World Chess Championship 2024 Game 9 Highlights: Gukesh, Ding Liren agree to draw after 54 moves

Here's what the board looks like after the draw in Game 9 due to insufficient material. 

"A few missed chances from me, and a few missed chances from him," says Gukesh before pointing out the match situation: "We've played entertaining chess. Five more exciting games to go." 

"Very precise game from both of us. Maybe, I had some edge at soime point," says Gukesh at the post-game press conference.

"It was high-quality game," adds Ding Liren. 

Before Game 9, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura had pointed out that the more draws we have, the better this gets for Ding Liren. Twice in the nine games, Ding Liren has played for draws while in an advantageous position. Gukesh, meanwhile, has tried to push for game to continue when he is worse and a draw offer is on the board. 

Read our expanation on why Ding Liren will prefer to battle Gukesh in the tiebreaks

Both players now have plenty of time to play. But not too many pieces on the board to play with. 

After Ding Liren plays 41...Kg6, the Chinese still has some chances of winning, predicts Leela Zero, an AI-based chess model.

Leela Zero's predictions after 41...Kg6: 

Gukesh win: 1 percent 

Draw: 93.8 percent

Ding Liren win: 5.2 percent

World champion Ding Liren has courted some criticism in recent days for playing out draws when he had an advantage on the board. He then admitted that he thoguht his position was worse tha nit was on the board. 

Dutch GM Anish Giri explains on the Chess24 stream that Ding Liren's lack of confidence is nothing new: "He was never a very optimistic player, even at his peak!" 

As we wait for the players to play out the inevitable draw, chess legend Susan Polgar says just like the rest of us, she is a big fan of both players at the press conference: "I assume that the players have to meet a certain moves before they can shake hands and go to entertain the fans at the press conference. I am not sure if they realize it or not but they have both been very funny at the press conference."

After 34.Bd3 by Gukesh, Leela Zero, an AI-based chess model whose predictions we're seeing on top of the official FIDE broadcast, has this to say:

Gukesh win: 2 percent 

Draw: 95 percent

Ding Liren win: 3 percent

It's now starting to become apparent that this game is going to end in a draw. Gukesh is looking for a way to fight on. But there are no moves to fight on and push Ding to play on. We will have out 6th draw in a row. Gukesh won the last game in this battle, Game 3. 

Gukesh looks disappointed. He had a promising position on the board at some stage. He starts eyeing his scoresheet. 

In fact, Gukesh seems to be looking out of the "fishtank" (he cannot see much anyway since it's mirrored glass where the players cannot see anuything). 

Here are all the 23 moves in the game so far. But Gukesh is now behind Ding Liren on the clock! He's spent a lot of time thinking about how to force a result here. 

1 d4 Nf6
2 c4 e6
3 g3 Bb4+
4 Bd2 Be7
5 Bg2 d5
6 Nf3 O-O
7 O-O c6
8 Qc2 Nbd7
9 Rd1 b6
10 Bc3 Bb7
11 Nbd2 Qc7
12 Rac1 Rfd8
13 b4 c5
14 bxc5 bxc5
15 Qb2 Nb6
16 Ba5 dxc4
17 Nxc4 Bxf3
18 Bxb6 axb6
19 Bxf3 Ra6
20 Qb5 Rxa2
21 Nxb6 Qa7
22 Qb1 Rb8
23 dxc5 Ra6

Gukesh still trying to calculate a way to fight on and force this away from being a draw. Ding Liren sneaks a few more stares at Gukesh, who's got eyes only for his pieces. 

He's trying to force a competitive game. He knows that after tomorrow's rest day, we will have two games for Ding with white pieces. 

Ding Liren looks almost bored. 

Chess legend Susan Polgar thinks this might be headed for a draw.

"Equal position but the next few moves are critical. If Ding sees Qa7 (temporarily sacrificing a pawn) then the game will head towards a draw," she tweeted. 

Ding Liren was in trouble at some point in the middle game. But once again, he seems to have found a way to evade it. 

He's now in a slightly more comfortable position. Here's how the game has shaped up so far: 

Just before that massacre started on the board, FIDE pushed out a graphic on its stream showing how much time Gukesh has spent with his eyes shut today on the board. Over a quarter of the time he's been in the middle.

That translates to roughly half an hour today!! 

After a lot of thought, Ding plays 16...dxc4. And Gukesh immediately responds. here's the sequence of moves. Plenty of captures there in the span of a few moves. Both players lose a pawn, a kngiht and a bishop in the space of six moves. 

Here are the moves: 16.Ba5 dxc4, 17. Nxc4 Bxf3, 18. Bxb6 axb6, 19. Bxf3

Ding Liren's time management strategy has been criticised a lot in this world chess championship. Today's he's already 50 minutes behind on the clock compared to his opponent. 

He has just 36 minutes to make 24 moves now! 

Once again, Ding Liren seems to have been caught out in the opening stages. The world champion spent almost 19 minutes on 10...Bb7 and almost 18 minutes on 13...c5.

Gukesh pushes his pawn to b4 (13.b4) which sees Ding play 13... c5 and now we have the first pieces to fall on the board as we have 14 bxc5 bxc5.

Thing heating up in the middle of the board. The game's getting sharp. 

here are all the moves so far:

1 d4 Nf6
2 c4 e6
3 g3 Bb4+
4 Bd2 Be7
5 Bg2 d5
6 Nf3 O-O
7 O-O c6
8 Qc2 Nbd7
9 Rd1 b6
10 Bc3 Bb7
11 Nbd2 Qc7
12 Rac1 Rfd8
13 b4 c5
14 bxc5 bxc5

CEO of FIDE, Emil Sutovsky, who is himself a grandmaster has his say on criticism that the games at the 2024 World Chess Championship are seeing too many mistakes.

"I find this whole narrative of 'they make too many mistakes' to be odd. You want a perfect game or you want a fight? I find the Match in Singapore exceptional - it is precisely a clash of personalities, styles, characters we were looking for," posts Sutovsky on X. 

He then adds: "As for comparing with the past. Kasparov vs Karpov was a legendary match-up, but check it with the engine now. I recall Garry telling me back in 2002 how poor the famous game 16 of the match in 1986 was, according to the then engines (just imagine, what would be the verdict today). What about Fischer-Spassky, starting with B:h2 blunder (which actually is just a normal move according to today's engine as it manages to calculate to the 0.00 after that!)   and all the way through... World Championship Matches are remembered due to the tension, unexpected twists, dramatic resolutions, new opening ideas,exceptional moves (mind you, Tal's ...Nf4 vs Botvinnik was just a blunder, but is it really important?) - and Ding-Gukesh is a fascinating one. If anything, an exceptional move is missing (like Ding's ...Rg6 vs Nepo), but I expect it to happen today!"

Leela Zero, an AI-based chess model whose predictions we're seeing on top of the official FIDE broadcast, has this to say after 13.b4 by Gukesh:Gukesh win: 22.8 percent  | Draw: 58.4 percent | Ding Liren win: 18.8 percent

Here are all the 12 moves in the book so far. Ding Liren has already consumed 30 more minutes. 

1 d4 Nf6
2 c4 e6
3 g3 Bb4+
4 Bd2 Be7
5 Bg2 d5
6 Nf3 O-O
7 O-O c6
8 Qc2 Nbd7
9 Rd1 b6
10 Bc3 Bb7
11 Nbd2 Qc7
12 Rac1 Rfd8

Ding Liren's body language so far in the match is a bit of a smokescreen. he looks woebegone. And then pulls out rabbits out of the hat. 

Today as well the world champions from China seems to be in some distress as he tries to wonder his plan of attack after Gukesh's Catalan Opening. 

On the Chess24 broadcast, Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri is doing some commentary today. Asked for a prediction, he says: "Gukesh will win."

He also adds: "In modern chess you have to take bigger risks than before and Gukesh does it time and time again!"

Just before the start of game 9, as Gukesh entered the fair play officer's room for checks, world champion Ding Liren was spotted waiting for his time to enter the playing hall (called the "fishtank"). Ding Liren is just sitting outside the fair play officer's room on a chair. Just staring into the curtains. 

As the meme would say, Ding's chillin'

After the Catalan Opening, both players are quickly playing their moves.

Here's what the board looks like after the opening: 

We already have eight moves in the scoresheet. Here they are:

1 d4 Nf6
2 c4 e6
3 g3 Bb4+
4 Bd2 Be7
5 Bg2 d5
6 Nf3 O-O
7 O-O c6
8 Qc2 Nbd7

The Catalan Opening makes an appearance on the board as Gukesh has a game with white. 

So after opening with 1.d4, Gukesh plays 2.c4 and then 3.g3.

Here is the succession of moves from both players: 

1 d4 Nf6
2 c4 e6
3 g3 Bb4+

Bright smiles from Team Ding Liren as he turns up for thr game flanked by his mother and his seconds Ni Hua and Hungary's Richard Rapport. They all seem very relaxed. 

We have Gukesh playing with white pieces today. And if the history of the 2024 World Chess Championship is anything to go by, games where Gukesh plays with white are always a rollercoaster. 

So buckle up, we'll have something exciting coming up. 

Both players are locked on 4 points each after eight games. 

The World Chess Championship match will have of 14 games, played in the classical time control.

Each game will see both players have a time control of 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the remainder of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting from move 41.

Ding Liren lost Game 3 on time. Both players have courted trouble a few times on the clock with Gukesh reaching past time control with seconds left on the clock.

The 2024 World Chess Championship match between D. Gukesh and Ding Liren is a best-of-14 battle. The first player to reach 7.5 points will be crowned the World Champion. If this is Gukesh, then he becomes the youngest ever world champion at the age of 18. He will also become the 18th classical world champion in history.

If both players are tied on points after 14 games, a tiebreak will be held the following day to determine the winner. The tiebreaks wil be played in faster rapid time controls. 

December 6, Friday: Rest Day

December 7, Saturday: Game 10 

December 8, Sunday: Game 11

December 9, Monday: Game 12

December 10, Tuesday: Rest day 

December 11, Wednesday: Game 13 

December 12, Thursday: Game 14

December 13, Wednesday: Tie-breaks

Game 1: Ding Liren beats Gukesh with black pieces

Game 2: Draw

Game 3: Gukesh beats Ding Liren with white

Rest Day - November 28

Game 4: Draw

Game 5: Draw

Game 6: Draw

Rest Day - December 2 

Game 7: Draw

Game 8: Draw

Game 9 TODAY

Gukesh 4-4 Ding Liren after eight games 

World No 3 Hikaru Nakamura has spent the last eight games of the World Chess Championship doing recap videos.

Here's what he said about the Game 8, which ended in a fighting draw: 

“This game was very choppy and chaotic. When I look at this game overall, I think Ding Liren might be a little bit unhappy at the missed opportunity perhaps. But the big loser today is definitely Gukesh. This is the second game in a row that he was completely winning. He was winning the board, he was 30 minutes ahead on the clock. I really feel that in this match, it will come down to whether Ding Liren can continue to hang on. If Ding hangs on for another draw in game 9 and goes to rest day with one additional white game compared to Gukesh, he will be, maybe not the favourite, but he will have really good chances,” said Hikaru Nakamura.

How much time did Ding Liren and Gukesh spend for first 10 moves at the FIDE World Championship? FIDE presents the following stats:

Game 8: 34 minutes 

Game 7: 55 minutes

Game 6: 8 minutes 

Game 5: 12 minutes 

Game 4: 51 minutes

Chess legend Susan Polgar praised Gukesh's aggressive playing style in Game 8, comparing him to a tank that relentlessly attacks its opponent. She highlighted his fearless approach and his ability to create excitement, even if it sometimes leads to risky decisions. Polgar expressed confidence in Gukesh's future, predicting that he will continue to be a dominant force in the world of chess.

She posted on Twitter: "Gukesh said at the press conference: 'This position where I didn’t repeat, I didn’t think I was in much danger. I always thought with his weak king and my strong pawn on b3, I should have played. I thought maybe I might even have some chances. But OK, it was just a misjudgment of the position.' This is completely different mindset than Ding (who underestimated his position). Gukesh, on the other hand, overestimated his position. They are as different as can be, and that is why the games are exciting (even with a number of inaccuracies)."

In another tweet, Susan Polgar had posted: "With Gukesh, you know what to expect. Gukesh is like a tank moving forward to bulldoze and destroy his opponent. He does not care who the opponent is. Very contrasting mindset than Ding. This is why there is excitement even though he is giving some of his fans heart attack. He is only 18. Be prepared for more for years to come."

Gukesh's decision to decline a draw offer in the 8th game of the World Chess Championship surprised many, including chess legends like Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen expressed his disbelief at Gukesh's aggressive approach, suggesting that the Indian player was overly optimistic about his position. While Carlsen acknowledged Gukesh's ambition, he questioned the wisdom of taking such risks in a high-stakes match.

“I used to say that chess players should be somewhere between optimistic and delusional. This clearly was on the delusional side for Gukesh. I thought his position was okay. But this clearly shows the disrespect he has for Ding. Like saying ‘I can play on from any position. You’re not going to try to beat me,’” said former world champion Carlsen on the Take Take Take app. “There was no objective reason for Gukesh to go for this. These decisions are baffling. But also fascinating. Taking risks is one thing. But dude what are you hoping for?”

READ MORE: Gukesh stunned and impresses chess legends by rejecting draw vs Ding Liren

In Game 8 of the World Chess Championship, Gukesh had the opportunity to secure a draw by repeating moves. However, he opted to continue playing, despite being in a disadvantageous position. This decision surprised many, as it seemed to defy logic.

AI-based engine analysis indicated that Gukesh had a very low chance of winning the game, with Ding Liren holding a significant advantage. Nevertheless, Gukesh persisted, showcasing his aggressive playing style and his willingness to take risks.

Gukesh later acknowledged that he had misjudged the position and that taking the draw would have been the more prudent choice. However, his decision to keep fighting highlights his fearless approach to the game and his desire to push the boundaries of his abilities.

READ MORE: How Gukesh chose to fight — once again — rather than accept a convenient draw vs Ding Liren

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Game 9 of the World Chess Championship.The fate of the World Chess Championship currently hangs in the balance, with both players deadlocked at 4 points each after 8 games.