World Championship 2024 diaries Game 14

The straw that broke the camel's back

Ding mentioned on the previous day that the last round game would not be a short draw. Going by this it was clear that Ding would try and maintain small pressure as he did in game number 12, but not overtly taking any too many risks. The general opinion of most of the commentators were also that Ding was a favorite in the faster time control as he is more of an intuitive player than Gukesh and also his record as a rapid and blitz player was better than Gukesh's. Magnus even felt that Ding should perhaps choose 1.e4 as in the second game and steer the game to a forcing draw as he himself did in the last classical game against Karjakin in 2016!

1.Nf3!?

Ding goes for Reti, which in principle is not too different from his choice of English in game 12. White perhaps wants a long-drawn-out battle without too many exchanges.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e3 Bg7 6.Nxd5 Qxd5 7.Ne2 is the Grunfeld variation which was perhaps the genesis of Gukesh's idea in this game.

1...d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.d4

White goes for a reversed Grunfeld or Catalan setup, of which Ding is an expert at!

5...e6 6.0-0 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Nge7!?

Ding Liren - Gukesh, Game 14

As in every other game, Gukesh is the first to surprise the opponent. This idea has also occurred in the reverse of the current opening- Grunfeld.

7.c4!

White has to do the central break, no matter what!

7...Nxd4 8.Qxd4 Nc6 9.Qd1!?

White plays a very natural move and is not trying anything sophisticated in trying to being accurate and ensuring an advantage. In a way, this takes Gukesh out of his main line preparation.

9.Qd2 or 9.Qf4 or even 9.Qd3 Ne5 10.Qc2 Nxc4 11.e4!

9...d4 10.e3 Bc5

This was the first moment where Gukesh started thinking a little bit. One can assume he was either out of his preparation or did not remember the same.

11.exd4 Bxd4 12.Nc3 0-0 13.Nb5

13...Bb6?!

Played after thirteen minutes of thought, and out of his preparation, Gukesh does not choose the best option among various alternatives he had. This is also reminiscent of games 11 and 12 where, having a time advantage but having taken out of preparation, Gukesh erred.

After retreating the bishop, the position is one of typical Catalan pressure. White has a queenside majority and the problem of developing the bishop on c8, is not so easy to solve.

13...Bf6 14.Be3! Bxb2 15.Rb1 gives white a good initiative.

If he did want to retreat his bishop 13...Bc5!? would have been a slightly better square, leaving the b6 square open for the queen.

But the best available option was 13...e5! where black is okay to give up his bishop pair and even isolating his pawn or rather making it a passed one. But in doing so, the development of the light square bishop becomes easier. This idea is also known from the Grunfeld Defence. 14. Nxd4 exd4

14.b3

Ding plays a natural move after ten minutes of thought. In essence, it is not wrong, but it is also not the most critical move.

14.Qe2! a6 15.Rd1 Qe7 16.Nc3, I had a feeling Ding was worried about some ideas connected with Nd4 later on but concretely speaking it does not work. He probably did not focus a lot of attention here, but instead deciding to play by hand. Another thing to note is that if Black decides to go for e5, he will have to contend with White's knight landing on d5 which is a big problem. Nd4 17.Qe4 f5 18.Qd3 and Black has created central weaknesses and looks shaky. Who knows what would have happened if Ding had confidence and indeed played 14.Qe2?

14...a6 15.Nc3 Bd4 16.Bb2 e5 17.Qd2 Be6 18.Nd5 b5!?

Gukesh plays ambitiously. He wants to dislodge the pawn supporting the central knight outpost on d5. He shows he has come for a game and not just content to defend a slightly worse position out of the opening.

19.cxb5?!

At this point Ding decided to shut down the game and steer towards a draw. This was very strange as he had a way to play a very safe and pleasant position with the strong knight on d5! With the score turning back to equal, Ding loses his confidence back and wants to steer towards the tiebreaks. Ding of 2019 would have not even thought about this move, we would speculate!

A natural continuation would be 19.Bxd4 Nxd4 20.f4!

White tries the same thing that Black tried on the other flank - to destabilize Black's knight outpost on the central d4-square. bxc4 21.bxc4 Rc8 22.Rac1 f6 23.Qe3!?

White's strong Bishop on g2 supports the knight on d5, the same thing cannot be said for the black's knight on d4. This gives White a slight advantage.

19...axb5 20.Nf4 exf4 21.Bxc6 Bxb2 22.Qxb2 Rb8 23.Rfd1 Qb6 24.Bf3

White could have offered trade of Bishops with 24.Bd5 or 24.Bd7 This would have steered the game surely towards a draw. As many commentators including Magnus pointed out, once you have decided on a draw, you should be ruthless about it :-)

24...fxg3 25.hxg3 b4 26.a4?!

A very puzzling decision, showing Ding's state of mind, in his eagerness to somehow or the other to get a draw he is alright to defend an endgame pawn down, rather than maintaining the equal and safe position in the middlegame. 26.Rd4 was absolutely fine, and white had no risk whatsoever.

26...bxa3 27.Rxa3 g6 28.Qd4 Qb5!

Gukesh rightly avoids queen exchange for the moment.

28...Qxd4 29.Rxd4 Bxb3 30.Bd5! Bxd5 31.Rxd5 exchange of Bishops simplifies white's defensive task by far. Gukesh wanted to keep the possibility of pressing in this game as much as he could.

29.b4 Qxb4 30.Qxb4 Rxb4 31.Ra8 Rxa8 32.Bxa8 g5!?

32...Rb5 to avoid Bd5 and improving the position with h5 g5 Kg7 etc was Leko's choice here.

33.Bd5 Bf5 34.Rc1 Kg7 35.Rc7 Bg6 36.Rc4 Rb1+ 37.Kg2 Re1

Another important moment pointed out by Carlsen.

38.Rb4

Instead, white could have fixed the kingside pawn on g4, this would mean that there would be atleast one pair of pawns being exchanged. But Ding decides to just wait with his current structure.

38.g4! would have made it easier to draw

38...h5 39.Ra4 Re5 40.Bf3 Kh6 41.Kg1 Re6 42.Rc4 g4 43.Bd5 Rd6 44.Bb7 Kg5 45.f3

understandably White goes for this pawn break. He does not want to sit and wait for Black slowly pushing his pawns up the board like h5-h4 then f5-f4 etc.

45...f5 46.fxg4 hxg4 47.Rb4 Bf7 48.Kf2 Rd2+ 49.Kg1 Kf6 50.Rb6+ Kg5 51.Rb4 Be6 52.Ra4 Rb2 53.Ba8 Kf6 54.Rf4 Ke5

55.Rf2??

The fateful blunder that cost Ding his World Champion title. But the mistake is very understandable, he was under pressure for a long time in this game, and he had no clear way out to draw and get away. Rook exchanges work 99 percent of the time (except now when the bishop will also be exchanged as it is cornered on a8!) His body language showed the tremendous pressure he was under. Interestingly, never moving the rook away from f4 and just moving the bishop on the a8-h1 diagonal was enough for a draw here, as it is a fortress. At best, Black could exchange his bishop on e4, but even that would lose the g4-pawn and White would come back in time for a long side Rook checks draw.

55.Bg2 Rb3 56.Kf2 Rb2+ 57.Kg1 Ba2 58.Bc6 Bb1 59.Bg2 Be4 60.Bxe4 fxe4 61.Rxg4 Kd4 62.Rg8 Ke3 63.Ra8=

55...Rxf2! 56.Kxf2 Bd5 57.Bxd5 Kxd5 58.Ke3 Ke5 0-1

and Ding congratulated his successor Gukesh!

59.Kd3 f4 60.Ke2 f3+! 61.Kf2 Ke4 62.Kf1 f2! is the only way to win this position, but it is pretty standard!

It would appear that one blunder which is highly unlikely by someone who is the world champion did indeed snatch the title away from him. But things are not seen only in isolation. There was consistent pressure on Ding (both by Gukesh's long drawn-out games as well as himself) Ding consistently underestimated his chances throughout the match for reasons known only to himself. He played excellently at many points in the match finding amazing defenses as well as creating a masterful game 12 where he outplayed his challenger. But this did not unfortunately bring back his confidence fully in the all-important final game, and the final blunder was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Ding Liren is an incredible player, and this match showed the mettle he is made of! Contrary to several pundit's evaluation of the match, who had predicted a landslide victory for Gukesh, not only did Ding fight valiantly, but he also had every chance of winning this extremely close match. But, in the end, Gukesh prevailed and created history becoming the youngest champion in the history of World Championship matches if we consider the unified ones. Ponomariov was younger when he defeated Ivanchuk in 2001, but at that time there was a parallel cycle going on with Kramnik as the world champion outside the FIDE umbrella. Great fighting spirit and optimism of Gukesh prevailed and he won the match deservedly at the end. A wonderful match with several interesting moments almost in every game. Perhaps only one or two draws were not that eventful, otherwise every single game had instructive moments for a student of the game.

As a chess fan I did not like the fact that the time control was reduced, I feel chess players need the extra time in long drawn-out battles and perhaps there could have been rest days after two games instead of three. Was this the reason why there were not many games over move 40? One cannot say conclusively, but it is a possibility.

Viva to the Indian kid, Vishy Anand's successor Gukesh and hope he is here to rule for years to come! Incredible performance to win candidates and the world championship by showing maturity that truly belies his age!

இறுதியாக இவ்வரலாற்று வெற்றியை முன்னிட்டொரு கலிவிருத்தம்

பாரையாளும் பட்டமெட்டக் கட்டமாளுங் களியினி

நாரைபோலக் காத்திருந்து நல்லவேளை வந்தபின்

போரைவெல்லு முத்திகண்டு போழ்தறிந்த டக்கிய

பேரைவாங்கிக் கொற்றமுற்ற பேறுடைக்கு கேசனே

சீர் பிரித்து:-

பாரை ஆளும் பட்டம் எட்ட கட்டம் ஆளும் களியினில்

நாரை போல காத்து இருந்து நல்ல வேளை வந்தபின்

போரை வெல்லும் உத்தி கண்டு போழ்து அறிந்து அடக்கிய

பேரை வாங்கி கொற்றம் உற்ற பேறு உடை குகேசனே

Gukesh, in order to achieve the title of World Champion in chess, waiting like a crane for the right time, and once it arrived executed the right strategy to win the battle understanding time (in the clock too!) and earned an historic name for himself as the king who is here to reign!

About the author

ChessBase India is happy to see GM Sundararajan Kidambi writing his sixth game review of World Championship Match 2024 in his blog "Musings on Chess". Knowing what an encyclopedic knowledge the grandmaster from Chennai possesses, I think we are in for a treat! He is likely to write more about the ongoing World Championship Match. We will keep reminding him about it! We are awaiting to read his next post of the year and be enriched.

Links

Source

Kidambi's blog

The article was edited by Shahid Ahmed

Related news:

	World Championship 2024 diaries Game 13 @ 14/12/2024 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	World Championship 2024 diaries Game 12 @ 12/12/2024 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	World Championship 2024 diaries Game 11 @ 11/12/2024 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	World Championship 2024 diaries Game 10 @ 10/12/2024 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	World Championship 2024 diaries Game 9 @ 08/12/2024 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	World Championship 2024 diaries Game 8 @ 07/12/2024 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	World Championship 2024 diaries Game 7 @ 05/12/2024 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	World Championship 2024 diaries Game 6 @ 04/12/2024 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	World Championship 2024 diaries Game 5 @ 02/12/2024 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	World Championship 2024 diaries Game 4 @ 01/12/2024 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	World Championship 2024 diaries Game 3 @ 30/11/2024 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	World Championship 2024 diaries Game 2 @ 28/11/2024 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	World Championship 2024 diaries Game 1 @ 27/11/2024 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	Marathon Bishops on Boris Gelfand's birthday @ 05/07/2024 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	Theory of Corresponding Squares @ 03/05/2023 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	You are your own enemy @ 24/10/2022 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	Castling into it (King's Placement-2) @ 15/09/2022 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	Striking Originality @ 13/08/2022 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	King's Placement @ 21/05/2022 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	In the footsteps of a plan @ 21/01/2022 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	Epic Catalan Battle @ 08/01/2022 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	The ever new Rook and Pawn Endgames @ 17/12/2021 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	Color Complex in Chess @ 24/11/2021 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	Mighty Blockading Knights @ 07/09/2021 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	Hypermodern Games of Chess @ 10/07/2021 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	A tribute to Gelfand on his 53rd birthday @ 24/06/2021 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	A Question of Timing @ 31/08/2020 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	Endless Endgame Experience @ 06/07/2020 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	Remembering Maxim Sorokin @ 16/06/2020 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	Kidambi remembers Cuban genius Capablanca @ 14/04/2020 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	Kidambi travels back in time @ 04/04/2020 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	Sundararajan Kidambi goes deep into Vishnu Prasanna's analysis of a B+N vs B+N endgame @ 29/03/2020 by Satanick Mukhuty (en)
	Kidambi on Rathnakaran's Immortal Queen Sacrifice @ 29/06/2019 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	Chess as an Art by GM Sundararajan Kidambi (2/2) @ 17/03/2017 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)
	Chess as an Art by GM Sundararajan Kidambi @ 10/03/2017 by Sundararajan Kidambi (en)