Four hours after they began playing, Ding Liren finally rose from his chair to move from the table into the players’ lounge. He knew the job was done. He was only letting his young opponent D Gukesh marinate in a disappointing defeat on his World Championship debut. Gukesh sat there, head in hands first, and then staring into the deep distance contemplating how game 1 slipped away from him.
“This was his first world championship, so he might have been nervous. So, I played something unusual which I haven’t played for a long time,” Ding said at the post-game press conference, on the reason he opted for the variation of the French defence that he had ended up playing.
Ding was all smiles throughout the press conference, clearly upbeat about what an incredible game he had played, squeezing out an advantage from a position that seemed pretty deadlocked after the opening. His middle-game was absolutely incredible, as move-by-move, he tilted the scales in his favour.
This tilting of scales was gradual, until it wasn’t. In fact, even up until move 20, Gukesh had seemed relaxed. He was walking around inside the playing hall, even stood behind Ding for a second or two, as if to tell his opponent that he had things under control. As it turned out, he didn’t.
It was an incredible show from Ding, though, as he kept his cool even when the clock, at one point around move 14, showed Gukesh having a 50-minute advantage over him. This is a man who last won a game of classical chess 304 days ago, a man who has been in the doldrums with his mental health. And yet, here he was, showing why he is world champion.
Last year, in his match against Ian Nepomniachtchi, Ding had famously spent a lot more time in the lounge than he did on the table. Here, he didn’t move until it was all wrapped up.
“I didn’t feel hungry or thirsty. I didn’t have to use the lounge,” he said. “I just had to work out the way to make an advantage in the position.”
He made that advantage in the position by playing with incredible accuracy and ensuring that Gukesh had no way back at all. Gukesh’s famed calculation ability had let him down, as he misplayed a couple of important moves, which he acknowledged had brought about his downfall.
“Obviously it was not a great game by me. It all depended on the alertness. I think it was just a tactical oversight. It can happen,” Gukesh said.
As it turned out, Gukesh had just one second left of the allotted 120 minutes while making his 40th move. The time-pressure that seemed to be on Ding in the first half of the match had well and truly turned right back. The position, the time trouble, the body language had all gone against Gukesh, who was nervously wriggling his legs so much that his chair was vibrating underneath him.
Was it pressure? You’d have to be lying if you thought an 18-year-old entering the biggest stage of his life wouldn’t feel it.
“You can never be prepared for your first ever game in a world championship,” Magnus Carlsen’s father Henrik had told Take Take Take a few days ago. Imagine being the youngest ever to play a world championship, coming in for that debut.
Now, that first game is out of the way. It’s the worst possible start for Gukesh, but he was pretty clear after the game that he just sees this as one game out of 14.
“There’s still a long way to go, this makes it more exciting,” he said.
Ding’s lead is an exciting prospect for him. Ding finding his best chess early on in this match is an exciting prospect for him. Remember, this is a player who, at his best, was one of the most solid players in the world. Gukesh now needs to force a win. It’s exciting for him in terms of how he creates advantages for himself, but the first punch has well and truly been delivered by the reigning champ.
