With great time constraints in the 11th game, Ding Liren stumbled on move 28 when he withdrew his queen to c8 (28.Qc8). This move proved crucial as he resigned one move later.

Ding Liren’s predecessor on the world champion’s throne – Magnus Carlsen – predicted after Game 11 that the “most likely scenario is that Ding will fall apart after the defeat.”

“We’ll see if Ding is fighting spirit. Will thing collapse now? I think this is most likely the most likely scenario. Will he even put pressure on Gukesh? Hard to say. I somehow doubt it. Gukesh was very good at neutralizing Ding with black pieces. Perhaps Ding will make a shift in the two remaining White games. But I’m not optimistic for him,” Carlsen said on Take Take Take.

INTERACTIVE: Game 11 between Gukesh and Ding Liren

You can watch the move-by-move action from Game 11 between Gukesh and Ding Liren and also play along in the interactive game below

Magnus Carlsen spoke about some of the decisions Ding Liren made on the board in Game 11: “It’s all confusing, confusing and confusing. I don’t know what to say… Overall, we saw that Ding is very vulnerable. But this game of a thing is as bad as we’ve seen all year. That was a terrible performance. That was terrible.”

Carlsen added: “That was kind of ridiculous in Game 11 of the World Cup. Game 11 was as bad as we’ve ever had. That wasn’t worthy of a world championship (match). It should be a little more difficult than today. But it was a real spectacle.”

Magnus Carlsen spoke specifically about the mistake with his queen that forced the world champion to retire after a move, saying: “(Thing was in) pure panic. I don’t think Ding was even thinking straight at that point. He was over the hill (after the opening). He spent so much time, but he found a reasonable solution to get out. But from there it’s basically defeat without a fight. It’s strange.”