Balance Point

Dommaraju Gukesh – 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén)
World Chess Championship 2024; match game 9; Sentosa, December 5, 2024
Bogo-Indian Defence E11

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Be7 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nf3 0-0 7. 0-0 c6 8. Qc2 Nbd7 9. Rd1 b6 10. Bc3 Bb7 11. Nbd2 Qc7 12. Rac1 Rfd8 13. b4

13. ... c5 14. bxc5 bxc5 15. Qb2 Nb6 16. Ba5 dxc4 17. Nxc4

17. ... Bxf3 “After the game my second told me that I can actually take here 17. ... Nxc4 18. Rxc4 Qxa5 19. Qxb7 — this is what I missed when I played 15. ... Nb6“, 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) said in the post-game press conference. “Here I calculated 19. ... Bf8, 19. ... Nd5 and 19. ... Kf8 but not 19. ... Nd7 would have kept the game going. Black is not worse at all. I think generally it was a high quality game”.
18. Bxb6 axb6 19. Bxf3 Ra6

20. Qb5. “I considered both 20. Ne5 and 20. e3”, Gukesh said afterwards. “It should give a small edge I think. Yeah 20. Ne5 I thought he can go 20. ... Bf8. I should have done this or 20. e3. When I played 20. Qb5 I just missed this idea, that he can go 21. ... Qa7 and 22. ... Rb8. There were lot of tricks in the position but somehow it’s just working concretely for Black. Maybe 20. Ne5 is the right way but anyway it should be equal with precise play”.
20. ... Rxa2 21. Nxb6 Qa7 22. Qb1 Rb8 23. dxc5 Ra6 24. Qb5 Bxc5 25. Qxc5 Qxb6 26. Qxb6 Raxb6 27. Rc6 Rxc6 28. Bxc6 g5 29. Kg2 Rb2 30. Kf1 Kg7 31. h3 h5 32. Ra1 Rc2 33. Bb5 Rc5 34. Bd3 Nd7 35. f4 gxf4 36. gxf4 Rc3 37. Kf2 Nc5 38. Ke3 Nxd3 39. exd3 Rc2 40. Kf3 Rd2 41. Ra3 Kg6 42. Rb3 f6 43. Ra3 Kf5 44. Ra5+ e5 45. fxe5 Rxd3+ 46. Ke2 Rxh3 47. exf6+ Kxf6 48. Kf2 h4 49. Kg2 Rg3+ 50. Kh2 Kg6 51. Rb5 Rg5 52. Rxg5+ Kxg5 53. Kh3 Kf6 54. Kxh4 Ke5 ½–½.

“It means we are at a same strength”, 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) said eventually. “No one is clear better at this match. So it’s going to be tough to win”. Photo: Eng Chin An.