Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh tried his best but could not break past a resilient defending champion Ding Liren of China and had to settle for a draw after 68 moves in the 13th and penultimate game of the World Chess championship here on Wednesday.

With the scores tied at 6.5-6.5 and only one game of classical chess to go, it is only likely that the match will be extended to the tie-break stage where games of shorter duration will decide the winner. As was expected and predicted, the 18-year-old Gukesh went for the King pawn on his opening move and yet again faced Liren’s first-choice opening in French defense.