After a shattering loss in game 11 of the FIDE World Championship 2024, Ding Liren was given a file by his second Richard Rapport titled "strike back". In game 12, he struck back, and how. It was the best game he'd played in recent times, and the way he kept pulling out accurate move after accurate move to squeeze every little advantage out of the position ensured that poor Dommaraju Gukesh could only enjoy leading a world championship match for a day.
The match is now back at 6-6 with two rounds of classical chess left to play, and after yet another shift in momentum, one feels that this is now Ding's to lose, particularly with those tie-breaks in faster time controls looming large.
Coming into game 12, there were doubts over Ding's ability to mentally remain in the contest without crumbling. Five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen called it a very likely scenario. You know nothing, said Ding, figuratively, as he methodically went about dismantling Gukesh's position on the board, and eventually even managed to miss a straightforward winning option and yet be untroubled by it.
The secret to it? Just sleeping well and having a cup of coffee before the game, the world champion said. Obviously, there was a lot more to it than just that. It was an exhibition of chess under pressure, as he just kept things subtle and just gradually kept tightening his grip on the game.
What was so impressive about this win from Ding was that Gukesh didn't really make too many bad decisions. It wasn't like the Indian's win in game 11, which was decided by a massive blunder from Ding. Yes, Gukesh didn't play the most precise moves, but there was nothing which stood out as particularly wrong until 22. Bg5, even as the engines showed a clear advantage to Ding by then.
Tania Sachdev, on ChessBase India's live stream likened Ding's approach in this game to that of a boa constrictor, as he slowly but surely suffocated Gukesh into submission.
Ding's approach in the game was obviously influenced by the situation in the match, but he also took a significant lesson from game 11. He said that in the previous game, he played certain critical moves too quickly because of which he lost control of the position, and didn't wait for the right time to make the right moves.
Around move 12, which is when Gukesh settled down for his first long think of the match, Anish Giri said on commentary for Chess24 that Gukesh's pieces had already found the right squares, so moving them from there could cause him trouble. Ding had seen that without the help of the analysis tools that were available to Giri and decided that the position demanded patience for him.
He moved his queen a square here or there, moved his king into a safe square in a corner, guarded by a number of pieces around it, he didn't really get too ambitious, which could have easily happened under the pressure of the scoreboard in the match. The way he kept his cool and just kept playing the best moves in the position time after time was a timely reminder of his best chess, and why he is the world champion.
After what seemed like a loss that could shatter him, Ding has momentum back on his side now heading into the last rest day of this world championship match. Just like he did in 2023 against Ian Nepomniachtchi, game 12 with the white pieces has once again proven to be a good omen for Ding. Lucky 12, right, obviously? Not really, he said, only lucky 17, because he was crowned the 17th world chess champion last year.
He doesn't intend to allow an 18th to be crowned this week in Singapore. On Monday evening, with his best game since becoming world champion, he has dealt a significant blow that his young challenger will need some time to come to terms with.