Gukesh had the white pieces and went back to an old love, the Reti, and came up with a rare variation 7.Re1 which had been mostly played in blitz games. This presented Ding Liren with the problem of finding a correct setup, and whilst it must have been uncomfortable for him it doesn't seem to me he was in that much trouble until he missed the very accurate 23...c3. That's to brush over a lot of decisions that had to be taken to that point but his position started to deteriorate rather quickly after that. Gukesh then took Queens off and damaged Ding's Kingside pawn structure, not necessarily a bad thing but maybe not the most precise. Ding then rather outplayed Gukesh 33.Bxg7 made black's life easier and after that it Ding had salvaged his position, but he still had to make first time control and with seven seconds to go he played 40...Ke5? rather than 40...Nc8 and it really looked like his rear-guard action would be for nought.
Gukesh started to go wrong only a few moves later, 44.Ke1 isn't the best, Dings 44...f6! poses problems followed by 45...Rd3! Even here 46.Ke2! would probably have led to a win with best play but 46.Bd1? overlooking that 48.Rc4 Rh3! holds meant that Gukesh had spoiled his winning chances. Ding needed no further chances to draw the game in 72 moves when the last pawn disappeared.
Score Ding 3.5-Gukesh 3.5
Game 8 Ding-Gukesh 4th December 2024
