‘Important games to come’

Indian challenger D Gukesh played out a hardfought draw with white pieces in the fifth game of the World Chess Championship against defending champion Ding Liren of China here SaturdayThe second draw in a row left both players with an identical tally on 25 points apiece still shy of 5 more points in order to win the championshipThe two players signed peace after 40 moves It was the third draw of the matchThe 32yearold Liren had won the opening game before the two played out draws in the second and fourth gameThe 18yearold Gukesh is the youngest ever challenger for the crown and had won the third game on WednesdayGukeshrsquos rook trade blunderAfter missing out on a simple rook trade that could have made life easy Gukesh admitted that he blundered midway though he survived the scareldquoI realised I blundered but I donrsquot know how it happened I didnrsquot know how bad it was really my position almost collapsed Yeah I just blundered but it was OK I was confident that I would hold onrdquo said Gukesh in the postgame press conferenceAlso Read lsquoChess is our gift to the worldrsquoOn the 14th and 15th move Liren spent a lot of time and found the best solution when it just looked that Gukesh was ready to press for moreHowever the aggression shown by Gukesh only made things worse for him when a draw looked imminent ldquoI just should have gone for the rookrsquos trade and the game would have been a draw anywayrdquo said GukeshldquoI am not sure why the opponent did not play a Bishop manoeuvre that I was very worried aboutrdquo he addedOn his performance so far in the match Gukesh said ldquoIt is still early not even halfway through Important games yet to come Considering I was trailing after losing the first game it is nice to be here I am trying to take one game at a timerdquoLiren was his usual self and conceded that he did not realise he had advantage in the endgameWhen asked if a draw was a good result as black the defending champion said ldquoI always try to play my best and somehow it settled for a drawldquoResults are not ideal because I have got some chances in the games till now even today I had advantage but I didnrsquot realise there is something to improve in the next roundsrdquoIt was the first time in the match so far that Liren did not have any problems with his black pieces The defending champion was at ease as Gukesh yet again employed the Kingrsquos pawn opening and faced the French defense for the second time in the matchHaving lost the first game in the same opening caution was the name of the game for Gukesh as he went for the Exchange variation only to find Liren well equippedThe opening though has been tried at the top on and off did not present black with any herculean defensive task as Liren showed after exchanging the queens earlyA pair of rooks changed hands soon after leaving Gukesh with a level position But the Indian true to his style tried to create an imbalanced position soon after by allowing Liren to get a protected passed pawn on the sixth rankEqual endgameLiren did not find the most tested continuation and instead went for an equal endgame with Bishops of opposite colours There was no doubt about the result of the game anymore but Liren decided to part with a pawn and got a fortress which did not allow any player to make further progressThis 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