Gukesh stunned champion Ding Liren in Game 11 of the World Chess Championship on Sunday. (FIDE via Eng Chin An)
After seven successive draws, Indian challenger D Gukesh got the better of China’s Ding Liren in Game 11 to edge ahead in the FIDE World Chess Championship in Singapore on Sunday. With three games remaining in the match, the 18-year-old managed to force a resignation from the world champion to take the lead for the first time.
It was a game that saw both players in a massive time scramble from early on. Ding had just over eight minutes to make 16 moves at one stage while Gukesh needed to make 15 moves in just under 15 minutes.
FOLLOW: Highlights of Gukesh’s win in Game 11
“At some point, it was a blitz game,” said Gukesh at the press conference. “I was happy when I saw him think so long. I was happy to get that time advantage. I don’t know what I was thinking for an hour. I was thinking about so many variations.”
Under this time pressure, Ding made a blunder on the 28th move by shifting his queen to c8. As soon as he made the move, he realised his error. Gukesh offered his own queen up as a sacrifice, but the writing was on the wall. Ding resigned right there.
INTERACTIVE: Game 11 between Gukesh and Ding Liren
You can check out the move by move action from Game 11 between Gukesh and Ding Liren and also play along in the interactive below
Both players spent a lot of time early on. Ding used up his first hour on just five moves after burning up 38 minutes on his fourth move and 22 on his second. The world champion was caught out by the tenager’s attacking opening choice with white pieces. Gukesh pulled out the Reti Opening.
“40 minutes just went nowhere, to calculate some nonsense variations,” rued Ding.
Just when it looked that Gukesh was a massive favourite on the clock, the Indian himself spent an hour on his 11th move. Before then, Gukesh had built up a time advantage of an hour and seven minutes after just eight moves, which was burnt up on the 11th.
