WCC R12: Ding Wins Brilliantly in Game 12; Match Tied at 6 Points
12.10.24 Ding Liren leveled the score in Game 12 of the FIDE 2024 World Chess Championship with just two games remaining in the classical portion of the Match. It might not be an overstatement to say that it was one of the most brilliant wins in Ding's career--it certainly was one of the most important. Bouncing back from a devastating loss in Game 11, Ding created both a strategical and tactical masterpiece.
Game 12 of the FIDE 2024 World Chess Championship between current World Champion Ding Liren of China and the Challenger Gukesh Dommaraju of India began as a Catalan System in which Black played 4...d4 and 5...Nc6. This line has been rejuvenated by former World Champion, and currently the higest rated player on the planet, Magnus Carlsen. By choosing this particular approach, it was safe to say that Gukesh did not want to go in for a safe draw as soon as possible.
Ding's 10.Re1 put Gukesh into a think. Rather than playing the critical 10...Be6, Gukesh chose the natural 10...h6. After White made some prepatory moves, Gukesh played 13...Rb8, a move commentators considered a bit slow and not doing much for Black's position. When Ding went for 14.Qe2, White's position had some latent energy. Before Gukesh realized it, White doubled heavy pieces on the d-file and pushed d4 on move 18. At this point Black's position was critical.
It went downhill from there for Gukesh as Ding played like an unstopable force. Increasing his advantage, Ding declined to win the exchange with 26.Na7 choosing instead to crush the center with 26.d5! There was no way out and Gukesh resigned on move 39.
Dommaraju Gukesh leaves the press conference after suffering a loss in Game 12.
(image courtesy FIDE/Eng Chin An )
Fun Fact: There have been 12 World Championship Matches that have had the score 6-5 after 11 games. The most recent was Leko-Kramnik (2004) and Nepomniachtchi-Ding (2023). Kramnik tied the Match and kept the title and Ding tied the Match and won in the tiebreak portion of the Match. Also notable is that no player trailing after 11 games has won the Match in regulation (without going to tiebreaks).
Tomorrow is a rest day. The Match continues with Game 13 on Wednesday, December 11th at 4:00 a.m. eastern (5:00 p.m. local time in Singapore).
Livestream, Schedule, Current Match Score and More:
>> Official Site of the 2024 FIDE World Chess Championship <<
