Maria Emelianova / Chess.com
WCC 2024 Round 9: A Moral Victory for Ding
GM Gukesh D went for a Catalan sideline, but GM Ding Liren successfully sidestepped the opening preparation
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 10 starts at 09:00 UTC on Saturday, December 7.
Today's round was covered by our host, GM Felix Blohberger, and guest GM Thomas Beerdsen.
The annotations by GM Maxime Lagarde can be found at the bottom of the article.
Thanks to Abhinav Suresh (@Firelake) for writing this blog post!
Schedule
Stream
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOUlfCia56k
Match Score
Recap
GM Gukesh D, who has consistently posed a greater threat with his opening preparation, once again tried to surprise and lead GM Ding Liren into uncharted territory with a Catalan sideline. But the defending World Champion managed to sidestep the prep early on, and even ended up as the only one with even (very slight) winning chances, going on to secure a draw with Black.
Clips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPsL7-z-6v0
More clips at the bottom of the article.
Ding sidesteps Gukesh's Catalan preparation
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com
Game 9 saw Gukesh return to his trusty 1. d4, the same move with which he’d won Game 3. Unlike that game, however, Gukesh went for a rare Catalan sideline (3. g3), inviting the Benoni or more critical variations for black.
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com
Ding decided to decline this opportunity, playing solidly with moves such as 5... d5, suggesting he was waiting for his opponent to reveal his plan.
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com
While 10. Bc3 was no novelty (Anish Giri played it recently, losing to Hans Niemann in their match), Ding appeared surprised. After 20 minutes, Ding played Bb7 and the game developed into a semi-normal Catalan, albeit with a peculiar bishop on c3.
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com
Gukesh tried 13. b4, gaining space (incidentally, the exact plan Ding was considering yesterday in the English!), and Ding again took a lengthy (but correct) think before playing 13...c5!
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com
After Gukesh’s probing 16. Ba5, Ding, now more than 45 minutes down on the clock, replied with 16...dxc4 and 17...Bxf3!? a strange decision, as white had a narrow path to an edge. Gukesh, however, either didn’t find or wasn’t won over by the path, and chose 20. Qb5, leading to mass exchanges.
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com
After 20... Ra6, Ding choreographed his approach to taking on c5. Gukesh didn’t play any testing move to respond, and after 24...Bxc5 the game’s conclusion was foregone with some fairly simple exchanges.
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com
After 32. Ra1 – a humorous way to keep the game going, as the rook attacks air, and there are no obvious targets in the black camp besides f7 – Ding quickly moved to attack the bishop, with 33...Rc5.
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com
The game entered a bizarre stage when Gukesh lashed out with 35. f4?!, splitting his pawns for the endgame. While the game is still objectively drawn, Ding now had free reign to try endlessly, and see if his young opponent had any mistakes left in him.
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com
Soon after, the game petered out into a draw, especially after 44. Ra5, where the well-known theoretical position of an extra h-pawn appeared on the board.
Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com
The game can be counted as a moral victory for Ding, who successfully sidestepped all opening prep after 10. Bc3, and defused the tension of the extra pawn.
Annotations by GM Maxime Lagarde
Press Conference
Photo: Eng Chin An
Some memorable quotes:
GM Ding Liren:
I knew this round played by Giri ... but I just forgot it.
We are at the same strength, no one was clearly better in this match, so it's going to be tough to win,
GM Gukesh D:
When I played Qb5, I had just missed this idea that he can go Qa7 and Rb8
We've both shown fighting spirit and some entertaining chess and five more exciting games to go.
Photo: Eng Chin An
Prediction
Ding: 53.1%; Gukesh: 46.9%
For more on interpreting this graph, check our preview article.
Ding is back in the lead - for the first time since losing Game 3
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