Gritty Gukesh outplays Liren on time in Rd3 for first win in World Championship

Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh clinched his first win over defending champion Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship outplaying the Chinese on time control in the third round to draw level on points here on WednesdayHaving lost the first game rather badly with black pieces Gukesh struck gold thanks to his preparation that gave him a huge advantage on the clock as Liren spent a lot of time mulling his moves in the first phase of the game Gukesh D WINS GAME 3 of the 2024 FIDE World Championship Match presented by Google DingGukesh Gukesh equalised the score of the match at 1515 Eng Chin An pictwittercomOc9ZYO2NNfmdash International Chess Federation FIDE_chess November 27 2024Both players now have 15 points each after the second game ended in a draw on TuesdayIt feels great The last two days I was happy with my play My play today was even better I feel good at the board and today I just managed to outplay my opponent which is always nice Gukesh who played with white today said in the postgame press conferenceBy move 13th the 18yearold from Chennai had a lead of one hour on the clock as he had spent just four minutes compared to Lirens one hour and six minutesWith 40 moves to make in the first 120 allotted minutes without any increment the complicated middle game had the desired impact on Liren and Gukesh was relentless in finding out some difficult yet perfect moves to increase the pressureAlso Read RD 1 Ding outwits lsquonervousrsquo GukeshThe players followed a much lessplayed variation in the topical Queens Gambit declined and Gukesh followed an idea played by former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in a rapid game against highest rated Indian Arjun ErigaisiWhile that game had ended in a draw after Erigaisi survived a real scare Gukesh delved deeper in the position and capitalised on some unforced errors by LirenThe 32yearold Liren had his light square Bishop under the scanner after the Queens were traded early leading to a queenless middle game With imaginative manoeuvres Gukesh trapped the bishop parting with just two pawns in the processIf Liren thought there was still counterplay Gukesh disagreed completely as he put his pieces around the centre to keep his position intact and gave no chances whatsoever in the resulting positionAdding to the Chinese woes was the clock as he barely had two minutes to make the last nine moves Gukesh was at the top of his game and went for some tactical complications threatening to trap the black king or to win more materialLiren fell further on the clock and was just left with less than 10 seconds for the last six movesIt was a hopeless situation when Liren ran out of time after 37 moves giving Gukesh his first victory in the showpieceGukesh is aiming to become the first Indian after Viswanthan Anand to claim the coveted crown Anand won the world championship five times in his glorious career and has been a mentor to GukeshThursday will be the first rest day of the eventThe moves game 3 D Gukesh vs Ding Liren1d4 Nf6 2Nf3 d5 3c4 e6 4cxd5 exd5 5Nc3 c6 6Qc2 g6 7h3 Bf5 8Qb3 Qb6 9g4 Qxb3 10axb3 Bc2 11Bf4 h5 12Rg1 hxg4 13hxg4 Nbd7 14Nd2 Rg8 15g5 Nh5 16Bh2 Rh8 17f3 Ng7 18Bg3 Rh5 19e4 dxe4 20fxe4 Ne6 21Rc1 Nxd4 22Bf2 Bg7 23Ne2 Nxb3 24Rxc2 Nxd2 25Kxd2 Ne5 26Nd4 Rd8 27Ke2 Rh2 28Bg2 a6 29b3 Rd7 30Rcc1 Ke7 31Rcd1 Ke8 32Bg3 Rh5 33Nf3 Nxf3 34Kxf3 Bd4 35Rh1 Rxg5 36Bh3 f5 37Bf4 Rh5 black lost on timeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever