Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh clinched his first win over defending champion Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship, outplaying him in the third round to draw level on points here on Wednesday.

The two players now have 1.5 points each. The 18-year-old Indian won in a winning position after 37 moves showcasing an exemplary opening preparation to outwit the Chinese.

Liren paid dearly for spending a lot of time in the first phase of the game.

By move 13th, Gukesh had a lead of one hour on the clock as the Indian had just spent four minutes to make his moves compared to Liren’s one hour and six minutes.

With 40 moves to make in the first 120 allotted minutes without any increment, the complicated middle game had the desired impact on Liren and Gukesh was relentless in finding out some difficult yet perfect moves to increase the pressure.

The players followed a much less-played variation in the topical Queen’s Gambit and Gukesh followed an idea played by former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in a rapid game against highest rated Indian Arjun Erigaisi.