In the eighth match of the World Chess Championship in Singapore, teenage challenger Gukesh Dommaraju and defending champion Ding Liren played to a fifth consecutive draw. The players were deadlocked at four points each in the first World Championship encounter between two Asian players. Gukesh appeared to give up a strong position during the middle game with inaccurate moves but rejected Ding’s offer of a draw and tried to attack during the endgame to get a result. However, Ding defended well and the game ended in another draw after 51 moves.
Gukesh admitted to misjudging his position and not realizing the danger he was in. Ding regretted not capitalizing on his advantage and acknowledged that Gukesh missed some important details that allowed him to get back into the game. The ninth game of the series will take place at Resorts World Sentosa, with the first player to reach 7.5 points declared the winner. Tiebreaks will occur if the players are tied on seven points after 14 games.
Gukesh, the youngest player in history to compete in the World Championship, is aiming to surpass Garry Kasparov as the youngest undisputed world chess champion. The competition between the two players is heating up as they strive to gain the upper hand in the remaining matches of the tournament.
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