Gukesh again refuses draw despite having worse position

Ding Liren had walked off the board into his private lounge. Then he returned, to check whether his teenage opponent had played the most obvious move. Gukesh was still thinking, after earning additional time on his clock for crossing move 40.
Ding walked back into his lounge again. He must have felt carefree at this stage. He must have felt that he had arm-twed his opponent into accepting a draw. At that stage, there was logically only one move that Gukesh could have made — 41…Qg2 — which secured a draw threefold repetition. Ding had a chokehold of the game at this stage, but had shockingly opted to throw his rival a lifeline.
At this point, Leela Zero, an AI-based chess model whose predictions the official FIDE broadcast has been relying on, crinkled its nose at Gukesh’s chances. The Indian had a 10.5 percent chance of winning, it said. When both players had started making their queens doing a little diagonal ballet on the board, Ding had a 37.1 percent chance of winning the game. He did after all have an additional rook on the board compared to Gukesh’s extra pawn and knight.
As Gukesh was thinking about his 40th move, Ian Nepomniachtchi, who was beaten Ding to become world champion last year, wryly posted on X:”Qg2 Qf2 Qd5 Qd4 Qg2 Qf2 and everyone is happy!”
Not everyone was happy with a draw. At least Gukesh was not!
Gukesh played 41…Qa2+ to reject a draw offer. It’s an odd dynamic. For the second time in eight games at the world chess championship, the world champion has wriggled himself into a better position and offered a draw. And for the second time, his teenage opponent, who was reeling, has opted to throw caution to the winds and ask the opponent to bring it on.
INTERACTIVE: Game 8 between Gukesh and Ding Liren
You can check out the move move action from Game 8 between Gukesh and Ding Liren and also play along in the interactive below. Scroll down to read our updates in real time from Game 8.

“I didn’t think I was in much dancer. I thought with his weak king and my pawn on , I actually thought I had some chances. It was a misjudgement of the position,” Gukesh later admitted at the post-game press conference.
Asked if he was just an optimic person or just fearless, Gukesh candidly admitted: “If I knew the position was bad, I would have taken the draw.”
READ MORE: At World Chess Championship, stolen glances at opponent, and pre-game rituals involving puzzles
However, his bold moves on the board earned him plaudits from veritable legends of the game like Susan Polgar.
“With Gukesh, you know what to expect. He is like a tank moving forward to bulldoze and destroy his opponent. He does not care who the opponent is. Very contrasting mindset than Ding Liren. This is why there is excitement even though he is giving some of his fans heart attack. He is only 18. Be prepared for more for years to come,” tweeted Susan Polgar. “Ding is like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. He plays crazy side lines (at the risk of self destruct) to try to gain an upper hand to win. This takes courage. But after achieving better positions (sometimes the opponent’s accuracies), he’s happy to repeat moves to draw.”