Chess World Championship: Gukesh opens account

Caution prevailed over aggression in the second game of the 14-round World Chess Championship, with defending champion Ding Liren from China and young challenger Gukesh Dommaraju from India agreeing to a draw after 23 moves. Gukesh seemed to have chances to push for a win but chose safe lines rather than going for the kill.

In the post-match conference, Ding Liren admitted he was disappointed with his game, saying his position was weak towards the middlegame as he played passively. However, Gukesh expressed satisfaction with the draw.

There were plenty of fireworks on the board when Ding opened with the Italian Opening, one of the oldest chess openings. However, both players chose to play it safe, probably trying to conserve their energies for the next 12 games. Ding, usually a 1.d4 (queen’s pawn) player, opened with 1.e4. Gukesh responded with 1...e5, agreeing to the Italian Opening. There was a noticeable change in his approach and temperament compared to the first game, where he used just 89 seconds for his first 10 moves. In this game, Gukesh spent 23 minutes on his first 10 moves, while his opponent utilised just about three minutes.

Gukesh also stayed seated longer, while Ding frequently paced around and made more visits to the rest chamber. Despite playing fast, the title-holder Ding introduced a novelty on move 9 by pushing a pawn to the fifth rank. It seemed he aimed to create an outpost for his knight on b6, almost similar to the b2 outpost in the first game that led to his victory. However, Gukesh was up to the task and maintained his composure in the tension-filled tactical play at the centre of the board. By move 11, the bishops were off the board, followed by the queens by move 13.

Ding surprised everyone by giving control of the open d-file to Gukesh, who planted his rooks on the file. However, the knights and well-connected pawn structure did not allow him to play risk-free. Both players maneuvered their knights, looking for an outpost in enemy territory, but it did not materialise, resulting in a sudden and tame draw. Gukesh had an accuracy rate of close to 97% in this game, compared to 87% in the first game.