India’s D. Gukesh beat China’s Ding Liren in the 11th game of their World Chess Championship final, which has been taking place in Singapore since Sunday. The win with White saw Gukesh go ahead for the first time in the final by a 6-5 margin.
Gukesh won with seven consecutive draws and thus stands at an excellent chance of becoming the world’s youngest undisputed World Chess Champion. Gukesh has just three games remaining in the classical format, and in order to win, he must get at least a draw in any of the next rounds.
In this game, Gukesh put Ding Liren under very sharp time pressure that caused the reigning champion to make a blunder. Upon recognizing his mistake, Ding conceded the game by offering Gukesh a handshake. This blunder occurred right after Ding’s 28th move, when he moved his queen to C8 and gave the game away to Gukesh.
The 11th round started with the two players opening with a Reti system. Ding spent nearly 40 minutes on his fifth move, while Gukesh took over an hour for his 11th move. However, it was Ding who eventually faltered, allowing Gukesh to capitalize on the mistake and seize the advantage.
Gukesh is now on the brink of making history as the youngest World Chess Champion with a 6-5 lead.
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