Chess World Championship: D Gukesh wins Game 3 to level match against Ding Liren

Chess World Championship: Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh, playing with white pieces, won Game 3 on Wednesday. Reigning champion Ding Liren lost on time after a mad scramble.

In Short

• D Gukesh won Game 3 on time after 37 moves against Ding Liren
• The World Championship match is tied at 1.5-1.5 after three games
• Gukesh bounced back after losing Game 1 of the World Championship match

India's D Gukesh won Game 3 of the Chess World Championship on Wednesday, November 27 to go level at 1.5-1.5 against China's Ding Liren. The reigning world champion lost on time as the match ended in a wild scramble. It was a dominant performance from the Indian Grandmaster, who had a control percentage of 96.4. Gukesh sealed the game in a winning position after 37 moves.

It was the first win for the youngest-ever challenger for the world championship crown. D Gukesh, 18, lost the opening game with white pieces, handing an out-of-form Ding Liren his first win in a classical game in over 300 days. Gukesh then bounced back in Game 2 on Tuesday, holding Ding to a draw with black pieces.

"It feels great. The last two days I was happy with my play. My play today was even better. I feel good at the board and today I just managed to outplay my opponent which is always nice," a confident Gukesh told the press after his win.

Parity has been restored in the World Championship af the end of Game 3. Each player is awarded a point for a win and 0.5 for a draw. The first to get to 7.5 over 14 games will win the prestigious title.

The confidence after clinching a draw with black pieces was evident on Wednesday as Gukesh looked like he finally got into the groove in the World Championship match. Gukesh played with the control and authority that helped him win the Candidates, where he became the youngest man to compete for the world title, and in the Chess Olympiad, where he led India's charge to a historic title earlier in the year.

For Ding Liren, it was a big setback as he failed to build on the momentum after the opening game. Ding had four moves to make in the four seconds until the second time control, but he failed in his attempt. As the two players shook hands, fans at the Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore cheered for Gukesh.

HOW GUKESH OUTSMARTED DING IN GAME 3

Liren paid dearly for spending a lot of time in the first phase of the game. By move 13th, Gukesh had a lead of one hour on the clock as the Indian had just spent four minutes to make his moves compared to Liren's one hour and six minutes.

With 40 moves to make in the first 120 allotted minutes without any increment, the complicated middle game had the desired impact on Liren and Gukesh was relentless in finding out some difficult yet perfect moves to increase the pressure.

The players followed a much less-played variation in the topical Queen's Gambit and Gukesh followed an idea played by former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in a rapid game against highest rated Indian Arjun Erigaisi. (With Inputs from PTI).

The World Championship match will continue on Friday with Game 4 getting underway after a rest day on Thursday.