D Gukesh vs Ding Liren: how the World Chess Championship is shaping up after three rounds

With nerves no longer bothering him, Indian teenage grandmaster D Gukesh will maintain a psychological edge against slightly shaken defending champion Ding Liren when they resume an intriguing battle for the World Championship crown in the fourth round here on Friday. Showing better preparation and picking up his first win in the third round, 18-year-old Gukesh is predictably optimistic and will be hoping to just relax during his first rest today. Considering that under classical time control there are a maximum of 11 games left, the score becomes 1.5-1.5. This happened after Liren won the first match and the second game ended in a draw.

Gukesh clearly showed better preparation, but Liren’s calculations failed in the third game. The match began with Gukesh facing the Chinese in the French defense with the white pieces, and his initial progress gave the Indian a huge time advantage, which he held until the end.

“It’s always nice to win a game, including for the first time against such a strong opponent. I think winning the World Cup means more and it’s a very important victory,” said a visibly pleased Gukesh after Wednesday’s game. .

The youngster lost the first match after playing poorly in a difficult middlegame, but could take heart from the fact that his preparation had gone well.

In the second game, which was his first game with White, Liren chose a solid variation of the Italian opening, and Gukesh easily managed to equalize the score in the opening itself.

The game ended in just 23 moves with repetition, earning Gukesh a lot of respect for his flawless play with a somewhat disadvantageous color.

Approaching the third game before the first day of rest, Gukesh decided to give it his all, and his opening choice again forced Liren to spend more than half the allotted time on the first 14 moves themselves.

The Chinese later missed an easy way to equalize on his 18th move, but that was largely due to initial pressure from the Indian.

At this level of points, it is unlikely that Liren will go all out in the next game. Instead, a more cautious approach is expected as the Chinese champion hopes his skills will carry over into crunch moments and avoid repeating previous mistakes.

Gukesh will be looking to ride the wave of his success as long and as far as possible. His first match win must have given the Chennai player a huge confidence boost.

If he continues to surprise, especially with the white pieces, he can reap the rewards in future games.

In the last world championship match, which he won, Liren fell behind three times, but came back to tie Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia.

In fact, the only time he came out ahead was on the final day, when a tiebreaker decided the fate of the title.

It would, of course, be unwise to write off Liren, given his fighting qualities, but it remains to be seen how he will behave against a man who is 14 years younger and, obviously, very hungry for success.

“…the result of the game will probably affect my emotions during the rest day,” the 32-year-old said candidly after Wednesday’s defeat, and it remains to be seen how he will pull himself together.

Overall, the match looks interestingly balanced after Gukesh’s victory and chess fans couldn’t have asked for more in the first three games.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)