Oh, Gukesh what have you done! Yesterday was his chance to get the lead and never let go! Playing with the White pieces in Game 8 of the World Chess Championship match, Indian Grandmaster Gukesh D had many golden opportunities to capitalise on the position in-game and win it taking the lead for the first time in the Championship Match against his opponent and current World Champion Ding Liren.
Ding Liren was put on the spot from the start as the 18-year-old challenger played Nf3 instead of a more conventional opening. It was such a surprise that the Chinese Grandmaster hesitated for half a minute and kept staring at the chessboard before even writing down the move. But the real surprise was Gukesh’s 7th move Re1. Even Ding confessed in the post-match interview saying, “When I saw this move I’d just come back from the toilet and it was a total shock!”
What followed was principled chess from either player with Gukesh taking a slight advantage. But he squandered it all after not thinking through when a couple of exchanges happened to simplify the position at the end of which Gukesh lost the advantage he held and was on much more of equal terms than before. The engine would’ve won the game for white easily. But Gukesh after all is just a human.
And still, Ding Liren almost lost the game after a fumble on move 40. With less than 7 seconds on the clock, Ding Liren pushed his King towards the centre instead of continuing the path his Knight was on. But now with 30 more minutes added to the clock, all Gukesh had to do was push the passed H pawn. Instead he started overthinking and ended up playing Ke1. Oh Gukesh! All you had to do was push the damn pawn!
With the chance to take the lead gone, Gukesh will be on the backfoot for much of the remainder of games. The longer this match goes on, it feels like Ding Liren gets more and more confidence. Do you think Gukesh can get a win on Thursday when he comes out playing with the white pieces again? Let us know your opinion in the comments below.
