Gukesh claws back with draw against Liren in second game of World C’ship

Singapore: Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh bounced back to draw a largely uneventful second game against defending champion Ding Liren of China in the World Chess Championship here on Tuesday.

Playing with black pieces, Gukesh made a comeback of sorts, having lost to Liren in the opener of the 14-game showdown, on Monday.

It was a good recovery by Gukesh as Liren could do very little with his white pieces and had to share the point

“Draw with black in the world championship match is always nice and it’s too early, we still have a long match,” the Chennai-based GM said in the post-game press conference.

“I think after I was surprised in the opening, I reacted pretty decently, and I didn’t give him any chances. It was a solid game with black, which is nice,” he added.

If Monday was the day when nothing he did worked according to plan, Tuesday changed everything for Gukesh as he could not have asked for a better start.

Liren did not press at all while Gukesh just followed the basics as the game ended in a draw via repetition soon after black had completed the 23rd turn.

It was one of the quietest variation in the Italian opening as Liren probably did not want to rush things having grabbed a full point advantage in the first game itself.

It may be recalled that the Chinese had won the last world championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia after coming back from behind as many as three times.

The 32-year-old said he was happy with how he performed in the second round.

“In the first game I played something new in the opening and of course it requires a lot of memory. Today I also played not a common move (for me) 1.e4 and I prepared a lot,” Liren said.

“I think it will be a big fight tomorrow. He’s a point down and he will have the white pieces, so I am ready for a fight,” he added.

Liren’s fifth move, when he moved his Queen’s knight, was indication enough about his peaceful intentions.