World Chess Championship 2024, Game 12: Ding Liren beats Gukesh to restore parity; Series tied again at 6.0-6.0

The defending World Champion, China’s Ding Liren made a swift comeback after handing a loss to India’s D Gukesh with white pieces in the 12th game of the World Chess Championship 2024 at the Resort World Sentosa in Singapore on Monday.

The win with light pieces also helped Ding restore parity in the World Championship series. The Championship is tied at 6.0-6.0 after 12 rounds.

Earlier on Sunday, Gukesh had registered a win over Ding which had lifted him into the lead for the first time in the championship.

Ding started with c4 and Gukesh replied with e6 to play the Neo-Catalan Defense of the English Opening.

Although Ding was 30 minutes behind Gukesh on the clock by the ninth move, he went deep in the position to give himself a free-flowing set-up and gradually squeeze out a much-needed win on demand. The Chinese played with immaculate accuracy to put Gukesh under pressure right away.

Gukesh will have the white pieces for one last time on Wednesday after a much-needed rest day on Tuesday. If the championship is tied after 14 rounds, it will go to a shorter time format in the tie-break.