World Chess Championship: D Gukesh on his way to becoming world champion, did this by defeating the Chinese player

Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh has taken steps towards becoming world champion. He has defeated defending champion Ding Liren of China. He achieved this feat while playing with white pieces in the 11th round of the World Chess Championship. This 14-round tournament is being played in the classical format, in which now only three games are left. D Gukesh has 6 points after winning. While the Chinese player has five points. Whichever player scores 7.5 points first will become the winner of the World Championship.

Chinese player made mistakes

Ding Liren was under time pressure. The Chinese player made mistakes under this pressure, taking advantage of which Gukesh achieved his second win in the tournament. Gukesh’s win comes after seven consecutive draws and eight draws overall. Gukesh started by moving the horse forward but Liren surprised him by adopting the Benoni opening. It seemed that he did not make this move as part of his strategy and took a snap decision to do so. After just five moves, Gukesh got a lead of one hour and it is difficult to get out of such a situation in such an important match. This pressure of less time was clearly visible on Liren and in such a situation he made mistakes.

Big mistake in 28th move

When the Chinese player had only seven minutes left, he made a big mistake in the 28th move and accepted defeat soon after. But chess experts believe that Liren did not have a good start. His eyes were fixed on Gukesh’s mistakes in the middle game. The defending champions had a chance to take a better position in the middle but missed it. Gukesh also took a lot of time in the middle game but even then he seemed to have the upper hand. When the situation was almost clear, Gukesh lost the pawn next to the queen to give his rook a chance to move freely. This also increased the pressure on Liren and he made a mistake. He soon realized his mistake and the Indian player soon made the winning move.

Gukesh has to draw 3 games to become champion

D Gukesh now needs only three draws to become world champion. Liren took the lead in this competition by winning the initial game but Gukesh leveled the match by winning the third game. After this, seven consecutive games were drawn between the two players.

(Input: PTI)