World Chess Championship: Gukesh, Ding play seventh successive draw in Game 10

Singapore: The sequence of draws continued in the FIDE World Chess Championship Final match between reigning champion Ding Liren of China and challenger Gukesh Dommaraju of India as Games 10 between them finished in an uneventful and uninspiring draw as the two players continued to play risk-free chess.

Overall, the two players have one win each and eight draws overall.

Saturday’s 10th game ended in just 36 moves in just two and a half hours, one of the shortest games of this 14-game match in which the first player to reach 7.5 points will pocket the major chunk of the total prize fund of US$2.5 million.

Both players are still tied with five points each and will be playing the 11th game on Sunday with Gukesh playing with white pieces.

Ding Liren opted for the London System again, repeating the opening he played in Game 6. He caused a bit of a stir by taking an unexpected pause before making the first move as if he had forgotten what opening he would opt for.

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This is the first time Ding has repeated his opening in this match and it triggered a lot of excitement when Gukesh diverted from the previous game with a knight move. Gukesh had taken a bit of time for his first 10 moves but had Ding spending nearly half an hour on the 11th move.

In the middle game, the players traded many pieces, exchanging a knight, bishop, a rook each and the queens in a flurry of action before they reached an endgame with the Chinese Grandmaster enjoying a slight advantage.

But the advantage was not very big and he decided to play risk-free again. Both players played solid chess and did not make any mistakes. Gukesh said he was happy with the solid draw and with only four games remaining, both players admitted that they can’t afford to make any mistakes now.