WCC Games 10-12: Gukesh, Ding Trade Blows as Tension Boils Over

The 2024 FIDE World Chess Championship match between GM Ding Liren and GM Gukesh Dommaraju is deadlocked at 6–6 as the players enter a pivotal penultimate round beginning at 3:00 a.m. CST on Wednesday, December 11.

Concerns of an impending dull trudge toward the rapid tiebreakers were amplified following a very tame game 10 on Saturday. These notions were firmly disabused in the two games that followed, though, with Gukesh and Ding trading wins in a pair of ambitious, albeit nervous, games.

All three games are annotated below by WGM Tatev Abrahamyan.

Not even GM Hou Yifan's help was enough to save Ding in the 11th game (Photo courtesy Lesley Turpijn/FIDE)

The below moments from the 11th game do more justice to the board's character than any words could:

The game seemed firmly in Gukesh's control from the outset, with Ding spending over half of his time within the first handfull of moves. But, convinced he was forgetting something in preparation that turned out not to exist, Gukesh returned the favor both on the clock and on the board.

In the end, the game was decided by a shocking blunder from Ding. Such mistakes are not made by players of this caliber unless the game is obscenely complicated, as was the case here. Gukesh had already secured an advantage, but, as Abrahamyan noted, perhaps it was slipping away from him before Ding's blunder!

Photo courtesy Maria Emelianova/FIDE

The only two pieces of good news for Ding after game 11 were that, first, it's a 14-game match now, rather than 12, and that, second, he'll have two games with the white pieces.

But Ding's play as White had not inspired much confidence so far, and some wondered whether he was going to simply try to survive game 12 before taking a rest day to reset. But the true chess talents knew better:

YEAH WHAT DID I TELL U GUYS 🧑🏻‍🍳 https://t.co/Mr2FmWYLCE
— Carissa Yip (@carissayipchess) December 9, 2024

Gukesh's attempt to play principled chess against an inspired Ding backfired, with a passive position quickly becoming hopeless without a single defining moment or difficult decision from Ding. That in itself showcased the brilliancy of Ding's finest game in years, as well as the preparation done by "Team Ding." As Abrahamyan observes in her notes to move seven below, this exact line was featured in a game between Ding's seconds GM Richard Rapport and GM Ni Hua!

Photo courtesy Maria Emelianova/FIDE

Less than 24 hours after being written off, Ding has risen from the dead to tie the match. Only two games stand between the players and rapid tiebreakers! It will be interesting to see how each player will approach the match situation, and we will find out in a matter of hours.