'Gukesh Must Go All Out For Win Today'

'If Gukesh wins, he has to survive in Game 14.'
'But if Liren wins, then it will be game over for Gukesh.'

Dommaraju Gukesh is on the brink of creating history.

At just 18, Gukesh is vying to become the youngest ever undisputed World Chess champion aiming to surpass the legendary Garry Kasparov, who won the title at 22 after defeating Anatoly Karpov in Moscow in 1985.

The teenager has posted a creditable performance against defending champion Ding Liren of China to sit level on 6-6 after 12 intense games.

With two games to go in the World Chess Championship 2024 match in Singapore, Gukesh has a golden opportunity to etch his name in the annals of chess folklore.

Gukesh will play with white in Game 13, a huge advantage in the race to 7.5 points which will decide the champion in the 14-game Championship. But if the two players finish level on points then tiebreakers will be played in the rapid format.

Chess coach Raghunandan V Gokhale, the first person to win the Dronacharya Award in chess in 1986, wants Gukesh to seize his moment in Game 13 on Wednesday in which he plays with white.

He highlighted the uphill task facing Gukesh if the match heads into tie-breakers.

"Gukesh was never known as a good player in rapid chess. Liren had surpassed even (Magnus) Carlsen in rapid rankings in the past, so it will be difficult for the Indian," Gokhale tells Rediff.com's Harish Kotian.

"The score might be 6-6 but the position is not even I would say because Liren has the psychological advantage now. He has won the last game so the momentum is with him."

The World Chess Championship is poised for a thrilling finish with both players on six points each with two games to go. We could be headed for a tiebreak to decide the winner. How do you look at the scenario?

It depends on Game 13 on Wednesday because if Liren wins it will be difficult for Gukesh. But if Gukesh wins tomorrow, he has to survive the last game, in which Liren will have white. If you see Game 12, it was the best Liren has played for the last two years. He didn't give Gukesh a single moment of rest. He was just hammering him right from the middle game.

In this form, if he commits some mistake and loses the 13th game then Gukesh has got a good chance. Actually, to draw a game is very difficult at this stage.

I think Gukesh was only thinking of a draw in Game 12 yesterday and when you try to draw you tend to play passively.

I will give you one example. Garry Kasparov needed only a draw in the last game against Anatoly Karpov in their 1985 World Championship match, it was the 24th game.

And what did Kasparov did in that game, he sacrificed his Queen and take a lot of risks but he managed to win the game. And when somebody asked him why he took so much chances because he needed only a draw.

He replied, 'It is my style. If I betray my style I will lose.'

Similarly, Gukesh didn't play according to his style which is very compact and positional. Yesterday, he pushed his pawn early in the opening. Liren is the World Champion and he showed his class. He took advantage and once he got the grip of things, he played very well. He didn't give Gukesh a single chance.

If Gukesh wins tomorrow, he has to survive in Game 14. But if Liren wins tomorrow, then it will be game over for Gukesh.

Liren made a blunder in Game 11 which helped Gukesh force his way to victory. But in Game 12, Liren looked unstoppable and Gukesh was in tears at the end.
How do you think he can make his way back in the contest?

The score might be 6-6, but the position is not even I would say because Liren has the psychological advantage now. He has won the last game so the momentum is with him.

The only thing is that Liren will play with black tomorrow so if he collapses then it will be a big opportunity for Gukesh.

I think Gukesh was desperate in Game 12 because he is desperate to avoid tie-breakers. Liren is No 2 in the world behind Magnus Carlsen in rapid ranking and Gukesh is 46th.

Gukesh was never known as a good player in rapid chess. Liren had surpassed even Carlsen in rapid rankings in the past, so it will be difficult for the Indian.

Will a draw be a moral victory for Liren on Wednesday because he has white for the final game?

Yes, it will be a moral victory for Liren because if he also draws Game 14 then it will go to a tie-breaker where he is very good. It happened in the Carlsen vs Fabiano Caruana World Championship match in 2018.

That time it was a eight-game match and Carlsen ruthlessly drew all the eight games and then beat Caruana 3-0 in the tie-breaker. He knew he was superior to Caruana in the faster version, in rapid chess.

Gukesh's weakness is time control in the rapid chess, so Liren will be the favourite. But in rapid chess, it could be anyone's game because a single mistake here or there, you could end up losing the game.

How should Gukesh approach Game 13? Should he target a victory and take a few risks?

Yes, I want Gukesh to go all out for a win. This is his last game with white and he should not trust the rapid games because that is not his forte.

If you see last year's World Championship, Liren won against Ian Nepomniachtchi in the tie-breaker. That was the only time he went ahead of Nepomniachtchi in that Championship match because in the regular games, every time Nepomniachtchi was winning a game and Liren had to play catch up by winning the next game.

After drawing the first three games in rapid, Liren won the fourth game to emerge the champion.

Is there any weakness in Liren's game which Gukesh can exploit in Game 13 on Wednesday?

Liren may be overconfident with his French defence which he won in the first round very easily because Gukesh didn't play well. Maybe Gukesh being only 18 was under pressure in the opening game because he came into the championship without much experience.

The French defence is a dynamic opening game, at the same time it can go any where.

If you see the computer considers French defence slightly advantageous to white, but computer versus computer is a different picture altogether. The human brain thinks differently.

This match is poised for an interesting finish. Let's hope that Gukesh wins tomorrow.

I expect Gukesh to win because the way Liren won the World Championship last year, Gukesh has come through the same way.

Liren was not in the picture at all last year but luck favoured him. He played around 30 games in nearly two months and surpassed everyone's rating and got a chance in Candidates.

Then in the Candidates, he finished second and was out of the running for the World Championship because the winner of the Candidates plays against the defending champion.

But Carlsen pulled out of the World Championship last year. And the rules in the past stated that if the World Champion refuses to play then the Candidates winner will be declared the new World Champion. However, because of the rule changes Liren got a chance to play against Ian Nepomniachtchi in the World Championship in which he was always falling behind and had to come back.

Similarly, Gukesh was not in the picture also but he won the Chennai Grand Masters tournament and in Candidates also in the last round had Nakamura (Hikaru) won he would have gone ahead.

All the last round results went in his favour and Gukesh won the Candidates and qualified for the World Chess Championship.

Gukesh must now emulate Liren and win the World Championship. He has had some luck in this match and hopefully he will enjoy more luck in the last two games.

How big a boost will it be for Indian chess if Gukesh emerges the winner?

It will be a huge moment for Indian chess if Gukesh wins. If you see the other way round, Nakamura stated that if Liren wins then it will be very bad for international chess because for China it won't change anything in chess. They have got one set system.

But if Gukesh wins, then it will be huge for chess in India because a lot of corporates will come forward to support the sport.

Chess will rise to the second most popular sport in the country after cricket. A lot of youngsters will also take up chess in the country.

Nakamura says Liren's victory will push chess back by 3-4 years but victory for Gukesh will take chess to heights never seen before.