World Championship Game 13: Gukesh misses, Ding defends
D Gukesh got a good opportunity in the penultimate game of the FIDE World Championship 2024, presented by Google. However, he missed it. Will the miss prove costly? Only time will tell. The world champion mentioned that he was quite tired after a long game. However, he seemed quite energised answering the questions and analyzing various position. The challenger on the other hand was evidently disappointed, as this could probably end up being his last opportunity in the Classical games. History can still happen tomorrow or the day after. The last Classical game will be start tomorrow at 5 p.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Eric Rosen
Will the last Classical game decide the winner?
"As the games get less and less, there is more at stake obviously. So, I came for a fight.I was feeling fresh. I was feeling confident. I also had this cool idea prepared. so I was quite excited to play. Yeah it was a good game. Maybe this one moment where I could have played Re8 instead of Ne4. Overall I think it's just a very good game." - D Gukesh on having a 'tornado' like entry to the playing area at the start of Game 13.
Firstly, I am very tired after a long game. Secondly, I am yet to decide what's the strategy for the next game which is a Golden game. - Ding Liren
Gukesh - Ding Liren: 0.5-0.5
Ding Liren went back to his trustworthy French Defence. This was the third time the opening was observed in this match. However, Gukesh deviated 5.Nce2 instead of f4 in the first game.
"Yeah of course. He played a move order trick and I was confused. I had to figure out during the game. In some lines he will play f4 and in some lines he will just play Nf3, Nf4. 7...Be7 8.Be3 it's already very difficult to play for Black. Normally Black can play 8...f6 but here 9.Nf4 is very strong." - Ding Liren on whether he was surprised to see 7.a3 on the board.
"12.Qg4, I briefly saw it was possible but I did not think it was very strong. I thought what I got in the game 12.Nge2, 13.0-0, 14.Nc3 be quite good for me but maybe Qg4 was better. I did not realize that." - D Gukesh answered if he considered Qg4 instead of 12.Nge2 which he played in the game.
Gukesh spend quite some time before deciding to play 17.Qf3. His reasoning - "17.Nxf6+ Qxf6 18.d5 exd5 19.Qxd5+ Qe6 I didn't really see anything special." Ding - 20.Rfd1 I think you are slightly better here." Gukesh resumed, "I thought anyway I should be slightly better but I did not think this was the maximum I could get from that position. Instead of 17.Qf3, I was also thinking about 17.Qg4 but Rb7 is quite nice actually. I couldn't see a follow up here.
"Yes I saw. I calculated this line, I think White is slightly better. If I had white pieces, I will go for this line. Or maybe, here (after 15...f5) I will play 16.d5 exd5 17.Nxd5 Be6 18.Nhf4 Bxd5 19.Qxd5 Qxd5 20.Nxd5 looks slightly better for White." - Ding Liren on if he really saw the line ending in 20.Rfd1 or he just quickly said it.
"17...Nxd4 I missed 18.Nxf6+ Rxf6 19.Qd1 I missed this. 19...e5 followed by Bf5" - Ding Liren mentioned that he missed the line after 17...Nxd4
The world champion admitted to missing 22.Bf4 completely. Gukesh shared his thoughts, "I had seen earlier that (when) he plays Ne7 I have Bf4, a nice trick. I thought once I get Bd6, I should have quite a nice advantage which probably was the case. But I couldn't see the knockout blow. Maybe there wasn't one."
22...Rb6 23.Bc7 Rb7 24.Bd6 Re8 25.Bxe7 "I didn't think allowing Nd5 was a great idea. I will still be better but I thought with the knight on d5 yes, his defensive chances are better." - Gukesh explained his choice of going 25.Bxe7 quickly.
"My first intention was to play 31...Rc7 after 31.Ne4 runs into a very nice check 32.Nf6+! I almost gave up. I didn't find any move to survive, to stay in the game. In the end I found a nice resource 31...Rf8."- Ding Liren after seeing 31.Ne4 on the board.
"I didn't see 31...Rf8... When he was thinking, I spotted Rf8. My initial intention was to... if he went 30...Qd7 31.Rxe8+ Qxe8 32.Ne4 there were some complicated stuff happening. (Engine gives this as winning for White - GM Maurice Ashley). Yeah I am aware of that but still I am not sure..." - Gukesh. He added, "I saw Rf8 but initially I missed 32.Nd6 Rc7. It was an unpleasant surprise. I thought I could still press a bit, but I was hoping to get queen-rook with a three vs two pawns endgame. Once the queens are exchanged it's just a draw."
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