Bengaluru: Game 6 of the FIDE World Championship has picked up a bit of a reputation over the years. Three years ago, Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi slugged it out for close to eight hours and 136 moves, the longest in World Championship history, and Carlsen emerged with a win. It brought a breakthrough – the first decisive result in the classical stage of a World Championship match, breaking a streak of five years and 19 consecutive draws.
On Sunday, with the White pieces, reigning world champion Ding Liren blitzed out his preparation and seemed to be comfortably in control before considering playing out a three-fold repetition, to some surprise. Challenger Gukesh, living up to Game 6 tradition, chose drama and battle. In a slightly inferior endgame, the Indian teen declined a three-fold repetition, rejecting an early draw offer and chose to bravely forge ahead, pushing his Queen to the h4 square (instead of Qe7) on move 26.
It was a gamble. One that could have backfired. GM Peter Leko called it a “huge mistake” on the chess24 live broadcast stream, likening it to a naked man jumping on to a cactus. Gukesh defended well, the worst never came his way and the game ended in a draw anyway after 46 moves. The match is now tied at 3-3, heading into the second rest day on Monday.
A World Championship match where you’re locked in a one-on-one battle is so much about getting into the mind of your opponent. Your opponent is constantly looking for cues in your approach and reactions, any information on how confident or hesitant you are, can be used against you. In Game 5, Ding decided to not go for the kill. He let Gukesh off the hook rather easily, and later in the press conference said that he didn’t quite realise that he had an advantage and could press for a win. In Game 6, Ding was “totally surprised” by Gukesh’s decision to play on and reject the three-fold repetition, and later said that he almost wrote down Qe7 (repeating move) on the scoresheet.
“I thought I might be slightly worse…I wasn’t even fully sure about it…I thought with files open in front of his King I always had counterplay and saw no reason to take repetition. Since he’s going for a repetition, I thought I’ll make a few more moves and see what happens. Obviously, I wasn’t playing for a win or anything,” said Gukesh, explaining his decision. “I just like playing chess. I thought the position had more play in it.”
For the first time in this match, Ding chose the 1.d4 (queen pawn) opening and opted for the London system – a reprisal of Game 6 against Nepomniachtchi, during the World Championship match last year. Ding had won that game to level the match 3-3.
On Sunday, he spent barely seven minutes for the first 20 moves, indicating he was comfortable in his preparation while Gukesh fell behind on the clock by over 50 minutes. Gukesh’s 20. Qf5 move though – which isn’t the first move suggested by the engine – appeared to throw Ding off, and he settled into thought for 42 minutes.
“I knew the position till I played 16…Rb8, but I never really felt I was in danger,” said Gukesh. “Maybe I’m slightly worse but it should be hard to convert with White because you can’t really push the Queenside pawns that easily and I will always have some play on his King, so I wasn’t really worried at any point.”
Ahead of Game 6, Ding’s strategy had been to press with the Black pieces, rather than White. On Sunday he chose to arrive at the board with a plan to seek initiative and push for a win, but he ended up being the first to take a step back and offer a draw. He was asked rather plainly in the press conference whether his decision to not ambitiously push for a win while enjoying a position of relative strength on the board was rooted in lack of confidence or health issues.
It must be said that in the games played so far, it’s been Ding who’s had a greater number of opportunities to play for a win. In a match like this, it’s not easy to get as many chances and sometimes it could come down to the shots you don’t take.
“Sometimes I play with the White pieces like Black,” said Ding. “This time I pushed forward for an advantage,” he said, before lamenting letting a few opportunities get away. “I feel like I am letting my advantage slip away at a critical moment. I have to improve this in the following games.”
Gukesh offered that he thinks his own play has room for improvement. “So far, it’s an equal match. Considering I was trailing after the first game, I’m happy to be here.”
Off the board, Ding was thrown off by a question on the ‘Ding Chilling’ meme that’s been doing the rounds. It’s rooted in US pro wrestler and actor John Cena’s promo for the Fast and Furious movies in China. It showed Cena speaking in Mandarin and eating ice cream. His pronunciation of Bing Qi Lin, ice cream in Mandarin, has since been picked up and parodied by YouTubers as Bing Chilling. It has now found its way into the social media chatter as ‘Ding Chilling’.
“What is the meaning of chill?” Ding asked, as the press room roared in laughter. “I didn’t have ice cream here.” The usually stoic Gukesh was in splits.
