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  • February 18, 2025
‘It is important that Gukesh can be himself’

‘It is important that Gukesh can be himself’

After the twists and turns in the World Chess Championships 11 and 12, the match has now reached a very unpredictable point. Uncertainty is an inevitable part of any sport, but that it should be the result of poor quality of play is quite rare in top-level championships. The championship is now going through a turbulent phase where nothing can be predicted.

Gukesh and Ding are now level on 6 points each, with just two games left in the 14-round World Chess Championship (PTI).
Gukesh and Ding are now level on 6 points each, with just two games left in the 14-round World Chess Championship (PTI).

After losing to Gukesh in the 12th game, world number 1 Magnus Carlsen has criticized the role of ‘Team Gukesh’, or Gukesh’s seconds. Although the others, except Hikaru Nakamura, are silent on this matter, most of the chess world shares this opinion. And not without reasons.

It is accepted that the players have completely different styles. Ding Liren was always considered ‘positionally and strategically incomplete’ due to his excellent level of play. He often compensates for his shortcomings with great imagination, creativity and brilliant tactical power. Gukesh is known to have an excellent sense of strategy in the limited positions he chooses to play, and he is equally strong in tactics as well. The reason why people expected the match to end in Gukesh’s favor was mainly the champion’s poor form versus the challenger’s accuracy.

The very first game of the match took an unexpected form as Gukesh played a position he had never played before. Despite being significantly behind in time, Ding turned the tables on Gukesh with a great sense of initiative, achieving a very smooth victory. Although Gukesh equalized by winning Game 3, he continued to play in the same style, choosing positions that he probably memorized rather than understood. As a result, the match has very erratic moments in every match.

However, the last two games have probably had the worst moments of the game. In game 11, Gukesh came up with a great strategic idea on move 5, a theoretical novelty based on a specific plan. He played the first eight moves in less than a minute. However, he missed the right follow-up action in the next two moves and ended up in a worse position. Somewhere the strategic essence of the position was missed, and the reason could be that Gukesh had never played against the Benoni before.

However, Gukesh realized he had messed up and spent more than an hour on his eleventh move. Ding probably overestimated his position and tried to trap Gukesh’s queen instead of strengthening his fundamental strategic advantage. This attempt failed when Gukesh found a brilliant tactical sequence, which significantly improved his position. However, Gukesh’s victory was not due to his advantageous position, but mainly to Ding’s “club level blunder” – as some commentators put it – on move 28. The game revealed Gukesh’s great tactical skill and things looked very simple with only three rounds. left.

When players take charge in a two-player match, they are expected to play risk-free. However, Gukesh played a rarely adopted inferior variant, probably without even realizing that he was transposing into a ‘Pirc Defense Reverse position two tempos lower’. Ding, once an expert of King’s Indian Defense, showed great skill in properly assessing the Pirc defense structure. After all, they are ‘sister openings’. Gukesh, who had not played a single game in the formation in question, played almost without a plan after Ding made a theoretical innovation on move 10.

Both Carlsen and Nakamura were critical of Gukesh’s team for their seemingly superficial preparation, which allowed Ding to dominate from the opening. “The opening cost him,” Nakamura said. “Gukesh put himself in a very bad situation from the start,” Carlsen added.

Carlsen was also critical of the fact that both players “still played their preparation despite the match situation”. Carlsen now sees Ding as a favorite. I still don’t. Because I know how good Gukesh is at understanding and understanding the positions he plays regularly. He is a complete player in his own playing style, the positions he plays according to his own ideas. It is very important for him to ‘be himself’.

Clearly, the match could have more twists and turns. The uncertainty in the match is now at its peak, I must say.