High-Stakes Showdown: The Psychological Battle of Game 11
For one full are on Sunday nothing happened on the chess board the miniature battlefield separating ring world champion league Ding Liren and his teenage Indian challenger D Gukesh had gone silent after 10 moves as nothing moved. The Pressure on both players was so crippling that Gukesh had burnt 70 minutes on his clock just to make 11 moves, and Ding over 60 minutes on first five. The minds of both players were calculating under great duress. It was, after all, the 11thgame of the best of 14 world championship.
Gukesh’s Path to Potential World Championship Glory
Just a day earlier, both players had spoken about how heavy the cost of a mistake at this stage would be. Pressure had mounting on them after seven straight draws. Then on Sunday the contest came alive as the champion from China cracked Gukesh now holds a one point lead and just 3 games stand between him and the world Champions Trophy if he is able to keep this lead he will become the youngest chess world champion in history.
only 17 men have been world champions dating back to 1886 with the list featuring names like Bobby Fisher, Garry Kasparov, Vishwanath Anand and Magnus Carlson but no teenager has become world champion and Gukesh could change that in Singapore in his career Gukesh has already courted history.
He is India’s youngest grandmaster, missing the tag of becoming the world’s youngest biggest 17 days he is the youngest ever winner of the candidate’s tournament which earned him a shot at the World Championships, and he was first Indian to topple Anand 36 year stay in the world rankings as the Top Ranked Indian player.
Sunday’s victory takes him closer to chess immortality. Game 11 was the one that Gukesh later called or roller coaster it played out to be the same template that most games between the duo have follow.
Chess Clock Drama
Gukesh is the better prepaid player in the opening which causes the world champion to think long and hard but Ding then manages to pose enough problems in the middle game to force the Indian to think Gukesh opening on Sunday stunned Ding who spend 28 minutes on his 4th move it’s an unusual amount of time for an elite grandmaster to spend on a move that early especially when computers have made opening phases same as they can be played on autopilot.
Ding was again forced to spend 22 minutes on his next move it seemed at this stage Gukesh would exploit his advantage on the clock to arm twist Ding but then came the 11th move when Gukesh used up an hour. For context both players have 2 hours to make their first 40 moves, before they get additional time on their clocks. Of this 2 hours Mukesh had spent half the time contemplating a single move. ‘I don’t know what I was thinking at that point I was calculating so many different lines I knew this was slightly better, but I couldn’t figure out the exact way’, Gukesh Said.
After that move, Gukesh took a break, taking refuge in his private lounge 6 minutes and when he returned things started falling in place in those movements Gukesh called on is his most valuable qualities ability to calculate on the board and mental strength.
The Road to Singapore: Gukesh’s Bid for Chess Immortality
Eventually, he did a lot more than not lose over the past 3 weeks it has been a cagey battle In Singapore Ding who won the first game of the world championship Gukesh fought back winning game free since then 7 games have ended in draws at times it has been evident that Ding is happy to play out draws even when holding the upper hand in Game 6 and game 8 particular so that he can get to the tie break, where faster time control will be used and he has an advantage
But after Sunday’s loss the world champion has to change tack And go for wins Gukesh Said he wouldn’t play draws either ‘the approach will still be the same I am going to try my best to play good chess said the challenger’
