LaviChess

Ding vs. Gukesh, 2024 World Championship, Game 14

The last game of the 2024 World Championship match looked for a long time like a draw, with the match heading for a rapid tiebreak. Then Ding Liren offered a rook trade, and 18-year-old Gukesh D saw that the pawn endgame was won.

  • WhiteDing Liren
  • BlackGukesh D
  • WhereSingapore
  • WhenDecember 12, 2024
  • Event2024 World Championship match, game 14
  • Result0–1, Black won
  • OpeningZukertort Opening (A08)
  • Length58 moves

Ding Liren had become world champion in 2023, after Magnus Carlsen chose not to defend his title. In the fall of 2024 he faced Gukesh D, who had won the Candidates Tournament in April, in a fourteen-game match in Singapore.

Gukesh lost the first game but won the third and the eleventh. Ding leveled in the twelfth, and the thirteenth was drawn. Before the last game, on December 12, the score was 6½–6½. A draw would send the match to rapid chess the next day.

The players

Ding Liren (born 1992) comes from Wenzhou in China. He has won the Chinese Championship three times and was on the team when China won the Chess Olympiad in 2014 and 2018. Between 2017 and 2018 he played 100 classical games in a row without a loss. In 2023 he became world champion, beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in rapid chess after 7–7 in the classical games.

Gukesh D (Gukesh Dommaraju, born 2006) comes from Chennai in India and became a grandmaster at twelve. In 2024 he won the Candidates Tournament as the youngest ever and took gold with India at the Chess Olympiad. In Singapore he was 18.

The game move by move

Step through with the arrows or tap a move. Moves with a dot have a comment.

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Ding Liren has the white pieces, Gukesh D the black.

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Guess the moves Gukesh played, one at a time. The move from the game earns two points, and a move Lavi thinks is about as good earns one. The other side's moves and the game's notes come as you go.

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The moments that decided it

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After 53.Ba8: the white bishop is in the corner. The position is still a draw.
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After 55.Rf2: Ding offers a rook trade. It is the decisive mistake.
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After 56…Bd5: the bishop on a8 can't avoid the trade, and the pawn endgame is a win for Black.

The end

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The final position after 58…Ke5. White resigned after 58…Ke5.

Why the game is famous

With the win, Gukesh took the match 7½–6½ and became, at 18, the youngest undisputed world champion in the history of chess. Only Ruslan Ponomariov was younger when he won the FIDE title in 2002, but the world title was split in two at the time.

The game is also an instructive endgame. For more than twenty moves Ding had defended a pawn down, and the position was a draw. But with the bishop stuck in the corner, the rook trade was fatal: without rooks White couldn't stop the bishops from being traded, and the pawn endgame that was left was lost.

The whole game with notes, as text

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. d4 e6 5. O-O cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nge7 An unusual move and the first surprise of the game. 7. c4 Nxd4 8. Qxd4 Nc6 9. Qd1 d4 10. e3 Bc5 11. exd4 Bxd4 12. Nc3 O-O 13. Nb5 Bb6 Gukesh avoids trades and plays for a win. But the move gives White the better chances. 14. b3 a6 15. Nc3 Bd4 16. Bb2 e5 17. Qd2 Be6 18. Nd5 b5 19. cxb5 Ding goes for simplification. With this move he shows that he is content with a draw. 19… axb5 20. Nf4 The knight is sacrificed, but the material comes straight back: after 20…exf4 21.Bxc6 Bxb2 22.Qxb2 it is level. 20… exf4 21. Bxc6 Bxb2 22. Qxb2 Rb8 23. Rfd1 Qb6 24. Bf3 fxg3 25. hxg3 b4 26. a4 bxa3 27. Rxa3 g6 28. Qd4 Qb5 29. b4 Qxb4 30. Qxb4 Rxb4 The queens are off. Black has a pawn more, but with correct defense White should hold the draw. Now Gukesh keeps pressing for more than twenty moves. 31. Ra8 Rxa8 32. Bxa8 g5 33. Bd5 Bf5 34. Rc1 Kg7 35. Rc7 Bg6 36. Rc4 Rb1+ 37. Kg2 Re1 38. Rb4 h5 39. Ra4 Re5 40. Bf3 Kh6 41. Kg1 Re6 42. Rc4 g4 43. Bd5 Rd6 44. Bb7 Kg5 45. f3 f5 46. fxg4 hxg4 47. Rb4 Bf7 48. Kf2 Rd2+ 49. Kg1 Kf6 50. Rb6+ Kg5 51. Rb4 Be6 52. Ra4 Rb2 53. Ba8 The bishop goes into the corner on a8. That will matter two moves later. 53… Kf6 54. Rf4 Ke5 55. Rf2 The decisive mistake. Ding offers a rook trade, but with the bishop in the corner White loses the endgame that follows. With 55.Ra4, for example, White could have gone on defending. 55… Rxf2 56. Kxf2 Bd5 The only winning move. The bishop offers a trade, and the white bishop on a8 can't avoid it: on b7 and c6 it is taken, and if the king moves instead, Black takes the bishop. 57. Bxd5 Kxd5 A pawn endgame with two black pawns against one. It is a win for Black. 58. Ke3 Ke5 Ding resigned. Gukesh was world champion.

PGN – the game as text for other chess programs
[Event "2024 World Championship match, game 14"]
[Site "Singapore"]
[Date "2024.12.12"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Ding Liren"]
[Black "Gukesh D"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A08"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. d4 e6 5. O-O cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nge7 7. c4 Nxd4 8. Qxd4 Nc6 9. Qd1 d4 10. e3 Bc5 11. exd4 Bxd4 12. Nc3 O-O 13. Nb5 Bb6 14. b3 a6 15. Nc3 Bd4 16. Bb2 e5 17. Qd2 Be6 18. Nd5 b5 19. cxb5 axb5 20. Nf4 exf4 21. Bxc6 Bxb2 22. Qxb2 Rb8 23. Rfd1 Qb6 24. Bf3 fxg3 25. hxg3 b4 26. a4 bxa3 27. Rxa3 g6 28. Qd4 Qb5 29. b4 Qxb4 30. Qxb4 Rxb4 31. Ra8 Rxa8 32. Bxa8 g5 33. Bd5 Bf5 34. Rc1 Kg7 35. Rc7 Bg6 36. Rc4 Rb1+ 37. Kg2 Re1 38. Rb4 h5 39. Ra4 Re5 40. Bf3 Kh6 41. Kg1 Re6 42. Rc4 g4 43. Bd5 Rd6 44. Bb7 Kg5 45. f3 f5 46. fxg4 hxg4 47. Rb4 Bf7 48. Kf2 Rd2+ 49. Kg1 Kf6 50. Rb6+ Kg5 51. Rb4 Be6 52. Ra4 Rb2 53. Ba8 Kf6 54. Rf4 Ke5 55. Rf2 Rxf2 56. Kxf2 Bd5 57. Bxd5 Kxd5 58. Ke3 Ke5 0-1

Download .pgn

Sources

  • Chessgames.com, Ding–Gukesh 2024, game 14
  • PGN Mentor, Ding.pgn
  • Wikipedia: World Chess Championship 2024

The moves compared in three sources (Chessgames, PGN Mentor, both Ding's and Gukesh's files, and Wikipedia): identical, 116 half-moves. Ding resigned after 58…Ke5. The date from Chessgames, PGN Mentor and Wikipedia. That the pawn endgame after 57…Kxd5 is a win for Black, and that 56…Bd5 was the only winning move, has been checked in an endgame database. Every move has also been replayed by computer and checked against the rules of chess.

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Updated November 6, 2026