a better position again in the opening, but then I lost my cool for not playing accurately. I had to go to the rest lounge to cool myself.”

Eventually, Gukesh built pressure on the queen side, and in the time scramble, where Ding had just about seven minutes to play 15 moves to reach the stipulated 40 moves in the first time control of two hours, Ding capitulated and resigned on the 29 move when Gukesh sacrificed his queen to gain a decisive advantage.

When asked if he could bounce back now, Ding responded in the post-match conference, “In the last championship, I came back from behind with white in Game 12. And now also it will be Game 12.” He sounded positive.

Gukesh, whose meditative pose on the board is as popular as his calm demeanour, kept his feet on the ground. “This game could have easily gone the other way as well (Ding could have won), so considering that, it’s a very important game, but there are still three more very important games to go (for the title).”

Game 12 is scheduled for Monday, with Ding Liren playing with the white pieces. Will he bring aggression to the board?