Gukesh stumbles as Liren secures opening win in World Championship

Grandmaster D Gukesh paid dearly for unwarranted complications in his middle game as defending champion Ding Liren of China drew first blood by defeating the teenaged Indian in a high-pressure opening game of the World Chess Championship here on Monday.

The victory with black pieces gave the Chinese an early lead in the 14-game showdown scheduled to last till mid-December.

"It can happen; it's a long match. About my opponent's form, I expected nothing else. I expected the best version of him, and we have a long match ahead, so it's only more exciting now," Gukesh said after the game.

 

Winning with black not just meant a full point but also huge psychological advantage for Liren in the USD 2.5 million prize money event because he entered the competition with patchy form. The first player to reach 7.5 points among the two will claim the coveted crown.

Gukesh, the youngest ever challenger for the world championship crown, came up with an early surprise in the opening by pushing his king pawn forward. It's a move that symbolises attacking intentions and the Chinese chose the French defense to combat the situation.

"Of course I was nervous but once I started playing, I calmed down but then the momentum kind of slipped," said the Chennai-lad.

The line chosen by Gukesh was exactly what the legendary Viswanathan Anand picked in his first world championship-winning contest against Alexei Shirov of Spain in 2001.

The choice of move had enough impact as Liren spent a lot of time in the opening that was probably not expected by any expert of the game.

By the 12th move, Gukesh had a half hour advantage on the clock but eight moves later, Liren had a couple of extra minutes to boast off on his clock giving a clear indication that he had gotten out of his opening problems and had a decent middle game on hand.

The 32-year-old Chinese displayed peak form after that as Gukesh's middle game crumbled. The clash lasted 42 moves.

"I haven't won a single classical game for a long time, and today, I managed to do that. But this game, to be fair, was very lucky for me because I missed two tactics," Liren said in the post-game press conference.

"In the first game, he might get nervous at the start of the match, so I tried to play something unusual, which I haven't played for a long time, and it turned out to work perfectly," he added.

Making matters worse was the clock ticking away as Gukesh could not find the best resources after losing a pawn on the Queen side.

To Liren's credit, he was spot on in finding the required counter-play on the queen side when Gukesh was making his progress on the other flank.

The middle game was fought well but Gukesh could not find his share of activity especially when he was left with a little over 10 minutes on the clock.

With 40 moves in 120 minutes to make without any increment on the clock, the time control was not easy for either player to handle but Liren's experience kept him in good stead.

Gukesh had his final chance on the 30th move when the position would have been a complicated one despite the material deficit but a queen move turned the tide in Liren's favour.

The game continued but it was black all the way as Liren kept improving and when he grabbed the third pawn on the 41st move, it was almost over. Gukesh tried one last trick but resigned immediately once Liren found the right response.

With 13 games still remaining, Liren will have the advantage of making the first move as white in the second game on Tuesday and Gukesh will try and find a way to come back in the match.

Anand is the first and only Indian to have won the world title and he did so for five times in his career.