The Blunder That Made Gukesh the World Champion

Context to the Match

The 2024 World Chess Championship was played between the defending champion, China's GM Ding Liren, and the challenger, the winner of the 2024 FIDE Candidates tournament, India's GM Gukesh D. Ding started the tournament with a resounding win with the black pieces against all odds, but a few decisive results for both players in the midst of all the draws meant that after game 13 the score was locked 6.5-6.5. If the 14th game ended in a draw, rapid tiebreaks would follow --- if either player won this game, they would become the world champion.

The 14th Game

The final classical game in this championship was a Reversed Grunfeld, and both players played accurately for the most part. It seemed like both players would make a draw and head to tiebreaks. Though not a mistake, Ding's 26th move a4!? did receive some negative reactions by the public, as before then he had no chance of winning but also a very low chance of losing. By playing a4, Ding sacrificed a pawn, and though it is still a draw, Ding now is in a situation where he cannot win, and he must play precisely to hold the draw --- one error and he would lose the game.

The Blunder

Despite the pawn deficit, Ding played the endgame perfectly for close to 30 more moves, until Gukesh completed his 54th move Ke5.

Do notice that the white bishop is on a8, meaning it has access to only one diagonal. Had it been on c6 or g2 for example, it would have access to four diagonals. This subtlety would prove to be very crucial soon.

Here, the position is easily drawn as long as white plays any reasonable rook move or plays Bg2. The king is cut off, and white's g3 weakness is always defendable. What Ding cannot do however, is trade both the rooks and the bishops. This is likely why his a4!? received such negative feedback, as now Ding would have to play extremely accurately, and considering he had less than 10 minutes here compared to over an hour for Gukesh, people feared Ding would mess this endgame up.

Ding however, in 16 seconds, plays Rf2?? which loses the game on the spot. As Ding is down a pawn, he cannot afford to get the rooks and the bishops traded off the board. He would love to have either the rooks off or the bishops off, but not both.

Gukesh spotted that after Rxf2! Kxf2 Bd5! both the rooks and the bishops are coming off. The reason is that the bishop on a8 only has access to the a8-h1 diagonal, and had it been on c6 it would have been able to avoid this exchange, saving the draw. However, Ding is now forced to play Bxd5, and after Kxd5 Black's superior King placement compared to White's ensures the victory. After Ke3 Gukesh immediately plays Ke5, ready to either infiltrate via d4 or break through with f4 and f3.

Black has the opposition now. If white plays Kf2 or Kd2 then Kd4 is very strong --- black will shoulder the white king until the g3 pawn is lost. If Ke2 then Ke4 is the same story, and if Kd3 then f4 Ke2 f3! (the only winning move) to keep the pawns connected. Even here, Black will need to sacrifice the f pawn in order to gain the opposition (either direct or diagonal) in order to win the g3 pawn and the game.

Conclusion of the Match

After ...Ke5 by Gukesh, a dejected Ding resigned the game, giving Gukesh the title of the youngest undisputed World Champion. India gains the title after 11 years of wait since 2013 when Magnus defeated Vishy.

Here is the official broadcast by FIDE on lichess, where you can analyse the entire game or all the games in the match. https://lichess.org/broadcast/fide-world-championship-2024/game-14/LtsCRK9D/YaARFAYu

Hope you enjoyed reading this blog, and I'll see you in a future blog.