The World championship in Singapore has suddenly taken on the flavour of a psychological duel instead of a purely chess match.

In the last few games, we have started to see a very clear trend where D Gukesh is trying to provoke his opponent into a battle,ready to decline draws and take risks.

Ding Liren, on the other hand, seems to be pessimistic about his position and often goes for the safest line on the first opportunity, in the hope that Gukesh might overreach.

In Game 6, Liren chose the London System which he had used to great effect in the last World title match against Ian Nepomniachtchi.

Gukesh’s preparation was excellent until move 16. On the next move, he had a couple of easy ways to make a draw, but chose a slightly inaccurate one that allowed Liren to get the unbalanced position he was presumably seeking.

On the 23rd move, Liren thought for a while, then gave up on his winning attempts, and essentially offered a draw by repetition. Even more surprisingly, given that the position slightly favoured Liren, Gukesh turned down the draw and kept playing. He defended accurately, but seemed to be taking extra risks.

They agreed to a draw a few moves later. In Game 5, Gukesh surprised Liren in the opening, by playing a peaceful variation. This year, the line has been somewhat popular though as people have discovered that it contained some venom.

Liren was excellently prepared and equalised very easily. On the 23rd move, Gukesh made a serious mistake, by not exchanging rooks. Ding went for perhaps the smallest of the three advantages. He could have put the knight on ‘a4’ or activated his rook first, which would have led to a significant advantage.

He made Gukesh’s moves easier to find and then shockingly, took his bishop to the wrong square, captured a pawn and then returned it. The audience was astonished by this. In a game where Gukesh would have had to defend precisely for a long time, he managed to draw within a few moves thanks to Liren’s inaccuracy.

Game 4 was a fairly uneventful draw. Liren’s opening preparation was not lacking in venom, but he did not follow up with the effort required for the precise play. So with a few natural moves, Gukesh solved all his problems.

It is nice to have the rest day at this point because both sides will need to rework their strategies given that neither seems to be getting desired positions. Gukesh still hasn’t found any chinks in Liren’s armour, while the defending champion hasn’t been able to take the chances that have come his way in the last few games.

(This is the third in a series of columns on the World Chess Championship)

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