Against all odds, World Champion Ding Liren missed a great chance to pile up the pressure in the FIDE World Championship match presented by Google, misplaying a significant advantage in the endgame. Defending the black pieces, the Chinese champion efficiently neutralized his opponent’s exchange variation in the French Defence and seemed to be well on his to scoring his second win. However, just when the time seemed ripe, uncertainty crept in. Ding did not find the strongest continuation in a critical position, allowing the challenger to escape with a draw and keep the score tied at 2.5 points apiece heading into Game 6. Here is the recap by Agadmator, the press conference and the key moments. Game 6 live here
Replay: Gukesh – Ding Liren game 1, 0-1, Ding Liren vs Gukesh game 2, 1/2-1/2 / Gukesh – Ding Liren game 3, 1-0 / Ding Liren – Gukesh game 4, 1/2-1/2 / Gukesh – Ding Liren game, 5 1/2-1/2 / All Gukesh – Ding Liren games live Parallel: Top Chess Engine Championship live
Maurice Ashley: I guess the first question and the most pressing question for World Champion. It seemed like you had some advantage and very surprisingly quick end to the game when you played Bc6 instead of Bh5. Did you consider Bh5? Did you realize you had a significant advantage? What prompted you to actually play the move Bc6?
Ding Liren: Yeah, but Bc6 is basically a draw offer. Bh5, Ke3 and b5…
Maurice Ashley: I mean the game continues…
Ding Liren: Yeah. I saw his rook activity can compensation for the pawn, but I can protect it. Maurice Ashley: When you played Bc6, it was the intent to make a draw? Ding Liren: Hmm
Maurice Ashley: I will ask you Gukesh, you must have seen Bh5. What was your feeling about the position at this point?
Gukesh: Yeah, I knew that I should be, like, slightly worse after Bh5. But I thought with an active rook, I should be able to hold. But actually, a few moves earlier, I was not sure about my position. I mean, first of all, Nc4, I was not sure about. But also, I don’t know why opponent didn’t play Be6 after Nc4 Nxc4 dxc4 Re4. For example, Be6, Rd4, Rc8 – I was very worried about this position. And then after Bc6, I was already quite relieved. And I mean after Bf3 and Bc6 – that was just a draw offer. So yeah.
Maurice Ashley: So now, stepping back one step to this position: Why didn’t you play Be6 here instead of going for the Bc6 idea?
Ding Liren: I didn’t see the idea Rc8, Rc5, and yeah, and then move the king to the kingside, like some kind of Berlin pawn structure. I didn’t realize it’s a big advantage for me.
Maurice Ashley: Did you come into the game with the mindset that a draw with black would be a good idea?
Ding Liren: no, I just tried to play my best, but somehow, I settle for the draw.
Maurice Ashley: Gukesh, after Bxe5, Rxe5 was the recommended move here. Did you realize how much trouble you were in after you took and he put a knight on d3?
Gukesh: Yeah, I mean, once I saw Kd3, I realized I just blundered with dxe5. I didn’t know how bad it was really, but yeah, of course I should have played Rxe5. I mean, it would have been a draw anyways, but yeah d5, Nd3, I kind of just hallucinated here. Nd3, I saw, but somehow I underestimated that he can, like after take take b3, Rc8 and I just have troubles holding my position. And okay, my position is almost collapsing. So yeah, I mean Nd3, I just blundered. But okay.
Maurice Ashley: What was your feeling at the moment? I mean, were you panicking at this time when you saw that Nd3 was so strong, or did you manage to keep your cool?
Gukesh: Like I was a bit annoyed that I didn’t play Rxe5, but honestly, during the game I thought should always be quite holdable because I have some squares. Surely unpleasant, but I was pretty confident that I could hold it. Maurice Ashley: The strength of Nd3 – Did it occur to you when he didn’t play Rxe5 that suddenly you had a fantastic position, that everything had turned around?
Ding Liren: Yeah, here I briefly considered Rxe5, but he played dxe5 very quickly actually. So here maybe he should play Nd5, and I take with the bishop, he takes with a pawn, Nd3 Bxd3 cxd3 Re3, maybe the game should play like this. Okay, I can play Nc4 Rxc3 Nb2 Rxd5 Bxg4 Rb5 Ne1. Considering this variation, so I am very surprised to see g5 on the board. Maurice Ashley: So again, the strength of Nd3 – Was it clear to you that you were suddenly much better, or did you feel that it was still pretty much an equal position?
Ding Liren: This was my idea, if I play Nf6 instead of Nb6, then g5 Bxf4 gxf4, I am not sure if it’s good or not because the pawn is very weak on f. He had many ideas, for example f3 and g5.
Abhyudaya (ChessBase India): My question is to Ding. When you played the move Nc4, did you consider keeping the knights on board, like Na4 or something?
Ding Liren: Here, maybe some d4. But he can play c4, and if I play Na4, he play Rb1 or maybe just Kf2, and…
Maurice Ashley: The engine likes Bf2 in this position – a little trickier. But the idea of keeping the knights on the board seems reasonable because the bishops are opposite color, ending could potentially, even though the engine says your choice was the number one choice, Nc4, but it’s a reasonable question, the idea of Ka4. Did you ever consider it as a real, as better or you rejected it eventually?
Ding Liren: With Na4, what if he just plays Kf2? What’s the threat? Maurice Ashley: Nc4 was a simpler way to go, more solid.
Michael Rahal (FIDE Media): Ding, I was quite surprised to see you spend nearly 40 minutes to go for h6 and then Nh5. I was trying to think what other moves or variations you were considering in that huge amount of time for those two moves? Could you show us on the board what other things you were thinking of?
Ding Liren: No, mainly considering this line occurred in the game, because g4 looks so tempting for White. And if I play something like b5, he just check and play Ne5, and I don’t know how to continue. Some more, like Bf4 is coming with some threat, and yes, my main concern was on this position. And here, first, I consider Nf6, but as I said before here, b5, maybe a5, I don’t know. g5 or Ra7. I saw this variation, but I don’t know. Also, I considered something like g5, but maybe not so good because of h4… Follow up: In your long think, you were already sensing that Gukesh would go for this aggressive g4 idea?
Ding Liren: By the end, I thought maybe it’s the only way to play. After I play this, I realized I have Nb6, yeah, but he can also play maybe Nf1. Play solid.
Gukesh: Probably g5, yeah. Charlize (FIDE Social Media): A question from fan to Gukesh – What kind of training did you get from your mental coach, Paddy Upton, and how has it helped you so far?
Gukesh: Yeah. I have been working with Paddy for the last few months in preparation for this match, and first of all, it’s very enjoyable, the work we do. I mean, we have had a lot of conversations and he has helped me a lot to mentally and physically prepare for the match in different ways. Probably after the match maybe it would be nice to go over the details, but yeah, I can say that our work together has been very enjoyable and very very important for me in preparation.
Mike Klein: Gukesh, of course you lost with e4, but then you won with d4 and you went back to e4 today. I am curious, since we are five games into the match, has there been any time in the match where you have wanted to play something and Grandmaster Gajewski wanted to play something else, and you had to sort of, you know, one of you had to convince the other one? So, have you guys both been in lock step with what openings you are looking to play?
Gukesh: I think it depends on the game and our moods. And obviously when we take a decision, it’s together with my thinking and my team’s thinking. So, sometimes we are on the same page, sometimes we are not, but yeah, we just try to make the best decision. And I guess the main goal is for me to be happy with the decision. Follow-up: And can you comment specifically about today’s game? I think it may have only been the second time in the history of the World Championship we have seen an Exchange French, so not many of us were expecting that. But, can you comment about today’s decision? Was it your decision, was it his decision, did you agree about it?
Gukesh: I mean obviously it was in the end, we all agreed with this, but it’s a cool fact that it’s only the second time Exchange has been; which was the first time?
Mike Klein: Don’t want to misspeak. I will get excoriated for that. But we will look it up for you.
Gukesh: Sure. But yeah, I mean it’s just a good opening, which is also quite topical these days. So, yeah, I guess I was, prep-wise, I was happy. I mean, he was playing on the board from early on, and we just got a game, but yeah, I guess it did not pose too many problems for this time.
Ian Rogers: Gukesh, how satisfied are you with the progress of the match so far?
Gukesh: I think it’s still early to say. Not even close to halfway done through the match. Considering I was trailing this match after the first game, it’s nice to be here. But yeah, there are a lot of important games to come. Yeah, I am just trying to play one game at a time and give my best. Follow-up: You are sounding like Mr. Boris Gelfand at his press conferences. He said that at every single press conference – playing one game at a time! And Mr. Ding, how satisfied are you so far in the match after five games?
Ding Liren: The results are not so ideal because I had chances in some games and I was leading by some points and then even. Also today, after a brief check, I had some advantage, which I didn’t realize. So, there is something to improve in the next round.
Abhinav (US Chess): Gukesh, you have played g4 in all your white games, funnily enough, this match. But there was another option, a more classical option or positional option with Nf1, trying to reroute to e3 and targeting the weak d5 backward pawn. Was this ever crossing your line of thought, or did you want to go for the most critical and concrete line with g4 for the third time?
Gukesh: Yeah, it’s cool that this was the third game in a row I am playing g4. But, Nf1, I mean, obviously it’s the move I, it was one of the moves I considered. But I thought g4 was the critical one. I mean, Nf1, I was mainly worried about g5, Bg3, Ng3, I guess hxg3, Nf6, and he gets Be6. And it’s like extremely solid position with Black. I mean, I have the f5 square, but his bishop on e6 is quite solid, and some b5 b4 might happen. So, I didn’t think this was enough to press. That’s why I went for g4. But probably it was also not as good as I expected it to be. Follow-up: In the other two instances, you played g4 in the opening. But here you chose it as a critical line. The question is really more about the opening. What was a little bit without giving it away the rationale behind the Exchange French, something a little bit more tame than your critical and uncompromising style?
Gukesh: I think I mean, it’s just a good opening. I mean, obviously we are preparing for the game, and I play some opening only if I think it’s good, yeah, and if it’s good enough for a game. So yeah, this time it did not work so great, but I think I, I don’t think it was the opening’s fault.
Abhyudaya (ChessBase India): Gukesh, did you expect Ding to play the French Defence, and were you happy with the position after you played the Exchange French variation?
Gukesh: Yeah, I mean, Ding played French already in the first game, So yeah, it’s obviously one of the things that we expected. And, the Exchange French, I was prepared till he played Ke7. I am sure I saw Ke7, but I couldn’t remember the details. And in general, the position was kind of what we expected will happen on the board. So, I was happy with that, but probably I didn’t have any serious chances anywhere. Maybe I could have improved early on, but I think maybe I kind of overestimated my position in the opening. Follow-up: We have seen a lot of times you close your eyes when you are playing the game. So, is it possible to reveal, are you calculating or like thinking at that point or just trying to keep a clear head?
Gukesh: I guess it’s just normal. I usually do this – like, I close my eyes quite often during games. And sometimes it’s just that it’s easier to calculate with your eyes closed. Maybe at some point I mean, I am sitting there in this room, there is nothing else to see. I am just closing my eyes. But yeah, mostly I am just thinking about the position.
Reporter from Chinese media: (Translated) Ding, were you surprised by the choice of the Exchange French from Gukesh?
Ding Liren: (Translated) I was in general well-prepared for the French Defence. I was a bit surprised by Nbd2, and so I started thinking sometime after that. I feel I played quite well in the first half of the game. I did feel that maybe after Re4, Be6, and then the king comes to the kingside, perhaps Black has some chances to press there. So perhaps I missed some small opportunities there towards the end. I feel it was half a good game by me, and I probably could have slightly improved somewhere. Follow-up: Ding, you have been in Sentosa in Singapore for quite some time now. What is your general impression of Singapore, and have you had the chance to tour around Sentosa Island so far?
Ding Liren: I also had an opportunity to even have a game of soccer before the match started which I really enjoyed. Obviously Singapore is a very modernized, prosperous, and very modern city. So I had a good stay but I am going to focus my attention further on this match on the games.
Michael Rahal (FIDE Media): So, we have quite a few very interesting questions on our Twitter feed. I have selected one. I would like to ask both players – Aside from chess, which sports person do you admire the most?
Gukesh: I mean, when I was younger, it was Indian cricketer MS Dhoni. Now, now it’s Novak Djokovic. I think both are great athletes, and, I really admire a lot of things about them. Ding Liren: It’s hard to say the word “admire.” Before, I liked the player when I watched NBA a lot. I liked Lamar Odom, and then I liked Federico Chiesa. They are not that famous, but they are just in my favour.
Follow-up: Gukesh, as you know, your countrymen, fellow colleagues, and grandmasters are playing all over the world. Nihal Sarin has just won the Uzbekistan President’s Cup, and other players are participating in important tournaments. I was wondering, do you stay in contact with them during the event, maybe on social media, and cheer each other on their successes?
Gukesh: Okay firstly, I didn’t know Nihal won this. Firstly, congrats to him! I mean, during the tournament, I generally don’t talk to many people outside my team. But yeah, it’s always nice when, Indians, you know Indian youngsters keep achieving things. It’s motivating for all of us. So yeah, I am glad about that.
Ian Rogers: I have a question for Ding. But just to close the book – Apparently, Capablanca-Alekhine 1927 was an Exchange French, and Black won. Ding, this Qe7 endgame, apparently, is covered in Anish Giri’s Chessable course. And I am just curious if you knew about that. He said the endgame is fine after Qe7. So, are you aware of this course?
Ding Liren: No, but maybe right. Abhinav (US Chess): I wanted to take the peaceful result as an opportunity to ask both of you – Without revealing too much, can you both give a game of your opponent that you were particularly impressed by in their chess career?
Gukesh: I remember, I think in 2019 or something, Bai Jinshi-Ding was probably his best game, which as a kid I really enjoyed. Ding Liren: I know my opponent beat Praggnanandhaa many times with both colors. I remember one game he played White, and his centre made, was an Italian, and his centre made a huge role in his victory
