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.

Group Media Publications
Entertainment News Platforms – anyflix.in
Construction Infrastructure and Mining News Platform – https://cimreviews.com/
General News Platform – https://ihtlive.com/

With the goal of ending its 11-year wait for an ICC trophy, Team India will kick off its campaign in the T20 World Cup next month. Prior to the competition, there is a lot of conjecture over India’s selection tactics, and one of the main points of contention is the starting lineup for the team. The main topic of discussion is Virat Kohli, who has been a brilliant opener for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the current Indian Premier League, scoring 708 runs in 14 innings.

Despite his outstanding run total, there are concerns about his strike rate at the top of the order, which has sparked debate about whether he should continue to start games for the national side. Former captain of Australia Ricky Ponting claims that Along with captain Rohit Sharma, Kohli will be one of the first picks for the Indian team and begin the batting.

“Yashasvi Jaiswal is in that squad, and one thing they don’t have a lot of in their team is left-hand batters,” Ponting said to ICC. “They (selectors) still have a decision to make.”

“They have to decide with Jaiswal, but I think they’ll go with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as openers.”

While going into great depth regarding the criticism that Kohli receives, Ponting maintained that India must surround him with the “right guys” who can play aggressively. With Virat, it’s humorous. I believe that some in India are constantly looking for an excuse not to choose him or a reason why he might not be as talented as some of these other players in the Twenty20 game.

In my opinion, Kohli is my top choice for India.

“At the top, he can fulfil his function. With the right players surrounding him, such as Suryakumar Yadav, who can score runs, Rohit Sharma is bound to have a good strike rate. The other guys are free to enter and conduct themselves there.

Not as effective as experience and class

Undoubtedly, Kohli’s exceptional consistency has strengthened his argument for the opening position. The seasoned Indian hitter has performed at a noticeably greater strike rate in the last four IPL games. In RCB’s group-stage victory over Punjab Kings, he struck for 92 runs off of only 47 balls. He also set the tone for his team’s crucial 42-run opening partnership against Chennai Super Kings. He currently has an overall strike percentage of 155.60 in the competition.

Ponting emphasised that it is challenging to replace a player like Kohli since he is one of the guys who gets the “job done.”

“I recall this conversation and a few more that I had with the ICC regarding the rumours that Virat wasn’t on their team last year, but when the big games rolled around, he was among the players who performed well,” Ponting said.

“Therefore, you cannot replace that kind of class and experience.”

General News Platform – https://ihtlive.com/
Entertainment News Platforms – anyflix.in 
Construction Infrastructure and Mining News Platform – https://cimreviews.com/
Podcast Platforms – https://anyfm.in/

In 2024, Hardik Pandya had a dismal Indian Premier League season. The Mumbai Indians’ campaign was marred by controversy from the beginning to the conclusion, as they finished the season with just four victories, bottom of the league. Before the first ball was played in the 2024 Indian Premier League, tensions were high at the MI camp. Many Mumbai Indians supporters were not happy with Hardik Pandya’s selection as captain, and they took to social media to express their disapproval of the management.

Hardik Pandya of the Mumbai Indians reacts to being benched during the Lucknow Super Giants vs. Mumbai Indians IPL 2024 cricket match.

Hardik was jeered throughout the first few games of the season at Wankhede Stadium, demonstrating that nothing had changed. The fact that the all-rounder’s personal performances fell well short of expectations did not help. Pandya amassed 216 runs at an average of 18,000 and a strike rate of 143.04 in 14 games, with a career-high score of 46. In addition, he claimed 11 wickets at a dismal 35.18 average and 10.75 economy rate.

Though Hardik did manage to earn a berth in Team India’s T20 World Cup roster, concerns over the star all-rounder’s form remain as the team prepares for the competition in less than a month. Though Hardik has played for India in the past, former player and captain Suresh Raina expressed little worry over his difficulties, saying that all will be forgotten when he “performs against Pakistan.”

“He’s performed really well (for India). Someone’s transient bad behaviour does not define them. Everyone will compliment him when he plays well against Pakistan in the World Cup, Raina stated.

Over the past few years, Hardik has been an important part of the Indian T20I team. In 2023, he oversaw the team while Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were away, concentrating mostly on the ODI World Cup. With Rohit taking over the leadership responsibilities, the senior players made their comeback to T20Is earlier this year in the bilateral series against Afghanistan.

Hardik, T20 World Cup deputy captain

After captaining Rohit Sharma in the IPL, Hardik will have a different role as the team’s leader when he enters the T20 World Cup, where India will be attempting to win their first ICC championship in eleven years. Instead, he will be playing under the star opener.

The all-rounder was selected as Rohit’s backup for the major event; India’s World Cup campaign kicks off on June 5 against Ireland and continues on June 8 against bitter rivals Pakistan.

General News Platform – https://ihtlive.com/
Entertainment News Platforms – anyflix.in 
Construction Infrastructure and Mining News Platform – https://cimreviews.com/
Podcast Platforms – https://anyfm.in/