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World Chess Championship 2024, D Gukesh vs Ding Liren Game 11 Live Updates: Indian challenger D Gukesh once again proved equal to the task with defending champion Ding Liren of China as the 10th game of the match between them in the World Chess Championship ended in a draw without lots of excitement here on saturday. It was by far the easiest game of the game with black pieces for Gukesh, as the position played itself out in a London system game in which Ding Liren took no risks and was apparently happy with the draw.

The seventh consecutive draw – and the eighth of the match – saw both players on identical numbers of 5 points each, still within 2.5 points of winning the championship.

The two players signed peace after 36 moves.

There are only four classic games left to play in the championship with a prize pool of $2.5 million. If there is a tie after 14 rounds, there will be games with a faster time check to determine the winner.

32-year-old Liren had won the opening match, while 18-year-old Gukesh emerged victorious in the third game.

Liren continued with his London system in the opening and came up with a small change early on that kept the pawn structure symmetrical. The tactic might have worked on another day, but this time Gukesh decided not to get out of an equal position as hard as black.

Gukesh, the youngest ever challenger, had taken up his task and passed all the tests with flying colors.

“With black, a solid draw like this is always a good result. There are still four exciting games to go,” Gukesh said later in the post-game conference.

“Of course it’s getting closer, but it’s about playing good games. I have some experience playing four-way games. I rarely lost with white pieces, but in this situation I play with black.”

Before the start of the 10th game, Liren had three white games to Gukesh’s three, but now it’s a level playing field with only four games to go.

“These days, white and black colors don’t make a big difference. There are only four very interesting games left,” the Indian said.

“Now the cost of one game is higher than before, but my approach and my goal are still the same: to play good games.”

To this, Liren said: “There is not so much room to make mistakes, any loss will result in a very bad situation. We have to be careful with every move.”

For Gukesh the most difficult decision was to go for a completely equal position on move 11 and even though the position had appeared a few times before in Grandmaster games, it did not appear that the Indian or Liren were aware of what was going on in that party had happened. games.

It didn’t take long for the world to decide when Liren went for a series of exchanges, including the queen, that the game was heading to a draw.

However, according to the contract, both players were still required to play 40 moves before agreeing to split the point.

Gukesh offered a trade of the last remaining rook on board on move 23 and Liren had to trade it. A few moves later, the knights were also off the board, leading to a pure bishops endgame, with neither side having anything to play for.

Liren could probably have had the upper hand on his own from a psychological point of view, since his bishop and king in the center were superior, but since Black had no weaknesses to respond to, the result was a foregone conclusion.

While time on the clock has been a critical factor throughout, with Liren under pressure on most occasions, this was not the case in game 10 as both players had over 35 minutes to complete the final four moves when the draw was agreed.

With just four matches to go, all eyes will be on Gukesh to take charge in the next match.

For Liren, the plan has worked so far and it is safe to say that Gukesh has been matched move for move, despite many world class players thinking it would be a one-sided battle.

Catch all the live action from Game 11 on TimesofIndia.com!