WCC 2024 Round 13: Gukesh Misses Some Chances As Ding Defends Tenaciously

Lichess is providing a live stream for every day of the world championship. Make sure to tune in to our Twitch or YouTube channels for live stream coverage with our hosts GM Felix Blohberger and IM Laura Unuk, joined by a rotating panel of guests. Round 14 starts at 09:00 UTC on Thursday, December 12.

Today's round was covered by our hosts GM Felix Blohberger and IM Laura Unuk and guest IM Divya Deshmukh.

The annotations by GM Yannick Gozzoli can be found at the bottom of the article.

Schedule

Stream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI2Fmk5HDio

Match Score

Recap

GM Ding Liren was on the ropes against GM Gukesh D as the latter had multiple "winning" advantages. The wins were never clear and, while findable, were difficult to appreciate in comparison to other lines. As Ding found a critical defensive move, Gukesh lost his advantage and even though he still pressed his slightly better position, Ding held without too much difficulty.

Clips

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fBE6KY4-Dk

More clips at the bottom of the article.

One Rook Less, One Potential Win?

The handshake
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com

The unstoppable force vs. immovable object trope is a stunningly accurate descriptor of the 2024 World Chess Championship. Gukesh has been surprising Ding often in the openings, but Ding has been able to weather the preparation storms and emerge with a tenable position. Today, Gukesh produced two opening startles. First, he went back to his 5. Nce2 against Ding's French, just as he did in his round 1 loss to Ding — except, in that game, 6. Nce2 was played after 5. f4 c5.

Ding carefully analyzing the opening
Photo: Eric Rosen

After Ding's 5...c5 and 6. c3 Nc6, 7. f4 would have transposed back to game 1 of the match. However, Gukesh shocked Ding by playing 7. a3. Ding spent almost 20 minutes on his next move, 7...Be7, as Gukesh almost instantaneously responded with 8. Be3. At that point, Ding had to find a long-term plan to rearrange his pieces, and after 40 minutes of thought, he chose 8...Nb6, hinting at eventual Nc4 ideas and later queenside expansion.

Gukesh was better at multiple points of today's game.
Photo: Eric Rosen

Gukesh continued to play accurately and quickly, bringing his knight to f4, where it could go to h5 in the future. Meanwhile, Ding followed up with his plan and traded off his kingside knight for White's light-squared bishop, gaining the d5 square in the long-term but also allowing White's knights to gain a lot of activity, especially in connection with a d5 pawn push.

Gukesh visualizing with eyes closed has become symbolic of the match.
Photo: Eric Rosen

Gukesh continued with his fluid development, while Ding played the necessary moves in the position: castling and moves related to queenside expansion. On move 15, Gukesh brought his knight to h5 and hinted at kingside attacking ideas, so Ding, instead of reacting slowly but perhaps passively with the engine-recommended 15...Kh8, played the momentum-shifting 15...f5!.

En passant coming up
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com

Gukesh captured en passant ~~which is always forced~~ and followed up with 17. Qf3 after about 15 minutes of consideration. In choosing 17. Qf3, Gukesh rejected the engine's top choice, 17. Nxf6+ Qxf6 18. d5, which Ding mentioned in the press conference he would have played had he been White. Gukesh, though, was afraid of mass liquidation after 18. d5 and thought he had better chances with 17. Qf3. After capturing on f6 and playing the surprisingly powerful, and very positionally-minded, 19. Qe2, Gukesh was proven right as Ding started misplaying the position.

Slow, careful positional play
Photo: Eric Rosen

A critical point of the game came on move 22 when Ding revealed he missed Gukesh's potent repositioning move, 22. Bf4!, a move that put a lot of pressure on Black's dark squares. Of course, if the bishop is captured, White can fork Black's rooks with Qe5.

22. Bf4 was a strong move.
Photo: Eric Rosen

A couple of moves later, Gukesh took a somewhat surprising positional decision as he played 25. Bxe7. In the press conference, he noted that he did not like his prospects if Black's knight were still on the board as it might then make use of the d5 square. Even though the engine is not particularly fond of his decision, 25. Bxe7 is a fine move and did not spoil too much.

Am I winning?
Photo: Eric Rosen

In fact, merely a couple of moves later, Gukesh broke through with the d5 pawn break. Just a few moves after that, on move 30, Ding was faced with a tough decision: going for the material imbalance of two rooks vs. queen with 30...Qxe1, or retreating his queen. As it turned out, the former decision was correct, and after Ding's 30...Qf7, Gukesh had an almost winning advantage with 31. Rxe8+!, followed by 31...Qxe8 32. Ne4!. The players analyzed this option at the press conference and after giving a long line, they thought matters remained unclear but then were convinced of the engine's evaluation after further consideration. It was clear that with just 13 minutes on the clock for 10 moves, though, that Gukesh would have a tough time appreciating the differences between 31. Rxe8+ and his chosen immediate 31. Ne4.

Tough position!
Photo: Eric Rosen

After Gukesh's 31. Ne4, Ding had to find the only move in the position, 31...Rf8, which he was able to do. In the press conference, Ding mentioned that he thought he was lost at that point, so he was glad to have found 31...Rf8 at the last moment. From that point forward, Gukesh's initiative dissipated and material was equal, so there was not much left to play for.

Gukesh always plays on!
Photo: Eric Rosen

Gukesh, however, showed incredible fighting spirit as he continued to keep the game going. His 42. h3 was somewhat dangerous, but the position remained level and he truly showed that he wanted to win the game.

Chess can be very mentally taxing.
Photo: Eric Rosen

One more snapshot from the game shows how badly Gukesh was trying to win.

Lovely photography from Eric Rosen
Photo: Eric Rosen

With tenacious defense, though, Ding reached a 3 vs. 2 rook endgame, where he held the draw comfortably.

And there's one more game (and potential tiebreaks) left!
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com

Annotations by GM Yannick Gozzoli

Press Conference

The press conference underway
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com

Some memorable quotes:

GM Ding Liren:

I have the experience of playing the last game of the world championship match.

GM Gukesh D:

I mean obviously there will be nerves and there will be a lot of excitement. It's a very important game. But my approach will be the same: just to go there with the same kind of energy and just give it my best and see what happens.

Prediction

Ding: 78.5% | Gukesh: 21.5%
For more on interpreting this graph, check our preview article.

More Clips

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLQk92D9O4k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCy6CfAe2ps