Restriction and domination · For club players · 18 min read
Restriction in Chess: Ding Squeezes Gukesh, World Championship 2024
Game 12 in Singapore: how Ding Liren took Gukesh's squares one quiet move at a time, why a rook ended up trapped on c8, and how to run the same squeeze in your games.
- plan
- target
- weakness
- Squares White controls
- pawn chain or line of force
In short
- Restriction is the slow way to win: instead of attacking, take squares away from the enemy pieces until every move the opponent has makes the position worse.
- In game 12 of the 2024 World Championship, Ding Liren played a series of quiet moves (11.a3, 12.h3, 13.Kh2, 15.Nb5, 17.Qd2) that kept the d3-d4 break in reserve and left Gukesh's pieces without good squares.
- Stockfish 19 rates the position close to level until move 16; the advantage grew from Black's natural-looking moves, because every square Black wanted had already been taken.
- The decisive choice was Ding's 23.Nf4, found after a long think in place of the planned 23.h4, which Stockfish says would have given most of the advantage back.
- To use it: find the squares the enemy pieces want, cover them with pawns and pieces, keep your pawn break as a threat, and only open the position when the opponent has run out of useful moves.
How we know what we say
- Verified From the record: Stockfish's numbers, the players' own notes or interviews, or a cited source.
- Inferred Read from the moves and the position: a reasoned reconstruction, not the player's words.
- Speculative A guess about mood, intent or practical motives: plausible, not proven.
Part 1The setting: a champion one game from losing the title
In December 2024 Ding Liren defended the world title in Singapore against Gukesh Dommaraju, the 18-year-old challenger from India. The match was over 14 classical games, the first to 7.5 points winning, with two hours for 40 moves, 30 minutes for the rest and 30 seconds a move from move 41. [3] Verified
Game 11 had gone badly for Ding: Gukesh won it and led 6–5 with three games to go. In game 12 Ding had White and needed to win; a draw would have kept Gukesh a point ahead with two games left. Ding won in 39 moves to level the score at 6–6, and called it maybe the best game of recent times. [4] Verified
| Game | White | Result | Match score (Ding first) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Gukesh | 1–0 | 5–6 |
| 12 | Ding | 1–0 | 6–6 |
| 13 | Gukesh | ½–½ | 6.5–6.5 |
| 14 | Ding | 0–1 | 6.5–7.5 |
Game 12 is not a game of sacrifices. Nothing is won before move 29, and for the first sixteen moves Stockfish never gives either side as much as half a pawn. That is what makes it the right game for this strategy: the win came from squares, not from tactics. Verified
Part 2What is restriction in chess?
Restriction means taking squares away from the opponent's pieces instead of attacking them. A piece with no good square is worth less than its value in points, and a side whose pieces all lack squares eventually runs out of useful moves; every move it makes then weakens something. Domination is the extreme case: a piece with no safe square at all.
Restriction works best when the position is closed or half-closed, when you have more space, and when the opponent has no pawn break to free the game. It works badly when your pawns have gone so far forward that they leave holes behind them, because a hole is a square the opponent can use for good.
- target
- Squares taken away
- outpost
- Holes behind the pawns
The same centre, two different stories. Space is only an advantage when the squares behind the pawns are covered too: on the left every square the knight wants is taken, on the right the knight has a permanent home.
Part 3The opening: a reversed Benoni with a slow fuse
Ding opened 1.c4, and Gukesh answered with 1...e6 and 4...d4, gaining space in the centre. After 7...dxe3 8.Bxe3 e5 Black had a firm grip on d4, but the d5 square, no longer covered by a pawn, became a long-term question. Gukesh played the first moves quickly; Ding said afterwards that the opening had come as a surprise, and called the new 10...h6 too slow. [3] Verified
1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 d4 5.O-O Nc6 6.e3 Be7 7.d3 dxe3 8.Bxe3 e5 9.Nc3 O-O 10.Re1 h6 11.a3 a5 +0.14about equal
The opening to 11...a5. The new move was 10...h6. Then 11.a3 invited ...a5, and with it a hole on b5 for a white knight. Verified
- plan
- outpost
- key square
The opening gave White nothing measurable: Stockfish rates the position after 11...a5 at little more than a tenth of a pawn for White. What it gave was a structure in which only White had a useful break. Black's pawns on e5 and a5 had already moved, and every further black pawn move would create a new hole. Inferred
Part 4The plans: squeeze against untangle
From move 12 to move 16 Ding made five quiet moves: 12.h3 took g4 from Black's knight and bishop, 13.Kh2 stepped off the g1-a7 diagonal and away from a ...Qd7 and ...Bxh3 trick, 14.Qc2 cleared the d-file, 15.Nb5 occupied the hole and hit c7, and 16.Rad1 put a rook behind the d-pawn. None of them changed the structure; all of them prepared d3-d4.
- plan
- threat
- target
- White's grip
- idea not played
- key square
The same position from both sides. White's pieces are already where they want to be; Black's are not, and each improvement Black makes gives White the move needed to open the centre.
Black’s pieces have already found their best squares, and it’s hard for Black to improve the position, while White has plenty of ways.
Black's counterplay depends on one thing: finishing development before d3-d4 lands. That is why three black moves, 16...Nd7, 17...Bg6 and 20...Bf6, are the story of the game. Each is natural, and each loses a little time. Inferred
Part 5The critical moments
Three decisions built the squeeze, and in each one the right move was a quiet one. Try each position before opening the answer.
Critical moment 1 of 4 · Move 12, White to play
A quiet move against two pieces
- key square
Black has just played 11...a5. White can open the centre at once, or make a waiting move. Which squares do Black's light-squared bishop and f6 knight want, and how would you take one away?
Think it through on the boardWeigh the candidates
| Move | Stockfish | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 12.d4 12...exd4 13.Nxd4 Nxd4 14.Bxd4 | +0.11about equal | Stockfish's choice by a hair: it rates d4 and h3 the same, at about a sixth of a pawn. But the exchanges free Black's pieces, and the squeeze is gone before it starts. Verified |
| 12.Qc2 | +0.03about equal | A useful developing move, but it leaves g4 to Black's bishop or knight, which would then hit the e3 bishop and the f2 pawn. Inferred |
| 12.Qd2 | +0.04about equal | Prepares d3-d4 and eyes h6, but it leaves g4 free: ...Ng4 would hit the bishop on e3 and gain the bishop pair. Inferred |
What Ding played
12.h3+0.16about equal
Ding played 12.h3, taking g4 from both the knight and the bishop. Any black piece landing there can now be taken by a pawn, so Black's bishop has to choose e6 or f5, where White's pieces can attack it later.
Stockfish's first choice too. Depth 30.
What it revealed
Ding's plan was not a break but a squeeze: first remove the opponent's good squares, keep d3-d4 in reserve, and open the centre only when Black's pieces stand worse than they do now.
- Verified Yannick Gozzoli calls 12.h3 a strong move because it deprives Black of g4 for a knight or a bishop, and points out how hard it now is for Black to find squares for the queen, the bishop and the knights.[2]
- Verified Stockfish 19 rates 12.h3 and 12.d4 equal, at about a sixth of a pawn for White. The choice between them is about which kind of game White wants, not about the evaluation.
- Inferred The move also prepares Kh2, which takes the king off the g1-a7 diagonal that Black's e7 bishop or queen could use after a later ...e4.
Critical moment 2 of 4 · Move 17, White to play
Where does the queen belong?
- threat
- key square
Black has just played 16...Nd7, heading for c5. White wants to play d3-d4, but the queen on c2 stands on a line that the push would open. Find the queen move that fixes that and prepares the break.
Think it through on the boardWeigh the candidates
| Move | Stockfish | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 17.d4 17...Bxc2 | −8.84Black completely winning | Loses the queen. Pushing the d-pawn opens the bishop's diagonal from f5 to c2, and 17...Bxc2 follows. Stockfish rates it as lost for White. Verified |
| 17.c5 | +0.37White slightly better | Takes c5 from the knight directly, an idea Gozzoli says deserves attention. Stockfish rates it about half a pawn below the game move. Verified |
What Ding played
17.Qd2+0.79White slightly better
Ding played 17.Qd2, taking the queen off the f5 bishop's diagonal, where d3-d4 would have left it hanging, and putting it behind the d-pawn. After d3-d4 the queen supports the pawn, and if Black takes on d4 the bishop can come to f4 against c7.
Stockfish's first choice too. Depth 30.
What it revealed
The queen move did not attack anything. It removed the one tactical drawback of d3-d4 and made Black's natural reply weaker, which is restriction at its purest: the threat of a move doing the work of the move.
- Verified Gukesh said that after 17.Qd2 it was really not clear what to do, and called the reply 17...Bg6 a mistake: after 18.d4 the planned 18...exd4 runs into 19.Bf4.[3]
- Verified Stockfish's choice for Black after 17.Qd2 is 17...Nc5, the knight going where it was heading. Gozzoli shows that after 18.d4 Nd3 the play becomes sharp, with White still better.[2]
- Inferred Black's knight on d7 has stopped defending e5 from f6 and does not yet reach c5: in the gap between the two, White's break gains strength.
- target
- pawn chain or line of force
- plan
- target
- outpost
The road not taken and the road taken. Gozzoli calls 18...e4 the only move, and it costs Black a square: f4 becomes a home for White's knight, and the bishop on g6 bites on its own pawn.
Critical moment 3 of 4 · Move 22, Black to play
Stop the knight, or let it come?
- threat
- key square
White's knight on e2 is heading for f4, where it would hit the bishop on g6 and support d4-d5. Black is under pressure. How would you deal with the coming knight?
Think it through on the boardWeigh the candidates
| Move | Stockfish | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 22...Na5 23.c5 Nbc4 | +2.09White winning | Stockfish's choice: the knights head for c4, the one good square left on the queenside, and Black keeps the dark-squared bishop. White stays clearly better but there is still a fight. Verified |
| 22...Ne7 | +2.47White winning | Brings a knight towards f5 and d5 to contest the centre. Stockfish rates it a little below Na5 but far above the game move: White stays clearly better. Verified |
What Gukesh played
22...Bg5+3.98White winning
Gukesh played 22...Bg5, guarding f4 with the bishop. It looks like restriction in reverse, taking a square from White's knight, but the square is defended by White's bishop on e3 and the knight goes there anyway.
Stockfish preferred 22...Na5 (+2.00); the game move gave up about 2.0 pawns. Depth 22.
What it revealed
Under pressure, Gukesh chose the move that stopped White's next idea rather than the move that improved a black piece. In a squeeze that is often the losing choice, because stopping one plan costs a move, and the squeezer has another plan.
What Stockfish adds Stockfish 19 rates 22...Na5 at under two pawns for White and the game move at close to four: 22...Bg5 gave away about two pawns of evaluation, more than any other move of the game so far. ChessBase's report also prefers 22...Na5.
- Verified ChessBase's report singles out 22...Bg5 as the move that let Ding tighten the grip with 23.Nf4, and names 22...Na5 as preferable.[4]
- Speculative A one-point lead may have pushed Gukesh towards moves that stop White's ideas rather than moves that create Black's own; the record does not say.
- Inferred After 23.Nf4 Bxf4 24.Bxf4 Black has given up the dark-squared bishop, the one piece that could have contested d6, c7 and b8, the squares White's bishop now controls.
Part 6The turning point: 23.Nf4, and the move Ding almost played
After 22...Bg5 White was winning, but only with the right move. Ding later said the first idea was h4, chasing the bishop. Then Ding took five minutes of a remaining 24 for the last long think of the game. [3] Verified
Critical moment 4 of 4 · Move 23, White to play
Chase the bishop, or go where it points?
- key square
- target
Black's bishop on g5 has just arrived to stop a white knight landing on f4. White's h-pawn can kick the bishop at once. What would you play?
Think it through on the boardWeigh the candidates
| Move | Stockfish | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 23.h4 23...Bxe3 24.fxe3 | −0.06about equal | Chases the bishop, but it simply trades itself on e3, wrecking White's pawns and freeing Black's game. Stockfish rates it at close to level, the whole advantage gone. Verified |
| 23.Nec3 | −0.20about equal | Attacks the a4 pawn, but takes the knight away from the centre and the d4-d5 plan. Stockfish rates it far below the game move. Verified |
What Ding played
23.Nf4+4.21White completely winning
Ding played 23.Nf4, putting the knight on the square the bishop was guarding. If Black takes, White recaptures with the bishop, which then rakes c7 and b8; if not, the knight hits g6 and supports d4-d5.
Stockfish's first choice too. Depth 20.
What it revealed
The move showed the difference between attacking a piece and restricting it. h4 would have attacked Black's bishop and let it trade itself; Nf4 offered the trade on White's terms, and Black's last active piece disappeared.
- Verified Ding said the first intention was h4, which would have been a very bad move, and that the long think here was the last important one of the game.[3]
- Verified Stockfish 19's first choice is 23.Nf4. After it Ding judged the position much, much better for White.[3]
- Verified Ding said the loss in game 11 had taught a lesson for this moment: a hasty move can spoil a very good position.[3]
- the move
- outpost
- target
- Black's king
26.d5 Qd7 27.d6 c5 28.Nc7 Rf8 29.Bxe4 Nc6 30.Bg2 Rcd8 31.Nd5 Nxd5 32.cxd5 Nb8 33.Qxc5 Rc8 34.Qd4 Na6 35.Re7 Qb5 36.d7 Rc4 37.Qe3 Rc2 38.Bd6 f6 39.Rxg7+ #7White mates by force
The rest of the game from 26.d5. The pawn walks to d7, the knight on c7 and then d5 keeps Black's pieces out, and the rook on the seventh rank ends it. Gukesh resigned after 39.Rxg7+. Verified
Part 7What Gukesh could have done
Stockfish rates White's edge at about a pawn by move 19, not yet decisive, and its defensive moves for Black share one idea: change the position before the last square is taken, even at a cost. The clearest is 20...f5, which Stockfish prefers to the game's 20...Bf6. Verified
- plan
- key square
- weakness
- Room for Black
Gozzoli notes that 20...f5 is a very weakening move that White meets with 21.f3, and Stockfish agrees that White stays better. The point is not that 20...f5 holds, but that it changes the problem: Black's pieces get squares on f7 and e6 and a pawn break of their own. [2] Verified
22...Na5 23.c5 Nbc4 24.Nf4 Bf5 25.Bf1 +1.72White clearly better
The best defence two moves later, after Gozzoli: 22...Na5 and ...Nbc4. The knights find the one outpost White has not covered, and Black keeps the dark-squared bishop. Verified
Part 8A different angle: the rook that had no squares
Most reports of this game praise Ding's quiet moves and the final rook sacrifice. Stockfish adds a detail that shows how complete the restriction had become: after 25...Nb8, Black's rook on c8 had no legal move at all, and 26.Na7 would have won it. Verified
- target
- outpost
- Black's own pieces
The reason is simple—I missed Na7!
Ding missed it, and said so with a smile after the game. The miss tells something about how restriction feels from the inside. Ding was not looking for tactics; the plan was to roll the centre pawns forward, and 26.d5 kept to it. Stockfish rates 26.d5 about a pawn and a half below 26.Na7, but still more than three pawns better for White. [3] Verified
| Move | Played by | Stockfish's choice | What it cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16...Nd7 | Gukesh | 16...Bf8 | about 0.4 |
| 20...Bf6 | Gukesh | 20...f5 | about 0.7 |
| 22...Bg5 | Gukesh | 22...Na5 | about 2 |
| 25...Nb8 | Gukesh | 25...f6 | about 1 |
| 26.d5 | Ding | 26.Na7 | about 1.5 |
| 26...Qd7 | Gukesh | 26...Na6 | about 2.3 |
For a model of the same idea from fifty years earlier, see Karpov's squeeze of Unzicker, where the prophylactic moves came first and the break came last. Gukesh's own win in game 11 of this match, a positional pawn sacrifice, shows the opposite approach: forcing the issue rather than waiting for it.
Part 9How to squeeze in your own games
Restriction is the answer to a common club-player problem: the opening is over, nothing is attacked, and there is no obvious plan. Instead of forcing something, play the moves that make the opponent's next moves worse.
The squeeze, step by step
- List the enemy's wishesFor each enemy piece, name the square it wants: Black's bishop wanted g4, the knight wanted c5, the queen wanted d7. Those squares are your targets, not the pieces.
- Cover them with pawns firstA pawn that covers a square covers it for good: 12.h3 took g4 for the rest of the game. Pieces can be chased away; pawns cannot.
- Keep your break in reservePrepare the pawn break with every piece behind it, but do not play it while the opponent's pieces would benefit. The threat of d3-d4 tied Black down for six moves.
- Open when they run out of movesWhen every enemy move worsens something, open the position. Ding played d4 only after 17.Qd2, when taking on d4 lost a pawn and keeping the tension cost space.
- Offer trades on your termsTrade the opponent's best defender, not your best attacker: 23.Nf4 traded a knight for the bishop that guarded the dark squares.
- Before each quiet move, ask which enemy piece it takes a square from.
- Count the opponent's useful moves; when there are none left, open the position.
- Against a squeeze, change the structure early: a pawn break, or an exchange of the cramped side's worst piece.
Your turnPractise it
Set each position up, decide your plan before you look, then play it out against Stockfish to see whether it holds.
Black to play after 18.d4: White threatens to open the centre. Should Black take on d4 or push the e-pawn?
Hint
If the e5 pawn takes, which white bishop gets a new diagonal, and what stands on it?
A good answer
18...e4, as in the game and Stockfish's choice. 18...exd4 19.Bf4 hits c7 twice with the rook on b8 behind it, and White wins material.
Black to play after 20.Qc3: White's grip is tightening, d4-d5 is coming and the bishop on g6 bites on e4. Find the move that gives Black's pieces air.
Hint
Look at the f-pawn. It weakens the king, but what does it do for the bishop and for the e4 pawn?
A good answer
20...f5, Stockfish's choice. It supports e4, frees f7 for the bishop and threatens ...f4. White stays better, but Black's pieces get squares; the game's 20...Bf6 cost about three quarters of a pawn.
White to play after 25...Nb8: one black piece has no legal move. Find it, and win it.
Hint
Look at the rook on c8 and the squares around it. Which white piece can reach a square that attacks c8?
A good answer
26.Na7, Stockfish's choice, attacks the rook on c8, which cannot move because c7, b8 and d8 are all occupied by Black's own pieces. White wins the exchange. Ding missed it and played 26.d5, which also wins.
Part 10What to take from this game
- Squares before pieces. 12.h3, 13.Kh2 and 15.Nb5 attacked nothing and took the squares Black's pieces needed.
- The threat beats the move. d3-d4 restricted Black for six moves before it was played.
- Squeezes win on the opponent's moves. Stockfish saw no advantage for White until Black's natural moves began to cost.
- Do not chase, replace. 23.Nf4 beat 23.h4 because it traded on White's terms instead of letting the bishop trade itself.
- Defend by changing the structure. Stockfish's defences, 20...f5 and 22...Na5, both give the black pieces new squares.
Questions readers ask
What is restriction in chess?
Restriction is a strategy of taking squares away from the opponent's pieces instead of attacking them. When every enemy piece lacks a good square, the opponent runs out of useful moves and each move weakens something. Aron Nimzowitsch made the idea famous in My System, and Petrosian and Karpov built careers on it.
How do you play when there is no plan in chess?
Find your opponent's best squares and take them away, then improve your worst piece. A quiet move like h3, a3 or Kh2 that removes a square from an enemy piece is often stronger than an attack that does not work. Keep your pawn break in reserve and open the position only when the opponent has no good moves left.
Why did Ding beat Gukesh in game 12?
Ding won by restriction. Quiet moves from 11.a3 to 17.Qd2 took away the squares Black's pieces needed while keeping d3-d4 as a threat, and Gukesh's natural moves slowly lost ground. The key moment was 23.Nf4 after 22...Bg5, which Stockfish rates about four pawns better than the 23.h4 Ding first intended. The game levelled the match at 6–6.
What is the difference between restriction and prophylaxis?
Prophylaxis stops the opponent's plan; restriction takes away the squares the opponent's pieces need. They overlap: 12.h3 in Ding-Gukesh was both, stopping ...Bg4 and ...Ng4. Prophylaxis answers what the opponent wants to do; restriction answers where the opponent's pieces want to go.
How do you defend against a positional squeeze?
Change the structure early, before the last good square is gone. A pawn break, even one that weakens your king or pawns, or the exchange of your worst piece usually gives more chances than waiting. In Ding-Gukesh, Stockfish preferred 20...f5 and 22...Na5, both moves that gave Black's pieces new squares.
Sources and method
The game score was checked against two independent sources. Every position, line and candidate in this article was replayed for legality, and every engine number was produced by Stockfish 19 WASM Multithreaded for this article (depth 16 to 33, deepest at the critical moments), not copied from elsewhere. What the players thought is reconstructed from the moves, their published notes and later analysis; it is labelled as verified, inferred or speculative, and nothing is presented as a quotation unless a source is cited for it.
- Lichess broadcast: FIDE World Championship 2024, game 12, Ding v Gukesh (game score)
- Lichess study: Ding v Gukesh, game 12, annotated by Yannick Gozzoli (game score and notes)
- Chess.com: Ding wins game 12 to level the World Championship, with the players' comments
- ChessBase: World Championship 2024, game 12 report by Carlos Alberto Colodro
- Lichess study: World Championship 2024, every game of the match
Read next
Karpov's quiet bishop move at Nice 1974 is the textbook case of prophylaxis. Stockfish 19 says the move was the only good one, and that the game was decided later, by Black's 31...g5.
The Principle of Two Weaknesses: Botvinnik's Textbook Win, CheckedSverdlovsk 1943: Botvinnik fixed an isolated pawn, then opened a second front against the king. Stockfish 19 finds the famous pawn push was premature, and the game was lost by one choice.
Lead in Development: Byrne v Fischer 1956, Checked by StockfishFischer was thirteen and had every piece out while Byrne's king sat on e1. Stockfish 19 says the Game of the Century was decided on move 11, and that the famous queen sacrifice did not change the score at all.
Turn reading into skill
Strategy sticks when you use it. Practise real positions with Stockfish's verdict at once, or play the plans out from any diagram above.