After the draw in the 13th game at the World Chess Championship in Singapore, Ding Liren and Dommaraju Gukesh go into the last regular match tied on points.
In the game on Wednesday (December 11, 2024), the Chinese defending champion and his 18-year-old challenger from India ended in a draw. The score is 6.5 to 6.5 – 7.5 points are needed to win the title.
Gukesh took a risk in his last white game: The Indian showed himself in fighting mode with a surprising variation at the beginning, with a unique position he made Ding (32) think for almost 40 minutes and thus gained a time advantage.
Nine draws – equal points in the final
But the Chinese defended himself sensationally and ensured balance with the only possible move – any other moves would have meant his defeat. This resulted in a tower endgame that ended without a winner after more than five hours of play.
The 14th game follows on Thursday (10 a.m.). If one of the two grandmasters wins, he will secure the world title. If there is another draw, the decision will be made in a tie-break, in which games will first be played in rapid chess and – if there is a draw afterwards – then in blitz chess.
Ding had won the first and twelfth games in Singapore, Gukesh won the third and eleventh games. All other games ended in a draw. The new title holder receives the majority of the prize money of 2.5 million dollars (around 2.37 million euros).