India's teenage chess star D Gukesh has explained that it was not a psychological game to decline an early draw against Ding Liren in the sixth game of the World Chess Championship. The youngster said that he just loves playing the game and didn't just want to shake hands at an early draw when he believed that a lot more play was left despite the position.
The third draw in a row left Gukesh and Liren with an identical tally of three points apiece, still shy of 4.5 more points to win the championship. Monday is a rest day and the duo will return for Game 7 on December 3.
Gukesh and Liren signed peace after 46 moves. It was the fourth draw of the championship. The seventh game will see the tournament midway, and it needs to be seen if the duo still opts for draws or goes aggressive to bag the title.
🇨🇳 Ding Liren ½-½ Gukesh D 🇮🇳Game 6 of the 2024 FIDE World Championship Match in under 90 seconds! #DingGukeshpic.twitter.com/KFcBDvrgpA
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 1, 2024
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At the post-match press conference, Chess.com asked Gukeshif the decision to play on despite the three-fold repetition was in any way psychologically letting Liren know that he was going to start pushing in equal positions.
"I just like playing chess. I mean it was more just the position than it was psychological. I just thought there was still a lot of play left in the position and I did not see too much danger for me. So yeah, I just thought I would make a few moves, see what happens and you know the draw was still the most likely result," Gukesh said.
The 32-year-old Liren had won the opening match while the 18-year-old Gukesh had emerged victorious in the third match. The second, fourth, fifth and sixth games have all ended in draws.
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With eight games remaining in the 14-round encounter, the battle will resume after the second rest day on Monday. If the scores are tied after the 14 games, there is an extra day for tiebreaks of lesser time to decide who becomes the world champion.