Ding snatches draw from jaws of defeat

Gukesh has Ding on the ropes for most of Game 7 but the world champion digs deep to escape with scores level at halfway

Bengaluru: After a quiet game in his previous turn with the White, Gukesh arrived for Game 7, armed and ready to spill blood on the board. He drove daggers through Ding Liren and nearly mummified him before the reigning world champion returned from the dead with some stellar endgame defence to force a draw. The spectators’ arena broke into a rapturous applause as the players shook hands after a game that lasted 72 moves and over five hours. It’s the longest game played so far in this World Championship match and the contest remains tied at 3.5-3.5, with seven more classical games remaining.

It mustn’t be easy for Gukesh to reconcile with a setback like this, having had his opponent on the ropes through the greater part of the game. “It’s never pleasant to miss a winning position but I’m happy that I could outplay my opponent quite easily in the opening,” said Gukesh in the press conference that followed, “It’s a missed chance but he also missed some chances earlier in the match… but quite a few positives to take away from it. I guess the biggest lesson is to stay focused and convert good positions.”

The Indian teen won the opening battle on trotting out 1.Nf3 for the first time in this match and went on to uncork a rare, ingenious 7.Re1 move that was clearly cooked up by his team. It cast Ding right away into contemplation for over 20 minutes. “Re1 is a relatively new move and the point was to go dxc4-e4 and get a new position on the board… he didn’t react in a very precise way so I guess the idea worked,” Gukesh said.

Ding later admitted that he was completely thrown off by the move. “I came back from the toilet and was totally shocked,” he said. “I took a lot of time to come up with a reply. Even then it wasn’t accurate.” The world champion ended up responding with the principled 7. dxc4 which led to a fascinating fight for the centre. Ding was soon down to 24 minutes on the clock by move 21.

Gukesh went on to make the strategic mistake of rushing to trade the dark-squared bishops, and then went after Black’s c4 pawn. Here he perhaps overlooked Ding’s resource of springing his knight back into the game. Ding defended bravely and even looked like he might make it over the line alive, with a draw. All he had to do was manoeuvre his knight, hit move 41 and then figure out the rest. But nerves can make players do the inexplicable things. With the clock ticking down to its dying seconds on move 40, Ding blundered. Seven seconds on his clock, he pushed his King to the e5 square instead of galloping his knight to c8 – which would have kept his drawing chances intact. Leela Chess Zero right away pegged Gukesh’s chances for a win at 75 percent, from roughly 19 percent.

After the players reached time control, Ding was on the ropes. Down a pawn, with a weak king on d5 in an objectively lost endgame, he was again back burning through his clock, shaking his head, occasionally looking up at his opponent and trying to pick out the right move out of twenty-odd tempting, false continuations. Gukesh sat at the other end, hands folded across his chest, watching the reigning world champion suffer. Around move 44, Leela gave Gukesh 92 per cent chance of winning the game.

But after spending over 22 minutes trawling through defensive resources, Ding had a few answers. “I was fearing that I was getting outplayed,” Ding said, “But my position was maybe not so bad, I should be more confident of my position.”

Gukesh’s decision to go Bd1 on move 46 allowed Ding to stir up activity. It’s here that Ding brought his endgame skills and resilience to bear – not faltering, even though Gukesh found ways to keep the game going.

Ding’s idea was to restrict White’s bishop and drum up counterplay for his knight. Black’s knight was centralised, King was activated while White’s bishop was on the first rank. Ding went on to trade off the rooks and got rid of White’s final pawn to make a miraculous escape and take a half a point for his efforts. Ding’s team heaved a sigh of relief. “Today I did not give up in a very difficult position… My second (Ni Hua) said I saved my life,” Ding told Chess.com. In the end it was brilliant preparation from Gukesh, outplaying his opponent thoroughly before the reigning world champion dug deep and summoned a fightback. Gukesh was not quite able to see through his opponent’s resources in the endgame.

The match moves to Game 8 on Wednesday and Ding will have the White pieces. It’s possible he might want to play a solid, quiet game and we could see the fireworks back again for Gukesh’s game with the White pieces on Thursday.

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“As BJP celebrates Maharashtra Election 2024 results with jalebi, here’s an easy recipe for you to try at home

BJP celebrates a sweeping victory in Maharashtra Election 2024 with jalebis. If you have a sweet tooth too, try this easy recipe at home

Jalebis and celebrations go hand in hand. But the deep-fried Indian delicacy also has a special connection to elections in our country. It all started when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi showed a box of jalebis from the famous Matu Ram Halwai during a rally in Haryana’s Gohana, stating that it should be sold across the nation. He wanted these jalebis to be exported in order to generate more employment opportunities in India. Well, on the day of the Haryana assembly elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders celebrated their party’s victory in the state by eating jalebis. BJP leaders even got jalebis delivered to Gandhi’s home. Today, as the Mahayuti alliance— comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP— marks a landslide victory in Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024, BJP leaders are once again celebrating with piping hot jalebis.

Well, if this makes you crave jalebis too, try out this easy recipe by Swasthi. All you need for the jalebi is 1 cup all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons corn starch, 1/8 teaspoon turmeric, 1/2 cup curd, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, oil or ghee as needed. Coming to the ingredients for the sugar syrup: 1 cup sugar, 1/2-3/4 cup water, 1 pinch saffron, 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder, 1 teaspoon lemon juice.

Let’s start with the sugar syrup. Begin by adding sugar and water to a pot. Boil on medium heat until it reaches the consistency of a single string. Pour lemon juice, cardamom powder and saffron. Remove from the stove, stir and set aside.

Mix maida, cornflour and turmeric in a bowl. Add curd to this mixture before making a batter by pouring in the water. Beat the batter with a whisk until smooth. Now that your batter is ready, let’s begin frying! Heat the ghee/oil on medium heat. To the batter, add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. Add soda to this concoction and mix. Now take 2-3 tablespoons of the batter and put it in a zip lock bag or a cloth bag. Squeeze the bag gently over the hot oil/ghee in circular motions from the center, slowly moving outside to get a spiral jalebi. Fry until crispy and then dip this into the sugar syrup. Let it rest for two minutes before taking it out and serving hot.

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Shailendra Singh, a former deputy superintendent of police, revealed on Friday how the Mulayam Singh Yadav government of that era allegedly forced him to quit within 15 days after he had used the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) against gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari in January 2004.

News of Mukhtar Ansari’s passing: Shailendra Singh was accused of vandalism after he was forced to quit in 2004 due to political pressure.

Five-time MLA Mukhtar Ansari passed away one day later. Shailendra Singh told news agency ANI that he was the one who had initially taken a light machine pistol out of the hands of the gangster-turned-politician.

The height of Mukhtar Ansari’s empire was in 2004, 20 years ago. When curfews were in place, Mukhtar Ansari would travel around in open jeeps. That was the time I got an LMG back. There was no recuperation prior to or following that. I even made him take the POTA. But the government of Mulayam was determined to save him at all costs. Under his pressure, the DIG, SP-STF, IG-range, and IG were transferred. Within 15 days, I was forced to quit as well. However, I said in my resignation letter why I was leaving and informed the public that this is the administration you elected, one that is under the control of mafias and guards their interests. No one was receiving a favor from me. It was my responsibility. According to Shailendra Singh.

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