Ding Liren was unable to stretch his World Chess Championship lead as Game 2 against Gukesh Dommaraju petered out to a 23-move draw in Singapore.
Following victory in Game 1 for Ding, the defending champion, the scores now sit at Ding 1.5-0.5 Gukesh with up to 12 classical games remaining.
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Gukesh, playing Black, offered stiff defence and declared himself happy getting off the mark with the draw, which was settled after around three hours. “This early, with Black, was nowhere close to a must-win,” the 18-year-old challenger said. “I was never going to do anything stupid.”
Ding was similarly content with the outcome, suggesting he had felt out of sorts. “I was feeling a little up and down,” he said. “I was slightly worse in the middle game. I thought I had misplayed.” The Chinese player, currently down at No 23 in the live Fide rankings, briefly held the edge on the board, having played his first 10 moves rapidly, but did not seem intent to push for victory.
Gukesh plays as White in Wednesday’s Game 3 and appears content with the state of play. “Today was a good day – hopefully we’ll have many more days coming,” the world No 5 from India said.
