D Gukesh let go of a very promising position in the seventh game. The stalemate, which came after five hours and 22 minutes of nerve-wracking play, left both players on an identical tally of 3.5 points each, still shy of four more points in order to win the championship.
Liren, who was staring at a losing position for a long time, till Gukesh blundered. The Indian, playing white, got a huge advantage but miscalculated to let the Chinese off the hook in what was the longest game of the match thus far.
It was a miraculous save by Liren after getting into what the chess pundits termed as a lost rook and minor piece endgame.
The moves: D Gukesh vs Ding Liren
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.d4 Bg7 4.c4 c6 5.Bg2 Nf6 6.0–0 0–0 7.Re1 dxc4 8.e4 Bg4 9.Nbd2 c5 10.d5 e6 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 exd5 13.exd5 Nbd7 14.Nxc4 b5 15.Na3 Qb6 16.Bf4 Rfe8 17.Qd2 Rad8 18.Nc2 Nf8 19.b4 c4 20.Be3 Qa6 21.Bd4 Rxe1+ 22.Rxe1 Qxa2 23.Ra1 Qb3 24.Ra3 Qb1+ 25.Kg2 Rd7 26.Ra5 Qb3 27.Ra3 Qb1 28.Ra5 Qb3 29.Rxb5 Qd3 30.Qf4 Qxc2 31.Bxf6 Qf5 32.Qxf5 gxf5 33.Bxg7 Kxg7 34.Rc5 Ng6 35.Rxc4 Ne5 36.Rd4 Nc6 37.Rf4 Ne7 38.b5 Kf6 39.Rd4 h6 40.Kf1 Ke5 41.Rh4 Nxd5 42.Rxh6 Nc3 43.Rc6 Ne4 44.Ke1 f6 45.h4 Rd3 46.Bd1 f4 47.gxf4+ Kxf4 48.Bc2 Rd5 49.Rc4 f5 50.Rb4 Kf3 51.Bd1+ Kg2 52.Rb3 Re5 53.f4 Re7 54.Re3 Rh7 55.h5 Nf6 56.Re5 Nxh5 57.Rxf5 Ng3 58.Rf8 Rb7 59.Ba4 Kf3 60.f5 Kf4 61.f6 Ne4 62.Bc2 Nd6 63.Rd8 Ke5 64.Bb3 Nf7 65.Rd5+ Kxf6 66.Kd2 Rb6 67.Bc4 Rd6 68.Kc3 Rxd5 69.Bxd5 Nd6 70.Kb4 Nxb5 71.Kxb5 a6+ 72.Kxa6 game drawn.
