World Chess Championship: 9th game between D Gukesh and Ding Liren ended in a draw

The World Chess Championship stalemate continued as Indian challenger D Gukesh and defending champion Ding Liren of China ended in yet another draw in the ninth game in Singapore on Thursday, still level on points. The sixth consecutive draw – and seventh of the match – left both players equal on 4.5 points, still 3 points short of winning the championship. Both players signed peace after 54 moves. Friday is a day of rest and they will resume fighting on Saturday.

Only five more classical games remain to be played in the championship with a prize fund of US$2.5 million and if the result is tied after 14 rounds, the games will be played under fast time control to determine the winner. 32-year-old Liren won the opening game while 18-year-old Gukesh emerged victorious in the third game.

The second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth games all ended in draws.

The Catalan opening has been appearing in top-level games for several decades and Gukesh chose it this time to test Liren's preparation.

In the beginning the Chinese once again went into deep thought and came up with some creative ideas to keep the White armies at bay. The first exchange took place on turn 14, with Gukesh having used only 15 minutes of his allotted two hours in the first time-control, while Liren had used over 50 minutes.

Gukesh probably got his only chance to apply some pressure in his 20th turn, but the Indian chose what seemed better for white, but Liren surprised him with some well-disguised moves.

It seemed like not much had slipped, but once it was under 30 minutes, the Chinese made a number of correct moves to leave the situation level.

Gukesh wasted all his extra time and by the 23rd move he was actually behind Liren by a few minutes. By then another pair of pawns with two smaller pieces had changed hands, bringing the situation closer to a tie.

In the count, Gukesh had an extra pawn to boast of but it was clear that he was going to fall soon. It's time for Gukesh to decide whether he will go for an easy draw or try for some unfair complications.

After making his 24th move, Gukesh was seen staring at his score sheet, a clear indication that he had understood what the outcome was going to be.

Liren paused for a moment before playing equal possession on White's additional pawn. Gukesh soon swapped queens and then a pair of rooks to leave a tie.

Players still had to complete 40 moves according to the rules before the points were divided and suddenly Liren began to be ambitious, although the game never left the draw limit.

A pure rooks and pawns end game was soon on the board and eventually the players switched everything and only the bare kings remained. The game lasted 54 moves.

Liren will be whitewashed three times in the remaining five matches.

Moves: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Be7 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 0–0 7.0–0 c6 8.Qc2 Nbd7 9.Rd1 b6 10.Bc3 Bb7 11.Nbd2 Qc7 12 . Rac1 Rfd8 13.b4 c5 14.bxc5 bxc5 15.Qb2 Nb6 16.Ba5 dxc4 17.Nxc4 Bxf3 18.Bxb6 axb6 19.Bxf3 Ra6 20.Qb5 Rxa2 21.Nxb6 Qa7 22.Qb1 Rb8 23.dxc5 Ra6 24.Qb5 Bxc5 25.Qxc5 Qxb6 26.Qxb6 Raxb6 27.Rc6 Rxc6 28.Bxc6 g5 29.Kg2 Rb2 30.Kf1 Kg7 31.h3 h5 32.Ra1 Rc2 33.Bb5 Rc5 34.Bd3 Nd7 35.f4 gxf4 36.gxf4 Rc3 37.Kf2 Nc5 38. Ke3 Nxd3 39.exd3 Rc2 40.Kf3 Rd2 41.Ra3 Kg6 42.Rb3 f6 43.Ra3 Kf5 44.Ra5+ e5 45.fxe5 Rxd3+ 46.Ke2 Rxh3 47.exf6+ Kxf6 48.Kf2 h4 49.Kg2 Rg3+ 50.Kh2 Kg6 51.Rb5 Rg5 52.Rxg5+ Kxg5 53.Kh3 Kf6 54.Kxh4. The game was drawn.