World Chess Championship: How Ding Liren shocked Gukesh with black pieces in the opening game at the ‘fishtank’

Ding Liren, a antheral who has experienced the anxiousness of playing successful a World Chess Championship, tried to drawback him off-guard with achromatic pieces successful the opening by employing the French Defence. It was a Hail Mary of sorts, coming excessively aboriginal into a World Chess Championship.

Ding Liren takes connected Gukesh successful the archetypal crippled of the World Chess Championship. The players were playing successful a sound-proof country with mirrored solid that prevented the players from looking extracurricular oregon proceeding noises from outside. (Photo: FIDE Flickr via Eng Chin An)

But Ding had his reasons. “Because it was his archetypal game, I was reasoning helium mightiness get tense astatine the start. So I tried to play thing antithetic which I haven’t successful a agelong time,” Ding revealed. The past clip the Chinese GM had utilized the French Defence, it was against Ian Nepomniachtchi, wherever helium had lost.

How Gukesh vs Ding Liren played retired successful Game 1 of the World Chess Championship. (Courtesy: Lichess)

But Gukesh had nary occupation dealing with Ding Liren’s ploy. So overmuch so, that helium forced Ding to bash a treble instrumentality by the seventh move, wherever the satellite champion spent 27 minutes thinking. It was an unusual clip to beryllium forced into a long, hard think, particularly erstwhile helium was the 1 who had tried to prehend the aboriginal initiative.

By the clip Ding made his 7th move, Gukesh had a sizeable vantage connected the clock. He had spent nether a infinitesimal connected 7 moves. Ding had utilized up implicit fractional an hour. “I evidently amazed him successful the opening. I was playing immoderate bully chess,” Gukesh aboriginal said.

Caution to the wind

On the 10th move, Gukesh threw caution to the wind. His pawn connected the g record raced distant to g4, abandoning immoderate harmless program to get his ain king to screen connected the king-side corner. The program was to enactment unit connected Ding’s pawn connected the e record with a f5 pawn propulsion soon. Ding was already 48 minutes down connected the timepiece by this stage.

The archetypal games of the World Chess Championship are meant for tepid draws. It’s an juncture to get a measurement of the different player’s existent signifier and confidence. So similar pugilists successful a prize fight, grandmasters are contented to propulsion a fewer punches conscionable to spot what the opponent’s jaw is made retired of.

Not Gukesh. He had chosen to locomotion into the crippled with his defender down, daring his hostile to propulsion a haymaker. “This crippled already looks complicated. A small spot retired of control. It’s truly excessively overmuch for a Game 1,” remarked Xie Jun, erstwhile women’s satellite champion from China, who was successful Singapore for the event.

Things were astir to get much complicated. Gukesh allowed Ding’s knight to works itself connected b2, which would let it to origin mayhem connected his backmost ranks. On the 21st move, Ding’s queen jumped connected d3, close adjacent to Gukesh’s queen, but was protected by the knight connected b2. At that moment, Gukesh made a important error, helium withdrew his queen to e1, close aft falling down connected the timepiece for the archetypal clip successful the game.

That determination pushed his astir almighty portion into a corner. Ding’s pieces started to odor humor successful the h2o of the ‘fishtank’. A rook moved successful connected an unprotected achromatic knight. A bishop sauntered past Gukesh’s antiaircraft enactment of pawns. Ding’s pieces were taking positions for a coordinated battle connected Gukesh’s king.

By the 33rd move, Gukesh was scrambling. He needed to marque 7 moves successful 45 seconds to debar losing connected time. He managed to get his 40th determination with 1 2nd near connected the clock. But helium had to resign 2 moves aboriginal anyhow due to the fact that Ding had 3 further pawns connected the board. The satellite champion from China leads 1-0 successful the best-of-14 contest.

Ding has won precisely 3 classical games this year, 2 of those person present travel against Gukesh. Both with achromatic pieces.

This is the archetypal clip since the 2010 World Chess Championship lucifer that the archetypal crippled has ended successful a result. Gukesh mightiness gully immoderate comfortableness from that satellite title 14 years ago. His mentor, Viswanathan Anand, was the 1 who had suffered an opening crippled nonaccomplishment to Veselin Topalov. But Anand had managed to assertion the rubric anyway. Now Gukesh, who has walked into the footsteps of Anand for years, volition anticipation to emulate Anand erstwhile again.