Gukesh pulls off miraculous escape after blunder

Right after Gukesh had played the 23rd move of game 5 and his opponent Ding Liren had responded in a flash, the Indian teenager realised that he had blundered. It was the sort of error that could decide the fate of a game. And the World Championship as a consequence. That Gukesh managed to wriggle out of the tight corner and salvage a draw to keep the contest level could turn out to be significant in the end.With Ding Liren’s dark-squared bishop killing off Gukesh’s knight on e5, ths latter had a choice to recapture the square: he could capture it with his rook, sitting idly on the back rank, or he could capture it with his pawn that was sitting on d4. If he opted for the rook capture, it would lead to a rook exchange that would see neither player having any rooks left on the board.
READ MORE: In contrast to inscrutable Gukesh, Ding Liren allows the world to see how he feels
The teenager chose the second option: picking it off with the pawn. He spent less than a minute on the decision. His opponent spent even lesser time responding, jumping his knight to d3, where it was attacking three of the Indian challenger’s pieces at the same time.
Like tearaway quicks in cricket, bishops and rooks are meant to introduce fear on the chess board, picking off pieces even in dant corners of the board. But it’s the knights — the spin bowlers of the 64 squares, to complete the analogy — that ex to make a mockery of one’s calculation skills with one moment of magic.
In this particular case, Ding’s horse had maneuvered itself to the worst possible square for Gukesh.
“Once I saw knight to d3 (Nd3), I just realised I had blundered capturing with the pawn (dxe5). I didn’t know how bad it really was but of course, I should have captured with the rook. It would have been a draw. But I kind of just hallucinated. I saw knight to d3, but somehow I underestimated what he can do,” the teenager said later.
Ding Liren sneaks a glance at Gukesh in game 4 of the World Chess Championship in Singapore. (PHOTO: FIDE/Eng Chin An)
Ding said he was surprised to see his opponent play the move. Meanwhile, the boy who has largely shown no emotion on the board in four games, admitted that the blunder had left him annoyed.
“It meant I would have trouble holding my position. My position was almost collapsing,” said Gukesh, adding: “But I was still pretty confident I could hold it despite it being unpleasant.”
‘Almost collapsing’ was an accurate estimation of the dark clouds of trouble hovering over him after those two moves.
Gukesh’s Houdini act
Gukesh, that stage, had no option but to eliminate the knight on d3 with his bishop, which would also be cut down Ding’s pawn. Now Gukesh was in a bind. If he opted to advance his pawn on the b file to prevent the Ding’s second knight from jumping forward, the Chinese would pressure Gukesh’s pawn on the c file. That sequence would have ended with Ding’s second knight having Gukesh’s king and his remaining rook in a pin that would end with the Chinese grandmaster having the only rook on the board.
Gukesh, this point, knew he was about to be arm-twed his opponent into a position that he would have struggled to defend.
INTERACTIVE: Game 5 between Gukesh and Ding Liren
You can check out the move move action from Game 5 between Gukesh and Ding Liren and also play along in the interactive below. Scroll down to read our updates in real time from Game 5.

But like a matador sidesteps an advancing bull with just a tiny shuffle of his feet, Gukesh pushed his pawn to f3. Ding continued with his line of attack, throwing his knight forwards to c4 where the remaining two knights on the board were exchanged. Gukesh pushed his rook to e4, where it was eyeballing Ding’s isolated pawn on c4. Ding responded with a fresh salvo, trying to pin Gukesh’s rook in the spot with his bishop, daring him to move the rook and lose a pawn.
Now Gukesh was starting to pull the rabbit out of the hat, the final flourish of his rescue act. Like hitting the snooze button on a ticking bomb, Gukesh slid his rook to d4 instead of capturing Ding’s pawn on c4.
Why? Because from d4, the rook could simultaneously guard both of Ding’s pawns on c4 and d3 and also prevent Ding’s rook from providing cover for his pawn to promote to a queen. Gukesh had found possibly the only move that could postpone impending doom.
Read More: With Game 3 win over Ding Liren, Gukesh shows again that his strongest weapon is his mental toughness
A few more moves later, the game ended in a draw. Gukesh had managed to pull off a he.
This is the first game at the 2024 world chess championship that Gukesh played with white pieces and ended in a draw. The first two games where Gukesh had played white had swung in favour of either player. Both players will be back on the board on Sunday to play the sixth installment of the 2024 world chess championship with Ding playing with white pieces.
After the game, at the press conference, Ding was asked if he had come to the game with the mindset that a draw with black pieces was good.
“No, I tried to play my best. But somehow I settled for a draw,” said the world champion wfully.