On the night of his crushing Game 11 loss to D Gukesh, Ding Liren’s Hungarian second Richard Rapport sent him a file titled ‘strike back’. Ding made the words come alive on the board in Game 12, on Monday.
A day after the reigning world champion crumbled, blundered, lost and fell behind in the match, he played a flawless game to equalise the World Championship score 6-6, ahead of the final two classical games.
At this point two questions remain a mystery – where this World Championship is headed and which version of Ding will show up for the remaining two games. Both players will have one game each with the White pieces. Tuesday is a rest day.
Ding, playing White, opened with 1.c4 in Game 12, and Gukesh seemed to switch up his opening and slid his king’s pawn by one square (1.e6) instead of two (1.e5). The Indian went for a slightly more ambitious set up with Black putting a pawn on d4 as early as move 4. Ding played a couple of thoughtful moves like 10…Re1 and 12…h3 and the prophylactic 13…Kh2 that improved White’s position bit by bit. Gukesh seemed to dither, unsure of a concrete plan to improve his pieces and to prevent White from breaking open the centre.
Ding managed to accumulate his advantage well and his waiting moves turned out to be excellent choices. Of the two players, Gukesh has appeared to be the one with the deeper, more thorough preparation in this match. The Indian spoke of his team banking on “out-preparing” Ding in a double-edged position after his Game 11 win, and the world champion himself has touched upon being surprised by the Indian often in the opening.
The Ding who showed up on Monday played with such computer-like precision that though Gukesh made no obvious blunders, his position just fell apart.
By move 17, it seemed almost close to lost for Black while White had both great control over squares and a beautiful pawn structure. With the tactical oversight of 22.Bg5 Gukesh seemed to make an already bad position even worse. Ding bolted away with it. Ding’s moves throughout the game were like poetry in motion, and by the end of 25 moves he had the better centre and more active pieces while Gukesh was staring at a hopeless position with no choice but to resign. He played on for 19 more moves before he stopped the clock and extended his hand in resignation.
This was only Ding’s second win in the match, having won Game 1. That it came after a terrible loss makes it even more incredible. Grandmasters who’ve known and played against Ding for years are still trying to wrap their heads around the enigma that is the 32-year-old world champion, who can appear both strong and weak at the same time.
“I have followed chess for so long, I have played so many tournaments but Ding is such a mystery to me,” GM Anish Giri offered on the chess24 broadcast as the world champion tightened the noose around Gukesh. “Ding seemed so completely broken (in Game 11) and now he plays just an incredible game.”
It’s not the first time Ding has pulled off something like this. During the World Championship match last year against Ian Nepomniachtchi, Ding had a comeback win in Game 12. “My mother told me that I did it last time and gave me confidence that I can do it again,” he said.
After his win, Ding was greeted by his seconds Rapport and Ni Hua, who clapped when he walked out. Rapport was dressed in shorts and a canary yellow t-shirt with the words ‘Never give up’ on it.
Asked how he crafted a perfect game and important win like this one right after a loss, Ding replied: “It’s just by chance…Sometimes I perform very well after a loss.” In this match, Ding has on several occasions pushed for a draw even with a better position on the board when the scores were even. Trailing in the match and with his back against the wall, a Ding who was playing for nothing less than a win who showed up on Monday. “I had no way to retreat (in Game 12). I have to push for a win. I think I just played a very good game and found some good moves. There was no chance to spoil such a position…I just put pressure on my opponent the whole game. I did not slip like in the last game… It’s maybe the best game I’ve played in recent times.”
It’s a hard knock for Gukesh, who sat at the board for a few moments after his loss, getting himself together. “Today was obviously a bad game, but I wouldn’t draw too much from it,” he said after, “Bad games happen. But if you look at the second half overall, I think we are both playing better than the first half. 6-6 is overall a fair result, but since I was leading after yesterday, it is a bit disappointing to lose this game. Luckily, I have a rest day to recover and the score is still level, so this game is not a huge blow to my chances.”
There are two more games to go and it’s back to being anyone’s guess of where this match goes from here.
