World Chess Championship: D Gukesh back on level terms as Ding Liren loses on time

D Gukesh punished poor time management, misjudgment and oversight on Ding Liren's part for a heart-warming victory to equalise the score in the World Championship match.
It was a first-ever win for India's 18-year-old challenger over the Chinese rival in standard time control. And it could not have come at a more appropriate time. Gukesh won the third game of the 14-game classical match in Singapore on Wednesday to level the score at 1.5 points each.
Ding, who had struck in the opening game match with black pieces, struggled through the three-hour, 50-minute ordeal Wednesday and finally lost the helpless position on time in which he was piece down (bishop) with additional three pawns (5 vs 2) -not enough in double rook and dark squared bishop endgame.

Gukesh's king was an active piece too on f3 square. Ding's clock went to zero seconds remaining after 37 moves, the first flagging instance in a World Championship game since Nigel Short lost to Garry Kasparov in the first game of 1993. The players get two hours each to make the first 40 moves without any time increment. At one point, Ding had to make 10 moves in six and a half minutes in a position replete with possibilities.
The players, sitting in a cubicle, provided the best visual just before the pivotal 23rd move -Ne2. Gukesh knew that it was a great continuation which would give him Ding's misplaced light-squared bishop for two pawns and plenty to play for. He faced the board with closed eyes and palms on his cheeks, soaking in the moment. It was semi-meditative. And after uncorking the move, he sipped water from his bottle, almost a happy exhale. All this while, Ding was looking away from the board clearly showing his displeasure about the position he was in.
The 32-year-old world No. 23 was barely audible and hardly forthcoming at the post-game press conference. Silent about his dubious move 18...Rh5, he confessed that he "under estimated" his rival's immediate pawn push 19.e4, one that blocked all escape routes to Ding's bishop on c2. Ding also "failed to spot" Gukesh's Ne2, he said. Gukesh had come up with a rare 7.h3 idea too with an impending g4 follow-up, that seemed to have unsettled Ding.
"Feels great and nice, quite happy," Gukesh said, seated a few feet away from Ding during the media interaction. "I managed to outplay my opponent. I knew that once I settle in, I will get my rhythm back," said Gukesh. When it was pointed out that his advantage after his 18th move (Bg3) was far from decisive, Gukesh said, "Both of us thought that White was better. It is not pleasant to misjudge the position but as long as I played better than the opponent, I'm fine with it." In the same breath, the Indian said that he was not playing for a win on time but wanted to win the game cleanly.
Earlier, on the FIDE webcast, Viswanathan Anand had described Gukesh's opening advantage as "gold". But he also felt that though Ding negated Black's discomfort, it took him about 70 minutes to remember it.
Though Wednesday game resembled the one between Vladimir Kramnik and Arjun Erigaisi (World rapid team 2023 which ended in a draw after 72 moves) till the 13th turn, albeit with a slightly different move order, it was clear the similarity ended there. For, the stage, stakes, emotion -and time control (to find better moves) -was drastically different on Wednesday.
Gukesh shifted from 1.e4 to 1.d4 in this game and it transposed to Queen's Gambit Declined, Exchange variation. Neither player castled and Ding got the queen exchange on the ninth move. But that didn't quite undermine Gukesh's arsenal.