World Championship Game 10: A solid draw
The tenth game was the most uneventful game so far at FIDE World Championship Match 2024, presented by Google. It was the shortest game in terms of duration which lasted just over 2.5 hours. However, in terms of moves it is the second-shortest game after Game 2 which lasted 23 moves. Ding Liren's strategy can be surmised as he wants to survive the Classical games and beat Gukesh in tie-breaks, as it is well-known by now that shorter time controls are not the Challenger's forte. Gukesh is happy to draw with black. He will try to push with the remaining two whites he has left and want to finish things off before the tie-breaks. Game 11 starts tomorrow at 5 p.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Eng Chin An
Shortest game of the match in terms of duration
"I am obviously up for a game with both colors but with black to get a solid draw like this, it's obviously a good result. As I said, nowadays white and black color doesn't make a huge difference. So just four more very interesting games to go." - D Gukesh on his draw with the black pieces, considering his opponent had three whites going into the last five games.
"About this game, the quality was high. Maybe somewhere we both could have improved at some point but overall it was just a solid draw which is very normal." - D Gukesh.
Sometimes my opening stage just worked quite well. Today I also prepared a lot, hoping for some advantage out of the opening. He surprised me with 5...Bd6. I thought it might be slight advantage. - Ding Liren
Ding Liren - Gukesh: 0.5-0.5
Ding Liren opted for the London System for the second time in the match. However, this time, he deviated himself as he went 6.dxc5
"I guess in the opening I was aware of the 5.Be2 idea but I couldn't remember the exact details. At this point, I know that Nh5 is one of the common ideas. It's also why white very often with the bishop on f4 goes h3 to not lose the bishop. I thought here 10...Nh5 was maybe possible. I had to calculate some lines. I was thinking about 11.Ne4 I wanted to go Be7 12.Bd6 Bxd6 13.Nxd6 Qe7 14.Qd2 Re8 15.Rfd1 Nf6 16.Ng5 I am just calculating now Ne5? 17.Nf5 is a nice trick. 11...Nxf4 12.Nxc5 Qe7 13.exf4 Qxc5 14.Bd3 not so pleasant for me. Bd3, Rc1 I was not too sure about this structure... I was quite relieved when he played 11.Bg5 because Be7 12.Ne4 he could have had this position with the bishop on d6 and I was going to take on d6. Once I saw 12...Nf6, I knew I should not be having any kind of trouble here." - D Gukesh on his first big thought before 10...Nh5.
"I saw this is harmless 14.Bd3 Rd8. So I didn't play this. I was hoping for 11.Bg5 Qxd1 12.Rfxd1 h6 13.Ne4 Bb6 14.Bh4 g5 15.g4 gxh4 16.gxh5 I think White is slightly better in this variation. I missed 11...Be7 actually. I thought that White had stable advantage after the exchange of bishops but that's not the case 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Nd4 maybe he can simply go back Nf6 14.Nxc6 bxc6 I have Bb7." - Ding Liren on spending time after 10...Nh5. He added, after I take the knight and exchange the queens, the game goes into a drawish endgame. Maybe this is the last try - 13.Bd3 Nxe4 14.Bxe7 knight cannot take on f2 Nxf2 15.Bxh7+ Kxh7 16.Qxd8 Rxd8 17.Bxd8+-."
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Schedule
Every game starts at 5 p.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. IST. There is a rest day after every three games.
