World Championship Game 7: Ding Liren escapes by the skin of his teeth
“When you cross the playing hall, you can really feel the tension.” (Anna Muzychuk) The champion Ding Liren dodged a bullet this afternoon. After his huge blunder on move forty, it looked like the challenger was poised to make an important step towards claiming the FIDE World Champion title. Gukesh’s opening strategy was point-on. His team prepared a strong novelty on move seven in a well-known line, allowing him to stay ahead on the clock for most of the game. The champion defended accurately, but at a huge time cost, and with only a few moves to go, he was under acute time pressure. With only seven seconds left on his clock, Ding Liren blundered on the last move before the time control. Instead of 40…Ke5?, he should have played 40…Nc8, followed by 41…Nb6, with a blockade and very good chances to draw. But just when victory seemed locked up for the challenger, nerves kicked in. Converting his endgame advantage was not an easy task, and low on time, Gukesh was unable to find the win. Let’s dive into the details of what actually happened this afternoon in the Sentosa World Resorts Equarius Hotel in Singapore. The ceremonial first move was performed by Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, and Second Minister for Law. He chose to open with 1.d4, but after a few seconds, Gukesh took it back and played 1.Nf3 instead, one of his three main opening moves. Ding Liren took a couple of minutes to consider his options and decided on the classical variation of the Neo-Grünfeld defense, with 1…d5 and 2…g6. An expert in this line with White and Black, he had already played this setup on fourteen occasions from 2010 to 2021, against top players such as Nakamura, Kramnik, Svidler and Wesley So. Gukesh blitzed out his opening moves and stunned all the fans with the novelty 7.Re1, a pawn gambit that had never been played before in more than 5000 master games. Ding went into the tank for twenty-five minutes, trying to understand what was going on, and eventually decided to accept the pawn sacrifice, creating an unbalanced position: an extra pawn for Black in exchange for certain positional compensation. “This line is very interesting for me as I play this line with Black regularly. This is the first time I see 7.Re1. It’s a very rare move indeed but with a strong idea behind it, and actually, it’s a bit scary to capture the pawn with 7…dxc4,” explained GM Anna Muzychuk in the commentary booth. A couple of moves later, the champion made a key decision. Instead of protecting his extra pawn with 9…b5 (the suggestion of engines), Ding Liren decided to give it back and also surrender his bishop pair to enjoy a superior pawn structure. “My first mistake was 9…c5 as after 10.d5 my opponent gets a better position and I have a hard defense,” explained Ding after the game. The resulting position seemed slightly better for Gukesh, and additionally he was clearly up on the clock. A few developing moves down the road, the second key position arose. In all of his previous games with White, Gukesh had played g2-g4 at some point. “Now, g3-g4 would be a very Gukesh move,” GM Howell called on commentary. Meanwhile, FIDE media polled the question on X, and included the mirror option b2-b4. Although giving his opponent a protected passed pawn seemed very dangerous, Gukesh bravely pushed his b-pawn on move nineteen. The game was on! White got a pair of bishops and an isolated passed pawn against a well-deployed Black army with a protected passed pawn for the endgame. “I thought I should be winning before the queen exchange and also after the queen exchange,” explained Gukesh in the press conference. “I thought my position after 19.b4 was hopeless,” was Ding’s very frank opinion. Meanwhile, in the commentary booth, GM Anna Muzychuk enjoyed every minute of the event. “Every World Championship match is a wonderful story; it’s unique. No matter how it goes, I enjoy watching every game.” Back on the board, things were getting difficult for the champion. Ding only had 27 minutes left on the clock (Gukesh had 52) for 21 moves in an extremely complicated position, a fact observed by GM Danyyil Dvirnyy on “X”. Additionally, former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik wasn’t impressed at all by the champion’s play, and he made his opinion known on “X”. Taking all of this into account, it’s actually a miracle that he survived to the endgame, as there were many pitfalls along the way. Gukesh could have sealed the deal on several occasions (30.Be3 instead of 30.Qf4, 32.Bg5 instead of 32.Qxf5, and finally 37.Rd2 instead of 37.Rf4) but allowed Ding to stay in the game. Put yourself in Ding Liren’s shoes. Would you play 40…Ke5 centralizing the king or 40…Nc8 to blockade on d6 or b6? With only seven seconds left on the clock to reach move forty, Ding blundered big. Instead of the inferior 40…Ke5?, he should have played 40…Nc8! followed by 41…Nd6, with a blockade and very good chances to draw. After 41.Rh4! Ding lost his h-pawn, and things looked very bleak for Black indeed. But just when victory seemed locked up for the challenger, nerves took their toll. Converting the endgame was not an easy task and, low on time, Gukesh was unable to find the win. Instead of 44.Ke1 played in the game, the correct move was 44.h4 (44.Ra6 also looks quite strong), and the rook ending after 44…Nd2+ is winning for White. “I thought that the endgame with the weak f-pawns and my extra pawn should be enough to win, but it turned out to be more difficult than I expected,” Gukesh explained at the press conference after the game. “For sure, 46.Bd1 was a bad move due to a miscalculation. I don’t know exactly where the win was, but I should be winning,” he lamented. With seven of the fourteen scheduled classical games played,
Qualification paths for FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026 finalized
A spot that was reserved for the Women’s World Championship runner-up in the previous circle has been reallocated to the broader Women’s Circuit. This decision mirrors a similar change in the Open category. Following the changes in the Open category, the FIDE Council has made amendments to the Women’s World Championship cycle. The runner-up of the Women’s World Championship match no longer automatically qualifies for the Women’s Candidates. Instead, she will receive special bonus points for playing the match. The full list of qualification paths for the Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026 is the following: A. 2 spots – FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Series 2024-25 The players who finish 1st and 2nd in the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Series 2024-25. B. 3 spots – FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025 The players who finish 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025. C. 2 spots – FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss 2025 The players who finish 1st and 2nd in the FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss 2025. D. 1 spot – The highest-placed player in ‘FIDE Women’s Events 2025-26’ series Unlike in the open, where a large number of different events is taken into consideration, FIDE Women’s Events 2025-26 will focus only on several major events. Those include: – Rapid and Blitz Championships 2024 and 2025: Including both rapid and blitz formats for two consecutive years; – Women’s Grand Prix Series 2024/2025 edition: Final standings are a significant contributor to qualification; – Women’s World Cup 2025; – Women’s Grand Swiss 2025. Scoring system: Players will be awarded Ranking Points (RP) based on performance in these key events as per a defined table, with players ranked by their best five results. This includes bonus points for the Women’s World Championship runner-up. The final score of a player is calculated as the sum of the player’s RP in up to five of her best events. If players are tied in the final rankings, the tie will be resolved by excluding the lowest RP score used in their final score calculation. Regular updates will be made to the public after each event to reflect the rankings. “The changes aim to streamline and unify qualification pathways by emphasizing top-tier events while providing a fairer distribution of opportunities,” FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky said. “We believe that these changes will make the competition fairer and more exciting,” he added. The full document is published here:handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/QualificationForWCT2026.pdf
FIDE Circuit 2024: Erigaisi still in the lead, Caruana closes in
The 2024 FIDE Circuit race is approaching its thrilling conclusion. Arjun Erigaisi remains in the lead, but he can’t feel safe as Fabiano Caruana is hard on his heels. With less than a month remaining, the two are separated by just 0.74 points. Erigaisi delivered a solid performance at the Chennai Grand Masters, tying for first place but losing the tiebreaker to Levon Aronian, which left him in third place overall. This result earned him 17.22 points. However, as only the top seven results count toward the final score, Arjun had to forfeit the 5.24 points he had previously earned at the Sharjah Masters. Nodirbek Abdusattorov had high hopes for the 3rd International President Cup, but his fifth-place finish brought him only 9.11 points. As a result, he climbed to second place on the leaderboard but only for a few days. Meanwhile, Fabiano Caruana dominated the competition at the US Masters in Charlotte, NC, securing a clear first-place finish and earning 17.11 points. Unlike Erigaisi, Caruana still has one more tournament result to add to his tally. He will aim to maximize his score at the Saint Louis Masters, a Swiss tournament that begins today. Erigaisi also has a chance to improve his score as he competes in the Qatar Masters in Doha, which has started today. Abdusattorov, currently in third place, will also participate in the event, hoping to regain ground if his main competitors don’t succeed. With all this in play, the 2024 FIDE Circuit race promises an electrifying finish, with Erigaisi and Caruana being the primary contenders for the coveted top spot. We maintain a dedicated page on our website for the FIDE Circuit, offering the latest information on eligible tournaments, the current standings, and regulations.Visit: FIDE Circuit 2024.