Gukesh shows restraint and defensive skills to hold Ding

BENGALURU: After the fireworks of Game 1, it was a slow, manoeuvring 23-move draw by repetition in the second game of the World Chess Championship between Ding Liren and D Gukesh in Singapore on Tuesday.

- Susan Ninan

Gukesh, playing with the Black pieces, must be the more pleased of the two with the result after his tough loss with the White on Day 1. The reigning world champion won the opening battle in Game 2 and held a slight edge but Gukesh managed to show restraint and defensive chops to steer it away from what could have turned out to be tricky terrain for Black. Gukesh gets his first half-point in the World Championship and Ding still holds a one-point lead after two games.

More of a traditional 1.d4 player, Ding played the king's pawn opening. Though he has experimented with 1.e4 lately, it was viewed more as a possible decoy than one of his plans for the match. After the game, Ding revealed in an interview to chess.com that his second convinced him to play it. "Although I was quite uncertain about a lot of possibilities after that, by the end I decided to follow the advice," he said. Hungarian GM Richard Rapport, who was part of his team during last year's title win, is assisting him this time too.

On move 5, Ding pushed his knight to c3, ringing in the slow Four Knights Variation in the Italian. He went on to blitz out a new move - 9. a5 - which looked fresh out of his home-cooked preparation. It offered him some initiative while also turning Black's pieces on the queenside less flexible.