World Chess Championship: Gukesh back on level terms as Ding Liren loses on time in third game

Singapore (The Uttam Hindu): India's Gukesh Dommaraju defeated reigning champion Ding Liren on time in the third game of their 14-game match for the 2024 World Chess Championship Resorts World Sentosa. With this win, Gukesh tied the score at 1.5-1.5. He had lost the first game and drawn the second before striking back with white pieces in the third. This is Gukesh's first win in the World Chess Championship final and with 11 more games to go, he seems to be gaining momentum as he played an excellent game on Wednesday that had taken him on the verge of victory even before the clock played its role.

Gukesh capitalised on a blunder by his Chinese opponent in Queens Gambit Declined and got into a winning position before Ding failed to complete the required 40 moves in the given time and lost on time when the clock stopped after his 37th move. The reigning world champion missed a couple of lines that left his position destabilised. Gukesh on his part played correctly and did not make many mistakes, taking control of the match. He had around nine minutes on his clock when the flag fell for Ding Liren. The 18-year-old Indian from Chennai, who is aiming to become the youngest World Champion and the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to rule the chess world, will go into Thursday's rest day with a lot of confidence as he has recovered from the stunning defeat he suffered in the opening game.

The FIDE World Championship 2024 match is the first in 138 years to feature two contestants from Asia and the two players are competing for the title and a prize fund of 2.5 million US Dollars.