A draw that was coming from about mid-game eventually came around in move 42 when by repetition D Gukesh and Ding Liren accepted it as the inevitable result. The draw leaves the scores tied at 2 - 2 after game 5, and the match as evenly poised as it could be.
Ding, starting with white, opened with an unorthodox move, pushing his knights forward, but Gukesh responded with his bishops in a reverse London defence. The opening was out of syllabus, made even more so by Ding moving his black bishop out wide to a3, but the young Indian's response was perfect... not taking the bait, and ensuring his position on the board was never threatened.
The mid-game was about quick exchanges of pieces: knights and bishops on both sides were kicked out. With time control not a problem at all, Gukesh made a few risky moves towards the end as he left his king isolated as he looked to pack the middle with his last few pieces. Ding responded calmly, sans-aggression and kept the position safe in the middle. A quick exchange of queens and there was really no other result that was tenable.
Gukesh will now start with white tomorrow in game six and it remains to be seen if he will come out swinging and try to open up an advantage. He seems to have gotten stronger game by game, and it will be interesting to see what his strategy will be.
Ding, meanwhile, has now taken two draws in two games with white, but he's been far more aggressive with black, so it could play out either way if Gukesh goes all out tomorrow.
You can read up on how game 5 went right below in our live blog: