2024 World Chess Championship - A familiar refrain

 One of the demands that Bobby Fischer made when World Chess Champion was that future title matches be determined by number of wins, rather than final score. He envisaged a situation where one player took an early lead and then the remaining games were all drawn. This idea was accepted by FIDE, at least up until the first Karpov v Kasparov match. 

In some ways, what Fischer feared happening has been evident for a while now. With shorter matches for the title, the number of 'risk free' draws has significantly increased. Combine this with much better opening preparation, and a lot of games see players hoping for a small edge out of the opening, and if that does not happen, then playing solid chess until a draw can be agreed.

Game 10 of the current match was very much like this. The only imbalance in the position was doubled f pawns for Black, but given the high level of defensive technique these days, there was no hope of a Rubenstein type ending masterclass from Ding, and the game ended in a draw at move 36.

 

Ding,Liren (2728) - Gukesh D (2783) [D02]
FIDE World Championship Match 2024 Singapore SGP (10), 07.12.2024

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 c5 5. Be2 Bd6 6. dxc5 Bxc5 7. c4 O-O 8. O-O Nc6 9. Nc3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nh5 11. Bg5 Be7 12. Ne4 Nf6 13. Nxf6+ Bxf6 14. Qxd8 Rxd8 15. Bxf6 gxf6 16. Rfd1 Bd7 17. Rac1 Be8 18. Rxd8 Rxd8 19. Kf1 Kg7 20. a3 f5 21. Ke1 Kf6 22. Be2 Ne7 23. g3 Rc8 24. Rxc8 Nxc8 25. Nd2 Nd6 26. Nc4 Nxc4 27. Bxc4 Bc6 28. f4 b6 29. Kd2 Ke7 30. Kc3 Kd6 31. b4 f6 32. Kd4 h6 33. Bb3 Bb7 34. Bc4 Bc6 35. Bb3 Bb7 36. Bc4 Bc6 1/2-1/2