World Chess C’ship: Gukesh, Liren eye win after 3 draws

D Gukesh and Ding Liren

Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh and defending champion Ding Liren will be aiming to break the deadlock after three consecutive draws when they square off in the seventh round of the World Chess Championship here on Tuesday, having stayed on equal footing for most part of the interesting showdown.

Hailed as the favourite to win by many chess pundits, the 18-year-old Gukesh, who is the youngest ever challenger to the title, has not been able to really show his class and has often depended on the Chinese to play safe or make mistakes in decent positions. The two are currently locked at three points each.

If game one was a wake up call for Gukesh after a loss with white pieces, the second game was a confidence-booster for the Indian as Liren barely did anything and allowed an easy draw.

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Gukesh won the third game but only after Liren miscalculated from what may have been a promising position.

In the fourth game Gukesh played solidly again when Liren gave nothing away out of an irregular opening and it was again a draw.

At this point, it was clear that Liren was banking on Gukesh to make mistakes.

Game five saw Gukesh fighting for the initiative yet again and went too far as he came under threat in the resulting endgame. Liren yet again failed to spot them and it was another draw.

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