World Chess Championship 2024 Game 11 in Singapore: Gukesh beats Ding Liren to take lead 6-5 in the championship

Indian Grandmaster Gukesh won the Game 11 of the World Chess Championship in Singapore on December 8, 2024. Gukesh leads 6-5. Photo: X/@FIDE_chess

There is a place called Little India here in Singapore. It is literally that: with lots of Indian restaurants, temples, Indian jewelleries and even Ayurveda pharmacies.

On Sunday evening, a Little India formed at World Resorts Sentosa. A newly arrived big Indian contingent was there when D. Gukesh stepped out of the elevator to walk up to the playing arena, where the World champion Ding Liren had been waiting for him.

The fans shouted ‘Gukesh, Gukesh’ – it is still rather unusual for chess to be so vocal, notwithstanding the Global Chess League – in anticipation. For Gukesh, this was going to be perhaps the most vital game yet of the World chess championship.

World Chess Championship 2024 Game 11 Highlights

He had white pieces. He needed to strike.

Strike he did, though with considerable assistance from Ding. Gukesh won Game 11 and is ahead in the match for the first time.

He is leading 6-5. The sequence of consecutive draws – seven of them – was finally broken.

Gukesh now needs only 1.5 points from the last three games. That means if he manages to draw those games, the World title will be his.

Wildly dynamic game

For Ding, he needs to bounce back with a win. But he doesn’t have much time. At the World championship last year against Ian Nepomniachtchi, he was in a similar situation, but he won Game 12 (”and with white pieces,” he stressed at the press conference).

Game 11 here was a wildly dynamic one. It began with Gukesh opting for Reti Opening and he once again looked perfectly prepared. He even had a one-hour lead on the clock. But the tables turned when he took one hour for his 11th move.

It was Ding who got a more promising position first, but both were under struggling on the clock, and the game fluctuated. In severe time pressure – when there is not even a minute for a move — mistakes are bound to happen, even at the highest level.

Ding squandered his advantage with a weak ‘g’ pawn push on the 15th move. But, worse was to follow.

Gukesh coordinated a potent attack against a queen-side pawn before Ding blundered twice in as many moves, the last one with his queen. That allowed Gukesh to offer his queen as a sacrifice.

Ding’s position was beyond salvation, now. He resigned immediately, on the 29th move.

As Gukesh came out after the game, there were shouts of ‘Gukesh, Gukesh’ again from Little India. Those were happy noises.

A little later, Gukesh said that he didn’t mind that at all.

The moves: D Gukesh – Ding Liren

1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4 3.b4 c5 4.e3 Nf6 5.a3 Bg4 6.exd4 cxd4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Qxf3 Qc7 9.d3 a5 10.b5 Nbd7 11.g3 Nc5 12.Bg2 Nfd7 13.0–0 Ne5 14.Qf4 Rd8 15.Rd1 g6 16.a4 h5 17.b6 Qd6 18.Ba3 Bh6 19.Bxc5 Qxc5 20.Qe4 Nc6 21.Na3 Rd7 22.Nc2 Qxb6 23.Rab1 Qc7 24.Rb5 0–0 25.Na1 Rb8 26.Nb3 e6 27.Nc5 Re7 28.Rdb1 Qc8 29.Qxc6 black resigned.