Ding Liren lets Gukesh D off hook in Game 5 draw as world title match remains deadlocked

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Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju survived a scare before escaping with an improbably stress-free draw on Saturday in the fifth game of his world championship match with Ding Liren that left the $2.5m showdown deadlocked at 2½-2½.

After Ding opted for another French Defense (1 e4 e6), which he’d played in Monday’s surprise Game 1 win, Gukesh blitzed into the drawish Exchange Variation (2 d4 d5 3 exd5 exd5). The passive opening was out of step with the challenger’s aggressive reputation, particularly while armed with the favored white pieces.

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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.

The queens came off the board early, simplifying the position by the 10th move. Both players probed one another’s defenses, with Gukesh advancing aggressively on the kingside with 17 g4, countered effectively by Ding’s precise maneuvering (17...Nf4 and 19...Bd7).

The middlegame pivoted on Gukesh’s ambitious 22 Ne5, but the follow-up 23 dxe5 was inaccurate. Ding then capitalized with 23...Nd3, establishing strong piece activity and placing his foe in an uncomfortable position. But the champion’s hasty 29…Bc6 released all tension and immediately steered the action toward an endgame featuring an equal pawn structure and active kings. The game concluded with a draw by repetition on move 40 after exactly three hours.

Although a draw with the black pieces is not a poor result, Ding’s inaccuracy while playing quickly cost him the opportunity to turn the screw on his 18-year-old opponent and make him suffer for several hours.

“The results are not ideal because I have some chances in some games to lead by some points, and it’s even,” Ding said. “Also today after some quick check I had some advantage which I didn’t realize, so there is something to improve.”

Ding entered the first defense of his world championship having gone 28 classical games without a win, a dreadful run of form that saw him drop to 23rd in the world rankings and prompted the oddsmakers to install him as roughly a 3-1 longshot in the best-of-14-games match.

But he sprang a major surprise in Monday’s first game by winning as black, dramatically ending the 304-day winless streak. Game 2 on Tuesday was a tame 23-move draw, before Gukesh struck back on Wednesday with a win in Game 3. The fourth game on Friday was another calm draw.

“Considering I was the trailing the match after the first game, it’s nice to be [level after five games],” Gukesh said. “But there are a lot more important games to come. I am just trying to play one game at a time and give my best.”

The fifth-ranked Gukesh, an 18-year-old native of Chennai, is bidding to shatter the record for youngest ever undisputed world champion held by Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he dethroned Anatoly Karpov in their 1985 rematch in Moscow.

The competition resumes on Saturday with Ding playing as white in Game 6. Whoever reaches seven and a half points first will be declared the champion in the world title match at Resorts World Sentosa, an island resort off Singapore’s southern coast.