Gukesh draws level in World Championship after impressive win over Ding Liren in game 3

D Gukesh won his first-ever FIDE World Championship game after defending champion Ding Liren ran out of time in the 37th move. The victory meant 18-year-old Gukesh drew level overall in the tie, which stands at 1.5 – 1.5 after three games, going into a rest day.

The Indian was impressive throughout, playing very accurate moves as Ding fell afoul of the clock and made plenty of errors. After Ding Liren’s win in game 1 and a fortunate draw in game 2, this is quite the comeback from Gukesh, who had not shown the best of his chess abilities until game 3.

Game 1’s loss had perhaps an effect on Gukesh’s opening, since he opted to change things up with a d4 opening, as opposed to his usual e4. The opening moves progressed to a Queen’s Gambit Declined exchange variation -catching Ding Liren off guard. The world champion always seemed to have an issue with the clock, taking a long time between moves.

However, much like game 1, Ding had fought his way back into the match after Gukesh’s impressive opening, but unlike game 1, Gukesh kept his cool with accurate moves and Ding proceeded to blunder. In move 18, where Ding blundered with Rook to h5, it proved to be pivotal – when it swung the evaluation engine +1.31 towards Gukesh.

Gukesh played a series of very accurate moves to force Ding under more pressure, and the Chinese player struggled with his time gradually. Ding took his time with his 33rd move and that proved to be his downfall, as the duo exchanged a flurry of moves that saw the defending champion run out of time after his 37th move. It was the first instance since 1993 [Garry Kasparov vs Nigel Short], where a player lost a world championship match after running out of time.

This victory was Gukesh’s first classical game win over Ding Liren in six attempts, having lost three and drawn two. It draws him level in the world championship, which is a crucial victory ahead of a rest day.

You can relive the action, as it happened, below: