Another draw after a Ding-dong battle

Gukesh and Liren play out a draw & remain level on points after game six of World Chess Championship

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

THE two most dominant themes of the current chess World Championship were present on a nerveshredding Sunday. Ding Liren has had no problems getting into advantageous positions. He has enjoyed that throughout 2024 and in this title match with D Gukesh. His problem has been converting those gains into definitive wins. D Gukesh, like many of the young, daring elite players from India, likes to play for a win. Sometimes, even in a totally drawn position, he goes for glory.

In a bum-clenching game six when fingernails were chewed and other non-edibles were consumed, Gukesh and Liren exhibited their aforementioned traits. In the end, a draw, ironically by three-fold repetition after four hours and over 45 moves, was perhaps a fair result but it's a result both camps will rue as they both had chances to press at various points.