‘Cost of one game higher now than it was before’: Gukesh after draw in Game 10 | Chess News

For the seventh straight game at the 2024 World Chess Championship, Gukesh and world champion Ding Liren agreed to a draw.
After the 36-move draw on Saturday, the prospect of tie-breaks appears increasingly likely. After 10 games, both players are deadlocked at five points each. If there is no player who holds an advantage after four more games, the game will head into the tie-break, which is played in the rapid format. This will clearly suit Ding Liren, who had won the crown of the world champion defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi last year in the rapid tie-break.
Gukesh started the World Chess Championship as the World No.5 in classical with a rating of 2,783. Meanwhile, the world champion from China was world No.23 with a rating of 2,728. But in rapid format, Gukesh has a rating of 2,654 and a world ranking of 45 while Ding, at 2,776, is ranked No.2 in the world.
In Game 10, there was not really too much to separate the two with Ding Liren breaking with his custom of playing a different system in his opening when playing with white pieces. He went back to the London System for the second time, after having tried it in Game 6. As Ding had admitted after game 9, now all the opening phase tricks have largely been used both players in trying to catch the opponent off guard.
The draw did not seem to bother both players too much.
“I’m up for a fight with both colours. But a draw like this with black pieces is a good result. The result is okay, just means we have four more interesting games to go,” a nonchalant Gukesh said at the post-game press conference.
But the draw does mean that the match is now reduced to a best-of-four games match where the cost of even a misjudged pawn push could be the difference between the world seeing the coronation of the 18th world champion, or Ding Liren continuing his reign for a few more years. “Obviously the cost of one game now is higher than it was before. But yeah, my approach and goal are still the same: play a good game every time. If you think about it, it’s not that different. Even if the cost of losing the first game was not that high, I would not have wanted to lose that game,” shrugged Gukesh.
“Now we have to be careful with every move,” admitted Ding.
Ding Liren is yet to win a match at the ongoing World Championship after winning Game 1. Gukesh was the player who last tasted victory at the World Chess Championship after levelling the match scores in Game 3.

“It seems that Ding has found his groove and made his intention known. If Gukesh wants to win this match, he has to take chances to break the deadlock. Ding is happy to chill his way into the rapid and blitz playoffs,” remarked chess legend Susan Polgar on X.