Gukesh loses to Liren in 12th game, both players at six points each

Singapore: Indian challenger D Gukesh lost the 12th game against defending champion Ding Liren of China to allow his opponent bounce back and level the World Chess Championship match here on Monday.

The 18-year-old Gukesh was ahead by one point after he notched his second win of the match on Sunday, which came after seven consecutive draws, but Liren’s win on Monday brought the things on an even keel.

The two players are now tied at 6 points each with just two games left in the 14-round classical time control format, still shy of 1.5 points in order to win the title.

The remaining two games will be played on Wednesday and Thursday, after rest day on Tuesday.

Irrespective of what happens in the next game on Wednesday, the match will go the distance (14 games) and more likely there will be tiebreaker -- where games are of shorter duration -- to determine the winner.

The 32-year-old Liren had won the opening game before Gukesh emerged victorious in the third game. The second, and the fourth to 10th games were drawn.

In what was the first victory for Liren with his white pieces, Gukesh’s preparation did not come as good as the other 11 games that he played here.

“In the second half, I had chances in many of the games. Today was obviously a bad game, but I wouldn’t draw too much from it. Bad games happen. But if you look at the second half overall, I think we are both playing better than the first half,” Gukesh said at post-game press conference.

“6-6 is overall the fair result, but since I was leading after yesterday, it is a bit disappointing to lose this game. At least the score is still tied and two more games are remaining.”

Liren said he played the 12th game on Monday was his best in recent times. “Sometimes I perform very well after a loss. It’s a very important 12th game. It’s maybe the best game I have played in recent times.

“Today I just tried to play the best moves and at some point, I realized my position was much, much better; there was no way to draw.