Ding had the white pieces and again we had a very sharp flank opening after Gukesh chose 4...d4. There are certainly safer ways to play. What we saw was an unbalanced English where Gukesh made a number of concessions until he was busted by move 23. 13...Rb8?!, 16...Nd7?! and the losing move 22...Bg5? were the key moments. It only slowly dawned on Ding that his position was "much, much better" after 23.Nf4, when Gukesh felt it necessary to play 23...Bxf4, losing all the dark squares on the board, the game was as good as over, and Ding didn't make any mistakes.
Ding played pretty well, Gukesh was a little inaccurate, there were no outrageous errors, just some small miscalculations, and the position was suddenly overwhelming for Ding. There's a rest day tomorrow, and then just two games to go before a potential day of rapid and maybe blitz tie-breaks.
Ding 6 - Gukesh 6
Rest day Tuesday 10th Dec
Game 13 Gukesh-Ding Wednesday 11th December.
