There are draws and then there are uneventful draws. Game 9 of the World Championship match was quite comfortably the latter. Very little happened on the board, the juice ran out of the position fairly early and it was then just a long wait for both players to shake hands and call it a day. This was the sixth straight draw in nine games. The match between reigning world champion Ding Liren and challenger Gukesh heads into a rest day with the scores still even at 4.5-4.5. Five more classical games remain.

Playing with the White pieces on Thursday, Gukesh threw in a rare 10.Bc3 move (instead of the bishop going to f4) in the Catalan Opening. Ding was pretty much on his own and went into extended periods of thought over the next couple of moves. So much so that by move 16, the time he had left on his clock was an hour less than that of Gukesh.

The Indian later reflected that he perhaps played 20. Qb5 a “bit fast”. According to the computer evaluation, White galloping his Knight from c4 to e5 was the best move on that turn to create long-term pressure on Black, with the assistance of its Catalan bishop. Gukesh though decided to exchange his c4 knight, rather than manoeuvre it to e5 and c6. 20.Qb5 simplified the position and any advantage he had earlier was pretty much gone.

“I think it was just a very precise game from both the sides,” said Gukesh, “maybe I had some edge after 16.Ba5 maybe 20.Qb5 was a bit too fast….When I played 20. Qb5 I just missed this idea that he can go 21… Qa7 and 22…Rb8. There were a lot of tricks in this position but somehow it’s just working concretely for Black.”

“It means we are of the same strength,” Ding said when asked about the tied score situation, “No one is clearly better in this match. So it’s going to be tough to win.”

Gukesh has had some success with his opening ideas in general with White, getting Ding to burn through his clock. Like he did in Game 9 as well. But he hasn’t been able to convert promising positions into a full point. In critical moments, Gukesh can at times rush into a decision. Like he did before 20. Qb5 as well, while being comfortably up on time.

In the end though it was an effortless draw with Black for Ding and he will be pleased with the even scores so deep into the match. If the match does head into the rapid tie-breaks, the reigning world champion might consider himself to be better placed. When asked about it he smiled and then pointed out that it was “too early” to think about the tiebreaks. “The draws can be broken at any point.”

Ding has so far defended well and has been okay to draw even in slightly better positions. Some of it could be down to his confidence levels.

With little happening in the game on Thursday, commentators had enough time on their hands to take a walk down memory lane. On the chess24 live broadcast stream, Anish Giri spoke of the time he lost to Ding in 2019 – the Chinese GM was then at his best, and how even back then confidence was not his strongest suit. “I remember in the opening Ding was shaking his head a little bit. He was dismissive of his own opening idea. His body language suggested to me that he was pessimistic of his own chances and which was one of the reasons why I feel I misplayed the game as well. I remember that I felt very safe and went for something ambitious which backfired. Even at his best, Ding was always a bit of a pessimist. That is just his character.”

Both players were asked about whether they follow the analysis of other top GMs and former world champions on the match and Gukesh was pretty clear about staying away from social media as a rule of thumb during tournaments. “I don’t go on the internet and look at things in general. It’s not that tough for me because I’m quite used to not being on social media too much.”

Ding though appears to have a slightly different view. He doesn’t necessarily look at it as a distraction. “The internet can sometimes be a way to release stress after a game… I saw comments that I’m always underestimating my position and my opponent always overestimates his position, and that I always make the draw if I’m better,” he said smiling, “It didn’t affect me…they’re just telling the truth.”