Ding Liren and Gukesh D play to fizzling Game 9 draw in deadlocked title match

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Ding Liren and Gukesh Dommaraju are no closer to a verdict in their world championship match after Thursday’s ninth game fizzled out to a sixth successive draw after 54 moves and 3hr 56min, leaving the $2.5m contest deadlocked at 4½-4½ with five games to go.

“No one is clearly better in this match, so it’s going to be tough to win,” Ding said afterward.

The 18-year-old challenger from Chennai, playing as white, opted for the popular Catalan opening before springing the first surprise with 10 Bc3, a near-novelty at the highest level which prompted Ding to spend nearly 20 minutes considering his response.

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The players

China’s Ding Liren is defending the world chess championship against fast-rising Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju. The best-of-14-games match is scheduled to take place from 23 November to 15 December at Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore for an overall prize fund of $2.5m (£1.98m).

Ding became China's first men’s world chess champion by defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi last year in Kazakhstan, winning the title vacated by longtime world No 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway. But the 32-year-old from Zhejiang province has played only 44 classical games in the 19 months since winning the world title while battling personal difficulties including depression and will go off as an underdog in his first world title defense.

Gukesh, commonly known as Gukesh D, stunned the chess establishment by winning the eight-man Candidates tournament in Toronto aged 17 to become the youngest ever challenger for the world championship, finishing top of a stacked field that included Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana. The 18-year-old can shatter the record for youngest ever world champion held by Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he dethroned Karpov in their 1985 rematch in Moscow.

The format

The match will consist of 14 classical games with each player awarded one point for a win and a half-point for a draw. Whoever reaches seven and a half points first will be declared the champion.

The time control for each game in the classical portion is 120 minutes per side for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting with move 41.

If the score is equal after 14 games, tiebreak games with faster time controls will be played:

• A match consisting of four rapid games with 15 minutes per side and a 10-second increment starting with move 1 would be played. If a player scores 2½ points or more, he would win the championship.

• If the score is still equal, a mini-match of two rapid games would be played, with 10 minutes per side and a five-second increment starting with move 1. If a player scored 1½ points or more, he would win the championship.

• If the score is equal after the rapid portion, a mini-match of two blitz games would be played, with a time control of three minutes per side and a two-second increment starting with move 1. If a player scored 1½ points or more, he would win the championship. A drawing of lots would take place before each mini-match to decide which player plays with the white pieces.

• If the blitz mini-match are tied, a single blitz game with a time control of three minutes per side and a two-second increment starting with move 1 would be played, and the winner would win the championship. A drawing of lots would decide which player plays with the white pieces. If this game was drawn, another blitz game with reversed colors would be played with the same time control, and the winner would win the championship. This process is repeated until either player wins a game.

Players are not allowed to agree to a draw before black's 40th move. A draw claim before then is only permitted if a threefold repetition or stalemate has occurred.

The schedule

Sat 23 Nov Opening ceremony and technical meeting

Sun 24 Nov Rest day

Mon 25 Nov Game 1

Tue 26 Nov Game 2

Wed 27 Nov Game 3

Thu 28 Nov Rest day

Fri 29 Nov Game 4

Sat 30 Nov Game 5

Sun 1 Dec Game 6

Mon 2 Dec Rest day

Tue 3 Dec Game 7

Wed 4 Dec Game 8

Thu 5 Dec Game 9

Fri 6 Dec Rest day

Sat 7 Dec Game 10

Sun 8 Dec Game 11

Mon 9 Dec Game 12

Tue 10 Dec Rest Day

Wed 11 Dec Game 13

Thu 12 Dec Game 14

Fri 13 Dec Tiebreaks (if necessary)

Sat 14 Dec Closing ceremony

All games start at 5pm local time, 2.30pm in India, 9am in London, 4am in New York.

But the champion was able was able to comfortably neutralize the initiative and clear the queenside tension in the middlegame. The draw was all but a handshake away by the time the queens and a pair of rooks came off the board in a rapid furry (25 Qxc5 Qxb6 26 Qxb6 Raxb6 27 Rc6 Rxc6 28 Bxc6), even if Gukesh toiled on for more than another hour before settling for the half-point with only the kings left on the board.

“I think it was just a very precise game from both sides,” Gukesh said. “Maybe I had some edge after [16] Ba5 and maybe [20] Qb5.”

Ding entered the scheduled three-week match having gone 28 classical games without a win, dropping to 23rd in the world rankings and prompted the oddsmakers to price him as roughly a 3-1 underdog. But he sprang a major surprise in Game 1 by winning as black, dramatically ending the 304-day winless streak and delivering the opening salvo in a contest of mounting intensity.

Game 2 was a 23-move draw, before Gukesh roared back with a win in Game 3. The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth games were each peaceful results.

“So far it’s been a very interesting match,” Gukesh said. “A few missed chances for me, a few missed chances for him. We’ve both shown fighting spirit and some entertaining chess. Five more exciting games to go.”

The competition resumes on Saturday with Ding marshaling the white pieces in Game 9 following Friday’s rest day. Whoever reaches seven and a half points first will be declared the champion at Resorts World Sentosa, an island resort off Singapore’s southern coast.

If the score remains equal after 14 contests, a series of tiebreak games with faster time controls will be played. That’s how Ding won the title last year over Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi.

And while Ding has been regarded as the underdog in the match due to his unremarkable form, he would go off as a slight favorite if the match was decided in rapid or blitz games. Not that he can afford to think about that just yet.

“The draw streak could be broken at any point,” Ding said. “So it’s still too early to think about tiebreaks.”