D Gukesh vs Ding Liren: What was the opening played in World Chess Championship 2024 Round 12?
India’s D Gukesh and China’s Ding Liren played out an English Opening pattern in Round 12 of the World Chess Championship Final happening in Singapore on Monday.
Wielding the white pieces, Ding started with c4, to which Gukesh responded with e6, setting the stage for a Neo-Catalan Defense variant of the English Opening.
Opening Moves
1. c4 e6
2. g3 d5
3. Bg2 Nf6
4. Nf3 d4
5. O-O Nc6
As per Lichess, the English opening establishes control of the d5 square, while also allowing the bishop on c1 and the Queen on d1 into the game. By delaying the development of the other pieces, White retains flexibility and often this will transpose to other openings. For example, if d4 is played later in the game it becomes a Queen’s Gambit.
This is a ploy quite a few notable chess players, including Mikhail Botvinnik, Bobby Fischer, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, and Magnus Carlsen.
Gukesh went into the 12th round in lead, after beating Ding in the previous round.