Twists, turns and surprises: A chess contest that's bucked all predictions

BENGALURU: There were predictions of a "massacre" and a "bloodbath" leading up to the World Championship match. What we have on our hands after six games though is a 3-3 tied score between reigning world champion Ding Liren and challenger D Gukesh.

- Susan Ninan

Ding won only his first classical game in 304 days in this match. Gukesh, too, has only one win in six games so far and the tension is alive in the match.

We look at a few talking points from the match so far.

Miraculous escape and missed chances

It's fair to say that Ding, contrary to expectation, has had more chances so far in this match than Gukesh. Bafflingly, barring Game 1, which he won, the reigning world champion appeared to have held back in the opportunities he got thereafter.

In Game 5, Ding had a positional advantage. The kind that Magnus Carlsen has juiced into many a win. Ding somehow didn't end up taking it and what could have been a dangerous scenario for Gukesh turned into a miraculous escape and half a point.

In Game 6, Ding had a good position out of the opening, was comfortably up on the clock before he burned right through it, and then was the first to offer a draw.

Ding has been quizzed about it, rather crudely, at post-game press conferences, about whether it's a crisis of confidence or health issues that have led him to not pursue the advantage on the board. His response has been that he didn't realise he had an edge in Game 5.

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand has been, like the rest of us, baffled at Ding's decision to go for a draw in Game 5, while clearly in a better position with no risks.

"Though we see it quite often in this match, you're not supposed to get chances like this. If you get one, you're supposed to sit there and work," he said on the Fide live broadcast on Sunday, "The only explanation I could come up with is that he simply didn't realise that he was better... that's the only way you can continue the way he did."