India’s young star D Gukesh and defending World Champion China’s Ding Liren played out a dramatic draw in their ninth-round clash at the Resort World Sentosa, here on Thursday.

This marked the sixth consecutive draw in their gripping series, leaving the championship still deadlocked at 4.5-4.5 after the first nine rounds.

Advertisement

Gukesh, with the white pieces, opened with the Catalan Opening, a popular strategy known for its solid structure and central control. The Catalan begins with the central pawn push d4, followed by Black’s knight move to f6.

Both players followed well-known theory early on, with Gukesh playing c4 and g3, while Ding responded with e6 and bishop to b4. By the time they reached the 12th move, the game was already heating up. Despite a strong opening for Gukesh, who held a higher win probability according to the AI-based chess model Leela Zero, the game soon began to shift in intensity.

The Chinese World Champion, Ding, consumed a considerable amount of time in the opening phase of the game, spending 30 minutes more than Gukesh by move 12. As the middle game unfolded, both players started making bold captures and exchanges.

In a surprising twist, Gukesh found himself with a slight advantage, while Ding seemed caught off guard by the opening skirmishes. The world champion, however, showed his resilience, spending almost 19 minutes on a critical move and another 18 minutes on a subsequent move. By this point, Ding was already down 50 minutes on the clock compared to his opponent.

The game quickly became tactical, with both players sacrificing material to gain positional advantage. Within just six moves, both Gukesh and Ding had lost a pawn, a knight, and a bishop.

At one point, Ding appeared to be in a difficult position, with Gukesh pressing forward in the hopes of seizing an advantage. However, as he has shown throughout the series, Ding found his defensive capabilities, digging himself out of trouble with precise moves.

Gukesh, aware of the momentum shift and knowing that Ding would have two games with white pieces after the rest day, remained focused and determined to push for a victory. Despite his efforts, however, the game slowly drifted towards a draw after 23 moves. After a further 31 moves, both players agreed to a draw following 54 moves in total, making it the sixth consecutive draw in their intense championship series.

In his post-game interview, Gukesh reflected on the contest, acknowledging that both he and Ding had missed chances throughout the game. “A few missed chances from me, and a few missed chances from him,” he said. Despite this, he remained upbeat, noting that the games had been engaging and entertaining. “We’ve played entertaining chess. Five more exciting games to go,” he added, confident that the championship is still very much up for grabs.