Chess fans in Singapore and the region will get to witness the pinnacle of chess live in action, as the Singapore Chess Federation (SCF) - in partnership with Sport Singapore (SportSG) and the Singapore Tourism Board - has won the bid to host the 2024 FIDE World Chess Championship in Singapore.

This tournament which will be held between 20 November and 15 December 2024, will see the reigning world champion, China’s Grandmaster Ding Liren, defending his title against Indian Grandmaster Dommaraju Gukesh, the youngest challenger in the history of the championship. This will be the second time in the championship’s 138- year history that this tournament is held in Southeast Asia, the first being in Baguio, the Philippines in 1978.

“We are delighted that for the first time in the history of FIDE (International Chess Federation), a match for the World Championship will take place in Singapore. Not only is Singapore one of the most iconic global tourist and business hubs, but it is also a thriving chess center with great ambitions and talent,” FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich said.

Mr Roy Teo, Chief, Industry Development, Technology & Innovation Group, SportSG, said “We are pleased to have won the hosting rights for the 2024 FIDE World Chess Championship. Having the apex of chess tournaments in Singapore is testament to our strategy to feature a variety of sport events in our calendar. This event will also be an excellent platform to elevate the profile of chess in Singapore and in our region, cultivate greater partnerships with our stakeholders, and bolster Singapore’s standing as a choice destination for international sporting events. We look forward to partnering with the Singapore Chess Federation and FIDE to create a memorable experience for all participants and spectators tuning in from abroad.”

Mr Kevin Goh, Chief Executive Officer, SCF said “We are delighted that FIDE has selected Singapore as the venue for the World Chess Championship match. In many ways, Singapore is the ideal location for this match, with our accessibility to chess fans from both countries and our extensive experience in hosting world-class sporting and cultural events. We also have a growing chess community in the country, evidenced by increasing participation numbers in scholastic events, newcomers to the game, as well as improvements in sporting results in the last few years."

Ms Ong Ling Lee, Executive Director, Sports & Wellness, Singapore Tourism Board, added, “We are delighted that Singapore will host the FIDE World Chess Championship for the first time, providing a captivating backdrop for the thrilling match-up between the two Grandmasters and further solidifying our position as a leading destination for international marquee sporting events. We look forward to welcoming the Grandmasters, their fans and chess enthusiasts to Singapore this year-end, and hope they explore the diverse and vibrant offerings of Singapore and create lasting memories during their time here.”

The event will provide chess enthusiasts from Singapore and beyond the unique opportunity to spectate the world championship games in person. It will be accompanied by a rich array of ancillary events, including other tournaments and exhibition games. More details will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Singapore Chess Federation (SCF) is thrilled to announce that the FIDE World Chess Championship 2024 match will take place in Singapore for the first time at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) from November 23 to December 15, 2024. This iconic event will be the first in 138 years to feature two contestants from Asia between the reigning World Champion, China’s Ding Liren and challenger Dommaraju Gukesh from India competing for the title.

RWS, globally renowned for its luxurious facilities and world-class hospitality, will provide the perfect backdrop for this high-stakes match. Singapore’s first integrated resort offers a distinctive blend of diverse leisure and entertainment options, where players, officials, and fans alike can look forward to having a memorable experience.

“We are privileged to partner RWS in hosting the Championship and we look forward to witnessing the intricacies of this match unfold against the backdrop of an exceptional integrated resort,” said Mr Kevin Goh, SCF CEO and Chair of the Local Organising Committee. “This partnership preserves the prestige of the FIDE World Chess Championship while introducing an element of modernity and excitement - visitors can enjoy the luxury of having many attractions a stone’s throw away from the match venue to complement the existing suite of ancillary chess events.”

Ms Lee Shi Ruh, RWS President said: “Chess is a strategic and intellectual game that has been enjoyed for centuries and played by millions around the world. RWS is excited to welcome the FIDE World Chess Championship 2024 match and its fans from across the globe as a silver sponsor. RWS is home to a variety of world-class events that cater to a different passion - just as the game of chess is renowned for its depth and ingenuity, RWS presents a diverse range of offerings with something for everyone. Our collaboration with the SCF captures the very essence of RWS as a top-notch MICE destination for lifestyle and entertainment, and also further presents Singapore’s overall attractive appeal as a premier global hub for international sports and cultural events.”

Looking ahead, visitors to RWS can also anticipate exciting blockbuster events as well as new developments including all-new attractions, hotels, retail and dining, significantly elevating its appeal as a top lifestyle resort. Speaking about the partnership, Goh said: “We are looking for more likeminded enterprises to partner us in delivering a world-class event and showcasing the many benefits of chess. Chess is an intellectual sport that involves strategic thinking, discipline and resilience. These are values that many organisations would be aligned with.”

In conjunction with the match, there will be a top level open tournament held within minutes of the playing hall of the match. Organised by the SCF, the Singapore International Open will feature competitors from all over the world - including our very own from Singapore.

“It’s amazing that I will not only be able to witness the World Championship match up close, but also compete in a strong international tournament in my own country,” said local grandmaster Siddharth Jagadeesh, who at 17 is Singapore’s youngest ever grandmaster.

Tickets for the FIDE World Chess Championship Match will go on sale soon. There will also be extensive live coverage and commentary across multiple platforms, ensuring that the excitement reaches a global audience.

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) and Singapore Chess Federation (SCF) are proud to announce Google as the Title Sponsor of the FIDE World Chess Championship Singapore 2024, which will take place at Resorts World Sentosa from 23 November to 15 December 2024. This landmark collaboration marks the first time the World Chess Championship has partnered with a global technology leader, setting a new standard for the sport’s reach and influence.

Google Chief Marketing Officer for Asia Pacific Simon Kahn said: "Google is excited to sponsor this historic event. Chess represents a profound intersection of human ingenuity and technological potential, and has always been a proving ground for AI innovation. In fact, some of our earliest AI breakthroughs came from mastering chess as a proof-of-concept. Through Search, YouTube, and AI, we are now delighted to enhance the Championship experience for chess fans globally, celebrating the beauty of this game that continues to inspire and challenge us."

As chess continues to rise in global popularity, FIDE’s collaboration with Google signals a major step forward in connecting the sport with modern technology. Arkady Dvorkovich, President of FIDE, shared his excitement about the collaboration: "FIDE is thrilled that Google became the title sponsor of the World Chess Championship. It is a historic milestone for our sport. This collaboration brings a fresh perspective to the competition, blending the tradition of chess with the innovation of AI. The partnership is set to elevate the visibility of the World Chess Championship, taking the broadcast of the event to the next level and attracting new audiences globally."

Kevin Goh, CEO of SCF, added: "For Google to be our presenting sponsor for this year’s World Championship match is a groundbreaking moment for chess both in Singapore and globally. It is the first time a global technology leader has sponsored the most important chess event. Among many other innovative breakthroughs, Google has in recent years captivated the chess community with Alpha Zero, its neural networks inspired chess programme. Chess is all about problem solving and we are glad that Google's special focus on deep learning resonates well with the game."

FIDE and SCF look forward to delivering an unforgettable Championship that will resonate globally, far beyond the final checkmate. Google’s sponsorship redefines the potential of the World Chess Championship, paving the way for a future where technology and chess continue to inspire and challenge each other, creating an engaging and dynamic environment for both players and fans alike.

We are pleased to announce that media registration is now officially open for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2024, to be held at Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore, from November 20 – December 15, 2024. Journalists, photographers, and media professionals from around the globe are invited to apply for accreditation to cover this prestigious event.

To apply for media credentials, please visit our official media registration page. We encourage all interested media representatives to register early, as places are limited.

We look forward to welcoming you to Singapore for this landmark event in the world of chess!

FIDE is excited to announce that tickets for the highly anticipated World Chess Championship Match 2024, set to take place at Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore, are now available. From November 23 to December 13, 2024, Ding Liren and Gukesh D will battle it out for the most prestigious title in chess.

Ticket holders will not only get to watch the intense battles unfold live but also enjoy exclusive access to the Fan Zone, where visiting masters and special guests will engage with fans, providing insights, explaining the moves, and sharing their analysis of the games.

For those looking for a premium experience, VIP pass holders will enjoy front-row seats, access to the VIP Lounge with top-tier hospitality, including food and drinks, as well as priority invitations to exclusive side events like workshops, simuls, talks, and fan meets.

Additionally, Google activities on-site will be open to all ticket holders, offering an interactive experience that brings fans closer to the game.

Secure your tickets now and be part of this landmark event in Singapore! Get your tickets here.

Day Pass: S$64

VIP Pass: S$380

- Students under 12 years old and seniors over 65 years old are eligible for this discount

- Please note that random checks on concession tickets will be conducted at the point of entry

- Patrons unable to present proof of eligibility are required to upgrade their concession tickets to full-price tickets

Group Discount (min. 5 people)

- 10% off Standard tickets

- With a minimum purchase of 5 tickets per transaction

VIP Group Discount (min. 5 people)

- 10% off Standard tickets

- With a minimum purchase of 5 tickets per transaction

Standard 3-day Pass

- 10% off Standard Day Pass with selection of any 3 games

VIP 3-day Pass

- 10% off VIP Day Pass with selection of any 3 games

World Champion Ding Liren is a symbol of perseverance in chess. Rising from humble beginnings in the chess-loving city of Wenzhou, his journey to the world title is marked by numerous accomplishments and firsts, as well as significant challenges.

Born on October 24, 1992, in China, Ding was introduced to chess by his mother at the age of four. Destiny seemed to favor him, as he was coached early on by Chen Lixing, who also trained former Women's World Champion Zhu Chen. This led to Ding's first notable successes on the global chess stage: tying for first place in both the Under-10 and Under-12 World Youth Championships (2003, 2004), though finishing second on tiebreaks in both events.

In 2009, at just 16 years old, Ding became the youngest-ever Chinese champion, announcing to the world what was to come. Thanks to his stellar performance at the national championship, he earned the Grandmaster title later that year. He would go on to win the Chinese championship two more times, in 2011 and 2012.

Photo: Andreas Kontokanis

After conquering the national scene, Ding set his sights on the global stage. In 2014, he helped China win a gold medal at the Chess Olympiad, and again in 2015 at the World Team Championships. That same year, he became only the second Chinese player, after Wang Yue, to enter the world’s top 10.

Ding’s consistent, solid play led him to the finals of the 2017 and 2019 Chess World Cups, though he fell short in both. Despite these setbacks, his reputation as a world-class player continued to grow.

Photo: Kirill Merkuryev

A major milestone came in 2018 when Ding won individual and team gold at the 43rd Chess Olympiad. That year, he also became the first Chinese player to surpass a 2800 Elo rating, peaking at 2816—the joint tenth highest in chess history. His strong, consistent play earned him a reputation as one of the toughest players to beat. From August 2017 to November 2018, Ding went unbeaten in 100 consecutive classical games, a streak broken only by Magnus Carlsen in 2019.

Though 2018 marked the height of Ding’s success, it also introduced new challenges. In his first shot at the world title during the 2018 Candidates Tournament in Berlin, he drew 13 of his 14 games, winning just one. He silenced critics the following year by winning the Sinquefield Cup with a performance rating of 2845, securing the 2019 Grand Chess Tour title.

Photo: St-Louis Chess Club | Lennart Ootes

Ding's second attempt at the Candidates Tournament came in 2020 in Yekaterinburg, Russia, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began. Despite being one of the favorites, he secured only 2.5 points after seven rounds before the tournament was postponed due to the pandemic. When it resumed in April 2021, Ding improved his form, winning his final three games to finish with 7 points, placing fifth overall.

His real shot at the title came in 2022 at his third Candidates Tournament in Madrid. Despite an underwhelming start, Ding found his stride in the second half, securing key wins over Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura to finish second behind Ian Nepomniachtchi. Under normal circumstances, this would not have qualified him for the World Championship match, but with Magnus Carlsen stepping down, Ding found himself in a championship match against Nepomniachtchi.

The World Championship match in Astana, Kazakhstan, was closely contested. After 14 classical games, the score was tied 7-7, leading to a rapid tiebreak, where Ding triumphed 2½-1½, becoming the first Chinese player to win the Classical World Chess Championship.

Photo: David Llada

However, his monumental achievement in 2023 was soon overshadowed by personal struggles. After winning the title, Ding took a nine-month break from chess in 2024 to focus on his mental health, citing personal difficulties and depression. He skipped major events during this time but returned to competition later that year at the Tata Steel tournament and the Olympiad, showing that he remains a formidable presence in the chess world.

In an interview before the World Championship match, Ding reflected on his state of mind: “My current state is neither exceptionally good nor bad, as I’ve felt over the past one and a half years. I’ve moved past the deepest or worst moments. I know I’ve been playing great chess—I just couldn’t win certain positions. I still believe I can turn that around, maybe during the match.”

Photo: Mark Livshitz

Ding’s mental strength and resilience have defined his career. As he faces rivals whose recent performances have been more consistent, only time will tell if he can maintain his reign as World Champion. Regardless of the outcome, Ding Liren has secured his place among the greatest names in modern chess.

Written by Milan Dinic

Gukesh Dommaraju, often referred to simply as Gukesh D, is the youngest person in the history of chess to become the contender for the title of World Champion, achieving this feat at just 17 years of age.

Born on May 29, 2006, in Chennai – the birthplace of several of India's top players, including the five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand – Gukesh learned chess in school at the age of seven. This ignited a passion for the game that would see him rapidly advance his FIDE rating and title, achieving remarkable tournament successes in only a decade.

Gukesh earned his FIDE Master title in 2015, after winning the Under-9 section of the Asian School Chess Championships. In March 2018 – just 11-year-old – he became an International Master. Gukesh clinched Grandmaster title at the 17th Delhi International Grandmaster Open on January 15, 2019, at the age of 12 years, seven months and 17 days, becoming the second-youngest person in history at the time (and the third-youngest ever) after Sergey Karjakin. His coach at the time, Indian GM Vishnu Prasanna, noted that Gukesh's "strategic supremacy and unique understanding", as well as his work ethic, set him apart from others. Over a 16-month period, Gukesh played an impressive 276 games in 30 tournaments across 13 countries to achieve his GM norms, underscoring his determination.

His early successes include winning the Under-12 World Youth Chess Championships as well as taking five gold medals at the Asian Youth Chess Championships, excelling in various formats (classical, rapid, blitz and team events). Gukesh captured global attention in 2022 when he won the individual gold at the FIDE Chess Olympiad, scoring an outstanding nine points out of 11 games and helping India to secure bronze in the event. That same year he crossed the 2700 ELO mark, becoming the third-youngest chess player to achieve this level (after Wei Yi and Alireza Firouzja), thus entering the realm of super-Grandmasters.

In 2023, he went even further, clearing the 2750 ELO bar in August and becoming the youngest player ever to do so, and then in September, he reached the world number eight, overtaking Viswanathan Anand as India's top-rated player, a title which Anand held for more than 37 years. That year, Gukesh finished second in the 2023 FIDE Circuit – a series of tournaments over the year – which secured him a spot at the 2024 Candidates (the winner, Fabiano Caruana had already qualified through the World Cup 2023).

In April 2024, in Toronto, Gukesh again surprised the chess world: in his first-ever appearance at the Candidates tournament, he won the event with a remarkable score of 9/14, becoming the youngest-ever challenger for the title of World Champion.

Gukesh's final grand appearance before the title match, was at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest where, playing on board one, he scored a phenomenal nine points out of ten, winning individual gold leading his team to their first-ever team gold in the event.

Beyond chess, Gukesh devotes significant time to meditation. As a child who would get "very upset after a game" if he lost, Gukesh worked hard to find his inner balance. In an interview with the British Chess Magazine in May, after his victory in Toronto, he reflected on how important mediating has become for his mental stability: "I started taking mental health seriously. Started doing yoga and meditating. Once I started doing that, I made sure it was done regularly, and it made a difference."

As the match in Singapore approaches, the question on the table is: can Gukesh defeat the reigning World Champion Ding Liren?

Despite recent successes, Gukesh doesn't have a favorable head-to-head record against the World Champion, Ding Liren. Out of five classical games, Ding has won two (both as Black, in 2023 and 2024), while the other three ended in draws, including a draw at the 2024 Sinquefield Cup. Gukesh's sole victory came in a Fischer Random game in 2024, but that format differs from classical chess he will be playing in Singapore.

In a press conference ahead of the match, Gukesh shared his thoughts on his opponent: "Ding is quite universal. Almost all the players at the top level have to be universal at this point. So, there are minute differences between all the players, and I'm trying my best to analyze them and use them to my advantage." As for predictions, the young Grandmaster remained pragmatic: "I don't believe in predictions and who are the favorites. I just think that whoever is able to show up every day as the best will win the game eventually."

Written by Milan Dinic

Photos: Michal Walusza, Lennart Ootes and John Saunders

FIDE and SCF have put together an exclusive program for visitors of the FIDE World Championship Match presented by Google, featuring former world champions and contenders, renowned Grandmasters, AI experts, VIP simuls, and commentary.

The forthcoming FIDE World Championship match in Singapore promises not only a spectacular duel between two elite players but also an unforgettable chess festival. Visitors can look forward to exhibitions, presentations, and simultaneous matches that offer unique opportunities to meet and play with top Grandmasters and AI experts.

Special guest appearances and expert commentary: Special events kick off on November 24 – one day before round one in the Match – with the first round of the National Age Group Championships, where the former Women’s World Champion, Xie Jun, will be the guest of honor. Xie Jun will later be joined by U.S. Grandmaster and renowned chess commentator Maurice Ashley, and the two will provide commentary on the first match game both in-studio and in the fan zone, allowing fans to gain insights and ask questions in person.

Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club | Lennart Ootes

AI and chess: On November 26, Google DeepMind scientist Nenad Tomašev will deliver an exclusive presentation on the development and impact of AlphaZero, an AI program that has mastered complex games like chess. This session will shed light on the intersection of technology and chess, offering unique perspectives for enthusiasts.

Simuls with chess legends: During the event, several top-world Grandmasters and former world champions and contenders will appear in Singapore as special guests. Former World Champion Challenger and celebrated Grandmaster Boris Gelfand will join live commentary on November 26 and interact with visitors in the fan zone.

Photo: Stev Bonhage

Gelfand, along with former Women’s World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, will also hold simultaneous exhibition matches, giving fans a chance to play against chess icons.

Visitors will also have the rare opportunity to meet former World Champion Viswanathan Anand, who will offer expert match commentary and engage with attendees in the fan zone.

Photo: Michal Walusza

One of the most popular chess streamers WGM Nemo Zhou (akaNemsko) will also be in fan zone to interact with chess fans. Additionally, top Grandmasters such as England’s David Howell and Jovanka Houska will lead masterclasses for chess enthusiasts of all skill levels.

Photo: ChessBase India

Lessons from the first Asian GM: On November 30, visitors of the Match will have an opportunity to see in person and talk to one of the greatest living chess legends, Grandmaster Eugene Torre – the first Asian GM who took part in a record 23 Chess Olympiads and defeating many of the 20th century greatest players.

Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club | Bryan Adams

Singapore International Open: For those more interested in competitive events, the Singapore Chess Federation is throwing the Singapore International Open 2024. Featuring global chess talent, the event will take place at the Resorts World Sentosa Convention Centre alongside the FIDE World Championship. The tournament comprises two categories: Group A for players rated 1800 and above, utilizing accelerated pairings to enhance title norm opportunities, and Group B for players rated up to 1900, following standard Swiss pairings.

Just 18, Gukesh Dommaraju is on the cusp of an extraordinary achievement – he is about to fight against Ding Liren in the match that will determine the new world champion.

The Indian prodigy's rapid ascend to the top has stunned many in the chess world. In a recent interview with the media, organized by FIDE, Gukesh shared his thoughts on the upcoming match, his preparation, and what he thinks of his opponent.

"The year so far has been quite good," Gukesh said, reflecting on his recent successes. "A lot of interesting chess and some nice achievements. I'm really looking forward to the World Championship match in Singapore. It's coming soon, and I'm quite eager to start the match."

Photo: Michal Walusza

While many have labeled him as the favorite for the title, Gukesh is understandably more cautious.

"In general, I don't believe in predictions and who are the favorites. I just think whoever shows up every day as the best will win the game eventually," he explained.

"I'm just focusing on the process, and I try to be at my best every day and play a good game. I just want to enjoy the experience."

And when it comes to that process, he outlined key elements of it: "The process is pretty much typical for the World Championships. I have a team, and we are preparing hard. I'm trying to be at my best and enjoy each moment of this journey."

Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club | Lennart Ootes

When asked about Ding Liren and whether he had any specific strategies in mind for the match, Gukesh was diplomatic yet insightful. "It'll be an interesting match for sure. We are both strong players, and there'll be a lot of exciting games. I hope it's a beautiful experience for all chess lovers," he said. "As for my team, I can say Gajewski will be my trainer for the match, but beyond that, I can't reveal much."

A key theme throughout the interview was the question about how well the 18-year-old can handle the pressure of playing such a demanding and high-profile event, particularly on the international stage where he represents India. "It's always a privilege to play for India at such a high level, and I enjoy the experience. I think how I handle pressure is mostly through experience. I've played in many high-pressure situations, though not the World Championship, of course," he noted. "But I'm looking forward to the new experience."

It's a rare feat to become a role model at 18, but Gukesh seems to have achieved that, and many players are inspired by his meteoric rise. But his message to anyone wanting to follow in his footsteps is simple: "Just enjoy the game; chess is a beautiful game. It has many benefits. If you enjoy it, it's a very good hobby to have. And if you're talented, it's very nice to be a professional chess player."

Photo: Michal Walusza

Gukesh, like many of his contemporaries, belongs to the "computer generation" – kids who grew up with engines significantly stronger than humans and who learned with those engines and not via books. In the interview, he was asked about the influence computers have on chess preparation.

One of the interesting points raised during the interview was about the influence of computers on chess preparation, something Magnus Carlsen has openly expressed frustration with in his decision not to defend the crown. But Gukesh's outlook is different: "It's different for Magnus and me. Magnus has been doing this for so many years, and I'm just coming up, so it's a new experience for me. I basically enjoy the process," he said. "It's hard work, but I'm enjoying it, and let's see how things unfold."

Another topic was his age and the advantages and disadvantages that come with it.

Photo: Michal Walusza

"Because of my age, compared to the more experienced players, I have more energy levels, and it's easier to stay focused during long tournaments," he said, before acknowledging, "The disadvantage is obviously that I'm not as experienced and haven't played as much as them. But, so far, it's been positive."

For the first time in the history of the game, both players come from Asia – signifying a symbolic return of chess to its roots.

"It's nice that this will be the first time there is no European in a World Championship match. I hope it becomes even more popular in Asia," Gukesh remarked. "We're already seeing some very nice growth. China has been a superpower for a few years, and Uzbekistan is catching up. But in India, chess is already quite popular, and I hope it grows even bigger."

The venue for this momentous match holds a special place in Gukesh's heart as well—Singapore. "I've been there a couple of times. Once on vacation before I started playing chess, and the other time was one of my first international wins—some Asian under-nine tournament, I think. I have some pleasant memories from that championship in Singapore," he shared with a smile. "Singapore is a beautiful country, and I'm super glad to have the match there."

In the run-up to the FIDE World Chess Championship at the end of November, where he will play against 18-year-old Dommaraju Gukesh, the reigning World Champion from China, Ding Liren, gave an interview where he spoke about the challenges he faces, both on and off the board.

In the interview, Ding was open about the shortfalls in his recent performance: "I know my performances haven't been up to my usual high standards," Ding admitted, citing his underwhelming result at the recent Olympiad in Budapest, where he scored just 3.5 points from eight games, including one loss and no victories.

Photo: Michal Walusza

"But at the end of the day, a match is a match. It's between two players. When one player starts to hit his stride, how the opponent reacts depends on their experience and how they handle the situation at the moment," Ding said, emphasizing that match play and tournament play "are two different things."

When asked about his preparation for Singapore, Ding said his focus is more on the middlegame, an area where his challenger excels. "I'm more cautious towards the middle stage of the game because Gukesh is strong in strategy, the middle game, and positional understanding," Ding explained.

While noting that he and Gukesh are not close and, therefore, he doesn't know much about him, Ding said he expects to "get to know him better as the match goes on." Still, he gave credit to the maturity the 18-year-old Indian is showing on the board. "He's good at strategic understanding… he plays like a seasoned player despite his young age."

Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club | Lennart Ootes

Ding was also asked to share thoughts on the rise of the younger generation in chess. "They play without any restriction or dogma that the previous generation had," he said, noting they constantly play for initiative and are more creative in opening preparation.

On a personal level, Ding said his life has remained largely unchanged since becoming World Champion in 2023, though he admitted to a dip in his professional form. "My career might have taken a downward turn, but I believe there will be a turning point soon," he added.

In the second part of 2023, Ding took a break from chess, in part to address mental health challenges. Despite the poor showing in Budapest, he said he believes participation in the Olympiad helped him to regain focus ahead of the championship.

Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club | Lennart Ootes

"My current state is neither exceptionally good nor bad, but I've definitely moved past the worst moments of the last one and a half years. I know I've been playing great chess—I just couldn't convert some positions. I still believe I can turn that around, maybe during the match."

As for the venue, Ding seemed comfortable. Although he has never been to Singapore, Ding said he is "not worried" about the facilities and has already sampled some of the local cuisine, which he enjoyed.

The FIDE World Championship Match is one of the most important and widely watched chess events globally. Held every two years, it features the defending World Champion and the Challenger, chosen through a qualification process culminating in the Candidates Tournament, which includes eight of the world's top players.

The defending Champion is Ding Liren, who won the title after defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi in Astana, Kazakhstan, in April 2023 on tiebreaks. The Challenger is the 18-year-old Gukesh D from India, who won the Candidates Tournament in April 2024 in Toronto.

The World Championship Match will consist of 14 games. The player who scores 7.5 points or more wins the Match, and no further games are played. If the score is equal after 14 games, the winner is decided by a tiebreak.

Featuring a landmark title sponsorship from global technology leader Google, the 2024 FIDE World Championship match will take place in Singapore from November 23 to December 13.

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh Dommaraju, from India, will face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will claim the title, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

Photo: Anna Shtourman

Rated 2728, Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren is the reigning World Champion. At 32, he will defend his title for the first time, after defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi in 2023, in arguably one of the most exciting matches in history.

He is the highest-rated Chinese player of all time, with a peak rating of 2816 in 2018, and a three-time Chinese champion. Amongst his many unbelievable achievements is a 100-game unbeaten streak, one of the longest in history, which will forever remain in the memories of chess fans all over the world.

Notwithstanding, the 2023 World Championship match took its toll. Personal difficulties including depression led to a nine-month hiatus from competitive chess, during which he focused on his mental health. His return to the board at Tata Steel at the beginning of 2024 didn’t go as expected, while Norway Chess in June also turned into another unremarkable performance.

Recent events such as the 11th Sinquefield Cup and the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest don’t give the impression that Ding is fully recovered, but without a doubt if he is able to bring his best game to Singapore he will be a formidable opponent.

Photo: Michal Walusza

18-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju has taken the chess world by storm. Currently boasting a whopping 2783 FIDE rating, number five in the world, Gukesh qualified for this match by dominating the 2024 April Candidates tournament in Toronto; in his first-ever appearance he claimed first, becoming the youngest-ever challenger in the history of chess.

An under-12 World Youth Champion in Spain, multiple gold medalist in the Asian games, dominating many international tournaments all over the world, Gukesh has built an extraordinary career over the past six years.

His recent achievements also include an impressive gold medal on board one of the Indian team that brilliantly won the 45th Chess Olympiad, renewing an individual gold that he secured in his hometown, Chennai, two years before.

Nonetheless, it remains to be seen if Gukesh will be able to continue this seemingly untrue run of success, avoiding the inevitable spotlights and attention that he will experience.

Most of the world’s top players consider Gukesh the clear favourite, but the opinion of former World Champion and number one player in the world Magnus Carlsen carries much weight: “Obviously, Gukesh is a significant favourite, and if he strikes first he will win the match without any trouble. However, the longer it goes without a decisive game, the better it is for Ding Liren, because he has the ability but he doesn’t have the confidence”.

In addition to Carlsen’s analysis, their head-to-head record may bolster up Ding Liren’s self-assurance. Due to the age gap, Gukesh and Ding Liren have only faced each other on three occasions in classical chess, with a total score of 2.5 to 0.5 for the Chinese Grandmaster, who defeated his opponent twice at the Tata Steel Masters in 2023 and 2024.

Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club | Lennart Ootes

All in all, the endless appeal of competitive sport is the uncertainty of the result.

The match is scheduled for 14 classical games. The winner will be the first to score 7.5 points or more. Each game will feature a time control of 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment kicking in on move 41.

If the match ends in a tie after 14 games, a rapid-play tie-break will determine the champion.

The official website with all the results, stats, games, and other useful information can be found here: worldchampionship.fide.com/

You can also follow the action with live commentaries by England’s David Howell and Jovanka Houska on FIDE YouTube channel.

The match will take place in Singapore, a city-state and island country in Southeast Asia. For many years it has been a major aviation, financial, and maritime shipping hub and features one of the highest GDP per capita in the world.

The Singapore Chess Federation has played a decisive role in the organization and promotion of the event, securing the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa as an outstanding venue for this exciting encounter. The playing hall is located in the magnificent Equarius Hotel, a 5-star facility with stunning views of the surrounding rainforest canopies.

Game-day access tickets can be purchased here: worldchampionship.fide.com/tickets

The match in Singapore will also host an unforgettable chess festival. Exhibitions, presentations, and simultaneous matches will offer unique opportunities to meet and play with top Grandmasters and experts in other fields.

A dedicated fan zone has been designated, in which visitors can enjoy in-person commentary by renowned world-class commentators such as GM Maurice Ashley and former Women’s World Champion Xie Jun.

Other highlights include interactions with 5-times World Champion Viswanathan Anand and simultaneous exhibitions by former Women’s World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk and former World Champion Challenger Boris Gelfand.

And if you feel like playing yourself, the Singapore International Open 2024, will be held alongside the World Championship – a once in a lifetime opportunity to take part in the most important chess event of the year.

The full programme can be found here: https://worldchampionship.fide.com/events

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Barcelona, Spain)

This afternoon’s fantastic chess experience in Singapore began with the first official press conference with the World Champion Ding Liren and the challenger Gukesh D, moderated by one of the event’s official commentators and master of ceremonies, GM Maurice Ashley.

The panel also featured Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE President and GM Kevin Goh Wei Ming, CEO of the Singapore Chess Federation.

Both Dvorkovich and Goh Wei Ming thanked the media for attending the presser and highlighted FIDE’s partnership with Google for this match. Dvorkovich even suggested that we were going to experience unprecedented social media coverage.

“When I heard the news that Google was going to join as a titled partner, I was really excited. We were joined by a global company who has reached the whole world, showing that the game of chess is really something.

This partnership brings us a unique visibility, that we haven’t experienced for many years – for that we are very thankful to the Google team. I think during the next three weeks, we shall see something completely unprecedented every day on social media and on the web driven by Google resources.”

After introducing the players, Maurice Ashley opened fire with a barrage of discerning questions to both players, followed by several more perceptive ones from the attending journalists.

Asked about his state of mind and feelings before the match, Ding Liren opened up to the audience: “I was very nervous in my first world championship match, but this time I feel in peace with a lot of energy. It’s my first time in Singapore, and there are many to visit. It’s a warm country and I received a lot of gifts and a warm welcome from many kids this morning.

It’s not so often that I play against a player younger than me. I have more experience than him: he is younger but has already displayed his maturity in many aspects. I hope that both of us can perform our best, but I know that he will not be easy to beat.

Yesterday I reviewed my games from recent times and the quality was not so good. I made many short draws, even in better positions. It’s clear I was far from my peak performance. But I intend to review some of my best games, to regain my confidence and fighting spirit to perform better.”

Gukesh said that he was very happy to be in Singapore and that he had been looking forward to being here since he started playing chess. “There are certainly some nerves, but I feel good about it. The only thought I have is to give my best and see what happens.

It’s an honor and privilege for me to play for India in any kind of event, especially an event like the Olympiad or World Championship. It's such a huge event to represent my country and carry the hopes of Indians: it’s an honor for me. I take it very seriously. For me, it's pretty clear who I'm going to face. I'm going to face Ding Liren, who is one of the best players of the world for more than a decade.

My job is also pretty clear - just go to every game as the best version of myself and play the best moves in the position and if I do that, if I keep playing good chess [...], I'm confident I have all the chances in the world”.

When questioned about the extent a chess player can detach themselves from their personal problems in such an important competition, both players did their best to dodge the issue.

Ding Liren said, "Normally, I can handle them quite well. When playing chess, I do not consider other things. Maybe last year I didn't play so well, but I think that when we come to the stage to play chess, we need to forget about other things. We need to just focus on the game itself."

Gukesh was even more pragmatic, “I think, in this case, my age helps me a lot because I don't have much of a personal life. I mean, my whole life revolves around chess. Everything is taken care of by my parents and my team. My only job is to play chess, so that's quite nice."

Photos: Maria Emelianova

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)

About the event

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, will face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The first of the fourteen scheduled games will take place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm. Gukesh will open with White. The match will be hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa and will be broadcasted live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.

Official website: worldchampionship.fide.com/

Full programme of side-events: worldchampionship.fide.com/events

The 2024 FIDE World Championship match between Ding Liren and Gukesh D kicked off this afternoon with the opening ceremony.

Packed to the brim with more than 400 guests, the magnificent Capitol Theatre, an architectural and lifestyle gem in the heart of Singapore's civic and cultural district, hosted the festivities.

The gala evening included a wonderful musical performance, three motivational opening speeches, the two national anthems, and, most importantly for the players, the drawing of colors for the first game of the match.

In an unprecedented technological display in which both players participated actively, the drawing of colors awarded Gukesh D the white pieces in the first of the fourteen games. Three of the many attending guests of honor addressed the audience, highlighting the significance of the event for the Singapore chess community.

Mr Teo Chee Hean, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security, was the first on the stage and was eager to keep in mind the huge impact of the championship on his country. "This year's World Championship has spread special significance for our part of the world. It is the first ever between two Grandmasters from Asia. Singapore is proud to play host for this historic match," he said.

FIDE President, Mr Arkady Dvorkovich, began his speech by thanking the media for paying so much attention to the match. He also mentioned the many side events organized around the event. In addition, he highlighted the fact that special attention had been given to the younger generation, "The match itself is the most important thing, but today we already had dozens of kids coming to the playing venue. I would like to thank both players for sharing their time with the kids: they will remember this moment for the rest of their lives, and maybe some of them will compete at the highest possible level at some point."

Dvorkovich also directed his attention to the worldwide audience and chess legacy, "Now, for the first time in history, the Indian Tiger faces the Chinese Dragon in the fight for the world crown. We are about to witness a monumental clash as Gukesh, just 18 years old, challenges the reigning World Champion, Ding Liren, one of the strongest players ever to emerge from China. This match will not only shape the history of the game, but also its future, with millions watching worldwide".

Finally, the President of the Singapore Chess Federation, Dr Hsu Li Yang, also an International Master in his own right, was confident that the match would help inspire the new generation of players in Singapore, "My federation and I hope that this match will serve as a powerful catalyst for our thriving chess community, inspiring the next generation of chess players in our country and around the world. Singapore has long valued education, innovation, perseverance and the pursuit of excellence – qualities that are the essence of chess and which both Champion and Challenger possess in spades."

The full video of the opening ceremony can be found here:

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)

Photos: Eng Chin An and Maria Emelianova

About the event

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, will face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The first of the fourteen scheduled games will take place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm. Gukesh will open with White. The match will be hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa and will be broadcasted live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.

Official website: worldchampionship.fide.com/

Full programme of side-events: worldchampionship.fide.com/events

Curated with the help of Women Grandmaster Anna Burtasova, the "Beyond the Board" digital exhibition will explore the history of chess from its origin to the modern era, highlighting key events, people, and cultures that have shaped the black-and-white game.

Featured on the Google Arts & Culture platform, the online exhibition opens with ten surprising facts about chess and then splits into two themes—history and Artificial Intelligence. Visitors are taken on a journey from the game's ancient origins to the rise of supercomputers and the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence in chess.

"The exhibition is designed and presented in a way that gives visitors a rounded picture of this ancient game. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to work with Google on this project, which will bring chess closer to millions of people globally," said Anna Burtasova.

Google is the Title Sponsor of the FIDE World Championship 2024, which starts today, November 25, at Resorts World Sentosa. Chess represents a profound intersection of human ingenuity and technological potential, and has always been a proving ground for AI innovation. In fact, some of our earliest AI breakthroughs came from mastering chess as a proof-of-concept. Through Search, YouTube, and AI, Google is enhancing the Championship experience for chess fans globally, celebrating the beauty of the game that continues to inspire and challenge people.

Check it out here: artsandculture.google.com/project/chess

About FIDE: The International Chess Federation (FIDE) is the global governing body for chess, overseeing international competitions. It encompasses 201 countries as affiliate members. Founded in Paris in 1924 under the motto "Gens una sumus" ("We are one family"), FIDE was recognized by the International Olympic Committee as a Global Sporting Organization in 1999. Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, FIDE promotes chess worldwide, reflecting its status as a truly global sport.

About Google Arts & Culture: Google Arts & Culture is an online platform developed by Google in collaboration with over 2,000 museums, galleries, and cultural institutions worldwide. It offers users the ability to explore high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts, providing virtual tours of galleries and detailed information about various art pieces.

The International Chess Federation and the world's top tech company challenge enthusiasts to make chess-playing programs which work well without requiring powerful computers to run them.

Chess has long been a grand challenge for artificial intelligence, a proving ground for pushing the boundaries of algorithms and computational power. While advancements like AlphaZero and Stockfish engines have achieved superhuman performance, they often rely on vast resources inaccessible to most developers.

The project, being part of Google's sponsorship activities for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2024, emphasizes ingenuity and efficiency over computing force. Participants are tasked with making smart chess programs that use limited computer power and memory, instead of relying on brute computing strength and huge amounts of data. The prize fund of the competition of $50,000 has been generously donated by Kaggle.

The initiative is inspired by a 1950 concept put forward by Claude Shannon, a mathematician who is widely recognized as the father of information theory: "Thinking rigorously about the construction of a chess-playing computer might act as a wedge in attacking other problems of a similar nature and of greater significance."

The exploration of novel, optimized techniques can address a growing complexity and scale of problems, like advancements in modeling and inference techniques and improvements upon traditional heuristic-based algorithms, beyond the field of chess.

The competition and evaluation are open to coders across the world. From the moment a participant or team joins, they are able to submit up to five agents (bots) to the competition each day. Each submission will play episodes (games) against other bots on the leaderboard that have a similar skill rating. Over time, skill ratings will go up with wins, down with losses, or even out with ties. Every bot submitted will continue to play episodes until the end of the competition, with newer bots selected to play more frequently. Once a team has reached two active submissions, older entries will be deactivated.

The project is hosted on Google's platform Kaggle – a place for data science and machine learning where users can compete in challenges, and learn through collaborative coding and tutorials.

Individuals or teams participating must submit their programs by February 11, 2025, the latest.

More information about the event and registration can be found here: FIDE & Google Efficient Chess AI Challenge | Kaggle

More activities involving Google and its products planned to enhance the Championship experience for chess fans globally will be announced shortly!

In an unexpected turn of events, Ding Liren defeated Gukesh D with the black pieces in the first game of the 2024 FIDE World Championship match in Singapore. Despite spending a lot of time at the beginning of the game, the Chinese Grandmaster found a way to nullify his opponent's opening initiative and take advantage of White's pawn weaknesses to break through with a decisive middlegame counterattack.

The action began at 5 PM sharp. Just before the arbiter started the clocks, the master of ceremonies, GM Maurice Ashley, introduced the two players, along with two rising stars from the Singaporean youth academy.

Ding Liren was accompanied by 9-year-old candidate master Ashwath Kaushik, the youngest player to defeat a GM in classical chess and the reigning World Rapid Cadets U8 Champion. Gukesh D was joined by 9-year-old Tanvi Trivedi, gold medallist in rapid and silver in standard and blitz at the 2023 Eastern Asian Championship, and Singapore's highest-rated U10 girl.

Immediately afterward, the ceremonial first move featured an exceptional guest: Sir Demis Hassabis. ⁠⁠Co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, a leading AI research organization that created AlphaZero, Hassabis is also a FIDE Candidate Master. He once was the second highest ranked U-14 player in the world after the legend herself, Judit Polgar. Most recently, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing AlphaFold, a ground-breaking AI system that predicts the 3D structure of proteins from their amino acid sequences.

Gukesh pointed to his e-pawn – a slight surprise, as the Indian wunderkind generally favors 1.d4 or 1.Nf3. The game was on! Ding Liren chose the French Defence, but Gukesh remained unphased: although Ding Liren has played this opening quite frequently, including a couple of rapid games in 2023, his main move against 1.e4 in recent times has always been 1.e5. Nonetheless, he did use the French once in his 2023 World Championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi, a game which he lost although definitely not due to the opening.

Ding was visibly surprised by Gukesh's 6.Nce2 (instead of 6.Ngf3) and took around three minutes to reply 6...Nc6 and a further seven minutes to go for the secondary line 7...a5 followed by 8...a4. Later, he argued that he had analysed the line but couldn't remember the correct continuations and decided to improvise on the board. According to databases he has never faced 6.Nce2 before, although between 2009 and 2012 he played twenty-one times against the main line 6.Nf3.

Still in preparation, Gukesh decided to go for it with 10.g4, playing for an attack. It was clear that both players had brought their fighting spirit to the board. Soon, the game was a mess, with all three results on the line. In the commentary booth, former Women's World Champion Xie Jun was certainly surprised at the result of the opening: "It seems that they haven't played this line before. They analyzed, they prepared, and they probably knew the plans, but this is the first time they gave it on the board. It's a very complicated position – the way they played is a little bit out of control".

Ding decided not to take any breaks – he spent 100% of his time at the board, while Gukesh would go to his personal room now and then. As the game progressed, Ding managed to create real counterplay on the queenside. Although the engines were claiming equality, it started to look like Gukesh's aggressive kingside attack might have backfired.

The retreat 22.Qe1 was definitely a blunder, and after that, Ding Liren seemed to be on the right track to win the game.

However, by playing 27…fxe6 instead of the solid 27…Bxe6, he allowed Gukesh a chance to get off the hook.

POSITION OF THE DAY

Put yourself in Gukesh's shoes. What would you play 30.Qc2 or 30.Bc5?

Low on time, Gukesh had initially calculated 30.Bc5 Qxg4 and now the brilliant 31.Qxh7!! with the point 31…Rxh7 32.Rf8 checkmate. However, upon arriving at the position on the board, he noticed that Black had the intermediate check 31…Qd4!+, and abandoned the idea. Therefore, he chose 30.Qc2 and Ding Liren wrapped up the game.

Instead, the 18-year-old Indian should have played 30.Bc5 Qxg4 and now 31.Rf3! attacking the a-pawn and after 31…Nc4, he could go 32.Qf1! which would have given him enormous tactical compensation and a real chance to muddy the waters.

In the postgame press conference, Ding Liren acknowledged that he had been a bit lucky as he had missed two tactics that, fortunately for him, didn't work for his opponent. For his part, Gukesh confessed that he was quite nervous before the game, and although he was able to calm down, he understood that his opponent had played very well.

For the first time since the 2010 Anand vs Topalov match, the first game of a title match ended decisively. On that occasion, Indian superstar Vishy Anand also lost to Veselin Topalov but went on to claim the title.

This is Ding's first win in classical chess since January 27, when he defeated GM Max Warmerdam in Tata Steel. Warmerdam joked about it on X after today's game.

The second game of the match will take place on Tuesday, November 26, at 5 PM local time in Singapore, with Ding Liren playing White.

FACT SHEET, Game 1, FIDE World Championship 2024:

White: Gukesh D
Black: Ding Liren
Result: 0-1
Opening: French Defence, Steinitz variation
Game length: 42 moves
Opening: French Defence
Variation: Steinitz Variation
Match score: 1-0 (in favor of Ding Liren)

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)
Photos: Eng Chin An and Maria Emelianova

About the event

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, will face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The first of the fourteen scheduled games will take place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm. Gukesh will open with White. The match will be hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa and will be broadcasted live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.

From Google Arts & Culture to GenChess, discover new ways to experience chess with AI and explore the history of this timeless game.

Chess, the classic game of strategy, has long been a proving ground for artificial intelligence. Google has achieved breakthroughs in AI with programs like AlphaZero — a single system that taught itself, from scratch, how to master chess — demonstrating AI's ability to find creative solutions in complex scenarios.

The methods the company developed and refined through games like chess have also led to real-world results. For example, similar techniques were applied to predict protein structures with AlphaFold, accelerate mathematical research with AlphaProof, and even discover entirely new algorithms with AlphaDev. This ongoing exchange between chess and AI fuels our passion for the game and its enduring impact on the field.

Now, with Google as the title sponsor of the World Chess Championship, we're celebrating this timeless game with a range of new experiences worldwide.

1. Take chess beyond the board with a historical deep dive

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) and Google Arts & Culture have launched "Beyond the Board", a digital exhibition exploring the history of chess from the sixth century to today. Curated by Woman Grandmaster Anna Burtasova, the exhibition features the International Chess Federation's archival collection of photos, rare scoresheets, and artworks, highlighting the evolution of the game and its key figures.

"Beyond the Board" also examines the impact of AI on modern chess, showcasing the dramatic increase in processing power of chess engines, while celebrating the enduring appeal of chess as a space for human creativity and strategic thinking. This exhibition was made possible through close partnerships with experts and cultural organizations, and we're looking forward to continuing to work with them on the next installment of this series.

2. Transform your ideas into one-of-a-kind chess pieces

Next up, you'll be able to reimagine the traditional chess set with GenChess, a new AI-powered experiment from Google Labs. Simply provide a text prompt like "sushi" or "mountain climbing" and Google's most advanced image generation model, Imagen 3, will create a unique chess set for you.

GenChess will be available this week for you to try.

3. Join the challenge to build an AI chess bot

FIDE and Google are partnering to help create the next wave of breakthroughs in efficient AI with the FIDE & Google Efficient Chess AI Challenge, hosted by Kaggle.

This coding challenge invites people from around the world to participate in creating their own AI chess engines on Kaggle. This competition has a unique twist: these engines must operate under strict memory and processing limitations. It levels the playing field, allowing anyone with a passion for AI and a creative mind to participate. Kaggle even provides free computational resources, alongside starter materials and a friendly community to help you dive in. Visit the competition homepage on Kaggle to learn more and participate.

4. Test your talent against Gemini's Chess Gem

Coming in December, Chess champ is a new, conversational way to experience chess within the Gemini app. Test your talent against a language model in a game of chess. Explore different openings, banter with Gemini and see if you can beat it. This feature will be available in English in the Gemini web app for Gemini Advanced subscribers.

5. Follow every move at the WCC with commentary by Gemini

This year, Google is bringing AI directly to viewers who tune into the World Chess Championship. Imagine having an AI companion to guide you through the intricacies of a championship match — that's what we're doing with "Chatting Chess." This new segment on the FIDE livestream will use Gemini to demystify the game, offering insightful commentary and fascinating chess trivia. You can also expect to find interesting comparisons and relatable analogies to help understand key moves and strategies.

The championship kicks off on Monday, November 25, and you can catch all the action, including "Chatting Chess," on FIDE's YouTube livestream starting at 5:00 PM Singapore time.

The second game of the FIDE World Championship between Ding Liren and Gukesh D ended in a solid draw. Both players decided to play it safe, steering clear of major complications and avoiding any risks. After a series of exchanges, a draw was agreed by threefold repetition on move 23. This result seems to satisfy both players.

Today's ceremonial first move featured two local celebrities. Ten-time Singapore champion and a living legend of Singapore chess, Mr. Tan Lian Ann, opened with the white pieces. Among many other achievements, Tan Lian Ann represented Singapore in four Olympiads, with three of them on board one.

For the black pieces, the move was performed by Professor Lim Kok Ann, widely known as the founder of Singapore chess. A famous microbiologist, he was Singapore's first National Chess Champion, and for close to five years, he was instrumental in fostering many Singaporean chess masters. Having passed away, he was represented by his daughter Stella Kon, a renowned Singaporean playwright, novelist, short-story writer, and poet. She and her siblings have also sponsored the latest GM tournament in Singapore.

Ding Liren's first move 1.e4 surprised resident match commentator GM David Howell. "I am a bit shocked by his opening choice. He rarely employs the king's pawn openings until the last few months, when he has been experimenting a bit with it - he doesn't seem like a natural e4 player to me, but here we are!"

Gukesh took a moment to reconsider his strategy when Ding Liren played 5.Nc3 – the Giuoco Pianissimo variation of the Italian Opening. The Chinese champion had never played this line before, always choosing more dynamic setups with 5.c3. His most recent example was earlier this year in the Sinquefield Cup against … Gukesh!

"My basic idea was to play carefully, and I was fine with a draw. I remembered that my second said that the opening was 0.2 according to the computer, so I may have missed some opportunities," said Ding, initially content with his approach.

The theoretical novelty of today's game was 9.a5, grabbing more space on the queenside. Funnily enough, another top Indian player, Praggnanandhaa R, was involved in the two elite games in this line: in those games, played in 2023, the chosen moves were 9.Bxe6 and 9.Bxc5

Gukesh was fine with this approach. "I just wanted to play a good game," he said. "With Black, so early in a match, you don't want to do anything stupid. Yesterday, I was feeling good; I was fresh and confident, just that I missed a few tactics, which can happen to anyone at any time."

Gukesh was on top of his game. He pondered over the position between moves nine and thirteen for about twenty minutes, eventually finding a very logical sequence of exchanges. The resulting endgame looked totally equal.

Contrary to what happened in the first game, Gukesh was fully concentrated at the board while Ding Liren was the one to take a couple of brief disappearances to their personal resting rooms – the tables had turned.

In the commentary booth, former World Championship challenger GM Boris Gelfand was asked which side he would choose. "If I had to choose sides, I would choose White. It's a slow game, and we can improve our pieces slowly. Black has difficulties in choosing what to do".

However, Ding's 14.Rdc1 came as a shocker. It's very rare to see a player abandon an open file with no apparent reason. On the commentary, GM Howell was sure that Ding Liren was still in preparation: "He has definitely seen this position before, sliding the rook across. You don't play rook to c1 within a few minutes if you haven't studied it before!"

The ideas behind the mysterious move were quite hidden, and Gukesh took more than twenty-five minutes to sort things out. Ding Liren prophylactically defends the c2-pawn, which will come under attack at some point, avoiding the exchange of rooks at the same time.

Additionally, his king can move towards the center, and the knight on f3 can be transferred via e1 to d3 - an active position eyeing black's pawn weaknesses and blocking the d-file. A fantastic idea!!

That being said, it soon became clear that his plan had backfired. "The move Rc1 is a typical idea in this kind of structure, but I don't think it's a good move in the game because I didn't know how to develop while he has such a strong knight on d4. In fact, later on, I moved the rook back to d1," Ding lamented after the game.

In contrast, Gukesh D was quite happy: "I was able to find a good formation of pieces, after which it's hard for White to really make progress. Maybe his move 14.Rd-c1 was not the best, but I didn't see any other challenges in the position. Today was a good day, and hopefully, we will have many more good days coming."

Midway through the game, the many tens of thousands of viewers on FIDE's YouTube channel enjoyed the insights of the five-time World Champion Vishy Anand, who is also one of Gukesh's mentors. "We are actually neighbors in Chennai, as we live very near each other. Of course, if Gukesh wins the match, it will be huge for Indian chess. Many people would take up the game and start following. The fact that he is so young means that we can look forward to having him for a while – he would be the youngest ever in history."

Although the World Championship is the main event, the local organizers, along with FIDE, have programmed a wide range of side events for all the fans coming to Sentosa for the match. This afternoon, Google DeepMind scientist Nenad Tomašev delivered an exclusive presentation on the development and impact of AlphaZero, an AI program that has mastered complex games like chess. The session shed light on the intersection of technology and chess and offered unique perspectives for all enthusiasts.

The third game of the match is scheduled for November 27, at 5 PM local time in Singapore, with Gukesh D playing White.

FACT SHEET, Game 2, FIDE World Championship:

White: Ding Liren
Black: Gukesh D
Result: ½-½
Game length: 23 moves
Opening: Italian Opening
Variation: Giuoco Pianissimo
Match score: 1½-½ (in favour of Ding Liren)

A batch of photos from the game is available at
flickr.com/photos/fide/albums/72177720322177131/

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)
Photos: Eng Chin An and Maria Emelianova

About the event

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, will face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The first of the fourteen scheduled games will take place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm. Gukesh will open with White. The match will be hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa and will be broadcasted live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.

The 18-year-old challenger from India, Gukesh D, scored a huge win this afternoon to level the match score at 1.5-1.5. Armed with excellent opening preparation, and full of confidence, Gukesh trapped one of Ding Liren’s minor pieces and it was smooth sailing from then on.

Gukesh was calm as a cucumber after the game, but one could sense he was content. “It feels great. For the past two days I have been very happy with my play and today I managed to outplay my opponent, which was very nice. I was prepared until move thirteen, I guess he was trying to remember something, but maybe he mixed up at some point. My position after g5, with this plan f3-e4, seems very shaky for him,” he shared after the game.

The afternoon started with the traditional ceremonial move, performed by Mr Olivier Lim, Chairman of the Singapore Tourism Board, introduced by master of ceremonies Maurice Ashley with his usual flair.

Although Gukesh has played most of the main openings during his career, 1.d4 has always been his main weapon. Most of the commentators and pundits, myself included, expected him to repeat 1.e4, but resident commentator GM David Howell offered an alternative explanation.

“In a 14-game match you have seven White games, so you do have time to throw out some different ideas and test what your opponent has prepared,” was Howell’s reasoning. “Alternatively, maybe his team has drawn a blank against the French defence and need some time to come up with something there.”

Both players fired out their initial opening moves in the Exchange Variation of Queen’s Gambit Declined, following the 2023 Dusseldorf FIDE World Rapid Team Championship game between Kramnik and Erigaisi. Gukesh had studied that game in his preparation for today: “I remembered the game, and also that Kramnik had a huge advantage in the middlegame after a blunder by Erigaisi.”

Meanwhile, it seemed that Ding Liren was struggling with his memory – after just thirteen moves he was already more than an hour behind on the clock. “This line came as a surprise totally. After 7.h3 I had no knowledge at all,” Ding Liren admitted.

Capturing the pawn en prise on b3 would have been extremely dangerous (Erigaisi saved the game by the skin of his teeth) so Ding Liren opted for development with 13…Nbd7 followed by the impressive find 14…Rg8!

However, he spent thirty-five minutes of his two hours to accurately calculate all the consequences of his decision. “It doesn’t seem a comfortable position for Black. He has spent a lot of time calculating the different options to get to this position,” explained former World Champion Vishy Anand in the commentary booth. “It’s the computer effect – a position like this can end up being very sharp.”

Gukesh went into the tank and nearly forty-five minutes to find the idea 14.Nd2 and 15.g5 leaving black’s knight stranding on the side of the board. GM Howell compared the situation to the first game: “I am getting huge déjà vu from game one - once again he has aggressively pushed his g-pawn, somewhat overextending, and he also has some weaknesses on the queenside, albeit with no queens on the board.”

But this time his plan worked! Although Ding seemed to have a comfortable position, there was the lingering danger of losing the “trapped” bishop on c2.

The key position arose in a tense queenless middlegame on move 18. Ding’s light-squared bishop was compromised on c2, dangerously close to being trapped.

TPut yourself in Ding’s shoes with the Black pieces. Would you play the aggressive 18…Rh5 attacking the pawn on g5 or 18…Bf5, getting your bishop out of the danger zone, or even 18…Be7, developing your last minor piece?

Ding chose the aggressive 18…Rh5, attacking another pawn. “I knew my bishop on c2 was a weakness so I tried to come up with some idea to save it. I calculated a long line with 18…Be7, and I thought I was worse. Now I see that it’s not so clear, according to the computer. In the line that I played with 18…Rh5, I missed his move 23.Ne2,” he explained his miscalculation.

After 19.e4! trapping the bishop, engine suggests that 19…Ne6 would have offered more chances to defend than 19…dxe4 but the position was already quite difficult. A piece down for two pawns, with ten minutes on the clock against forty, things were looking very bleak for the champion.

“I still see some hope for Ding Liren, but only if he is able to swap a lot of pawns, and that doesn’t seem easy,” argued co-host IM Jovanka Houska.

Gukesh wrapped the game up on move 37 – Ding Liren officially lost on time, but his position was already beyond repair.

This win marked Gukesh’s first classical victory against Ding Liren, and the challenger was understandably very happy: “It’s always nice to win a game against such a strong opponent. I think it means more that I got a win in the World Championship.”

Ding Liren’s final words lead to believe that he definitely wasn’t done yet and would be capable of bouncing back: “If I get such a position in the game, I need to press for a win.”

The players will enjoy a well-earned rest day tomorrow. The fourth game of the match will take place on Friday, November 29, at 5 PM local time in Singapore, with Ding Liren playing White.

FACT SHEET, Game 3, FIDE World Championship:
White: Gukesh D
Black: Ding Liren
Result: 1-0
Game length: 37 moves
Opening: Queen’s Gambit Declined
Variation: Exchange variation
Match score: 1.5-1.5

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)
Photos: Eng Chin An and Maria Emelianova

Full programme of side-events: worldchampionship.fide.com/events

About the event

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, will face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The first of the fourteen scheduled games will take place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm. Gukesh will open with White. The match will be hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa and will be broadcasted live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.

A game that sees both players performing at a 100% accuracy rate can only end in splitting the point. After 42 hard-fought moves, the champion, Ding Liren, and the challenger, Gukesh D, agreed to a draw after a clear three-fold repetition in a rook ending, leaving the match score tied 2-2 after four games.

The champion was quite content with his play: "Yesterday I had a rest day to recover from the tough loss, and today I was in a very good mood. I tried to surprise my opponent, and it worked well, but the advantage was very small. He was able to neutralize my initiative and the game was balanced."

For the challenger, a draw with Black is a very good result: "It wasn't a completely new line for me, although it was a bit of a surprise. I was playing over the board from early on. I think I reacted well enough, neutralizing his edge. It was a solid game, and even towards the end, I had some chances to press better. With Black, it's all you can expect in a match.

Both players arrived at the board a few minutes before 5 pm, sporting matching dark suits. After the customary handshake, the master of ceremonies introduced GM's Xie Jun and Vishy Anand, both of them world champions, FIDE officials, and trailblazers in their countries, representing two of the world's chess superpowers - China and India.

Four-time Women's World Chess Champion, Xie Jun, was the first Asian woman to become a chess grandmaster. FIDE Vice-President and current president of the Chinese Chess Association, she was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2019. Xie Jun performed the ceremonial opening move White.

Opening the game for Black, five-time World Chess Champion and two-time World Cup winner Viswanathan Anand is the father of the Indian chess boom. He became the first Indian grandmaster in 1988 and was elected deputy president of FIDE in 2022.

With the game in progress, Ding Liren opened with one of his go-to main moves 1.Nf3. In the commentary booth, IM Jovanka Houska was already quite excited "We did see the distinguished guests open up with 1.d4 d5, but that's actually not what's been played: instead Ding Liren opening with the knight! I was suggesting this at lunch as a good attempt to mix things up".

Gukesh quickly replied with 1…d5 and was immediately thrown off by Ding's second and third moves, 2.e3 and 3.b3, the Zukertort Opening, classified under the flank systems. Ding had only played this move on a couple of occasions in the past in rapid games – to put things into perspective, he has more than 1000 games with White in the databases.

Gukesh correctly opted to go into the tank for a few minutes and came up with a very solid London system setup.

Meanwhile, Ding swiftly left the board to get a bottle of water from his lounge, to immediately return and focus. Commentator GM David Howell observed, "You are essentially playing a Queen's Indian defense but with the white pieces. It's a very well-known opening, and Ding will be playing with an extra tempo. Psychologically, that could be difficult".

The battle for the control over the position took an interesting turn after Ding Liren's 5.Ba3, a move that has hardly been played at the highest level. "I have seen this sneaky idea before, but I'm not sure if it's this exact position. White is trying to exchange the bishops and take away his opponent's castling rights" confirmed Howell in the booth.

GM Vidit, Gukesh's elite teammate from India, tweeted about the opening: "I had the same position/opening as in Ding-Gukesh in 2022 against Hans Niemann. My feeling was that it's not really dangerous for Black and the play is quite easy..."

But Gukesh was on his game, figured out the idea, and neutralized it easily. "Ding isn't trying to play the most ambitious chess – he's just trying to keep the game alive, avoid preparation, and go for an unorthodox position," both commentators agreed.

Gukesh followed along the lines of a 2021 rapid game between elite GM's Wesley So and Anish Giri. At the end of the opening, he seemed to have equalized comfortably, albeit with most of the pieces on the board. Notwithstanding, it did seem that White's position was easier to handle. Contrary to the previous three games, today both players managed the clock adequately and went neck-to-neck for the most part of the game.

Put yourself in Ding Liren's shoes. Would you play 14.f4, pushing back the knight and starting an attack or 14.a4, increasing your space advantage on the queenside?

Ding opted for the latter, with an advantage on the queenside. Gukesh clarified that he wanted his opponent to play 14.f4 because he thought that later on, he could take advantage of the weaknesses on the e-file. Very deep indeed!

Former Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk joined the broadcast going into the middlegame. Asked about her impressions of the match, she replied, "I have a slight feeling of dissatisfaction in a way because in the first and third game, you could sense the momentum rising, and then the tension was released too fast. We didn't get to see the real fight that we were waiting for. I am rooting for chess, and I'd like to see the tension until the very last pawn, complicated middlegames, and interesting endgames, but I'm sure they will come: the players are still warming up, it's a long match".

On move fifteen, Gukesh finally pushed his b7 pawn to b6 – an important moment in the game as this pawn was the only piece of the sixty-four that still hadn't been moved. "The next few moves will be critical in deciding the outcome of the game," were Kosteniuk's final words.

Another former Women's World Champion, Susan Polgar, also chimed in on X: "Ding's game strategy is simple. He wants to take Gukesh off his excellent home preparation. This forces Gukesh to spend a lot of time on the board to come up with the right ideas/moves/plans. Ding believes that Gukesh is more vulnerable when he is out of preparation and low on time".

Around move sixteen, engines suggested some interesting lines to keep fighting for the initiative, but Ding Liren didn't find clarity and went for simplifications. The game soon fizzled out to a queen and rook ending, which the opponents played perfectly. Already, the game was heading for a draw quite soon; the 40-move rule doesn't allow to share the point unless there is a three-fold repetition, which occurred on move 42.

The fifth game of the match is scheduled for Saturday, November 30, at 5 PM local time in Singapore, with Gukesh D playing White.

FACT SHEET, Game 4, FIDE World Championship:
White: Ding Liren
Black: Gukesh D
Result: 0.5-0.5
Match score: 2-2
Game length: 42 moves
Opening: Zukertort opening

The full programme of side-events:
worldchampionship.fide.com/Side-events.php

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)
Photos: Eng Chin An and Maria Emelianova

About the event

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, will face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The first of the fourteen scheduled games will take place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm. Gukesh will open with White. The match will be hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa and will be broadcasted live with expert commentary on the

Against all odds, World Champion Ding Liren missed a great chance to pile up the pressure in the FIDE World Championship match presented by Google, misplaying a significant advantage in the endgame.

Defending the black pieces, the Chinese champion efficiently neutralized his opponent’s exchange variation in the French Defence and seemed to be well on his to scoring his second win.

However, just when the time seemed ripe, uncertainty crept in. Ding did not find the strongest continuation in a critical position, allowing the challenger to escape with a draw and keep the score tied at 2.5 points apiece heading into Game 6.

The game started as usual with the customary handshake and ceremonial move. Both players arrived quite a few minutes before 5 PM and were introduced to K. Shanmugam, the Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law of Singapore. A passionate chess enthusiast, whose son is actually an International Master, performed the opening move for Gukesh.

Ding Liren chose to repeat the French defence, which gave him such a good result in the first game. Gukesh changed gears and surprisingly decided to play the exchange variation, a line he had never used in his classical games.

Legendary Philippine GM Eugenio Torre, invited guest for commentary, shared his thoughts: “I noticed that the players are trying to play different openings and defences. You used to be able to play the same variations but not anymore because of the computers”.

On move eight, Gukesh introduced a new idea, 8.Qe2+, specially prepared for this game. He was obviously very aware of the main line with 8.0 - 0 since it was played twice in the Toronto Candidates tournament, by both Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi against Nijat Abasov. A couple of months later, Nakamura's second, Nils Grandelius, tested it again without much success in the Budapest Olympiad against Alexei Shirov.

Ding went into the tank for nearly forty minutes considering his options and came up with the best defence, maintaining the equilibrium. Regarding deep thinking, Torre made another interesting observation: “Grandmasters usually only analyse one or two moves ahead, except when there is a forced variation, in which you have to think six or seven moves ahead, for example when you sacrifice a piece.”

After the early exchange of queens, realizing that his opponent was going to equalize the position without many problems, Gukesh decided to play actively with 17.g4, a risky move that he has made in all three of his games with White.

"It's cool that it's the third game in a row that I am playing g4," Gukesh said after the game. However, a few moves later he forgot to exchange the rooks (Gukesh should have played 23.Rxe5) and, without really knowing how, found himself in a very difficult ending.

In the commentary booth, GM David Howell was amazed: “Black’s winning chances have suddenly increased massively. The move 23.dxe5 might have been a big mistake; I would have preferred to exchange rooks. Gukesh didn’t even think about it, he’s got 51 minutes on the clock, but he played it immediately. We often call it “the sting in the tail” – right at the end of a variation sometimes you forget to look one move deeper.”

Put yourself in Ding Liren’s shoes. Should you play 27…Bc6 or 27…Be6?

“Towards the end of the game, I was very worried about my position after the manoeuvre 27…Be6 followed by 28…Rc8. I was quite relieved when my opponent played 27…Bc6, as I thought it would be a draw” a visibly relieved Gukesh explained in the postgame press conference.

The champion acknowledged missing a big opportunity: “I didn’t see the idea with 28…Rc8, I was thinking of moving the king to the kingside, like some kind of Berlin pawn structure. I didn’t realize that it was a big advantage for me.”

On social media, several strong players including the Latvian legend GM Arturs Neiksans were not impressed by Gukesh’s performance.

After Ding missed this one golden opportunity, the position fizzled out into an opposite-side coloured bishop endgame with a totally irrelevant extra pawn for Gukesh – a draw was quickly agreed upon reaching the reglementary move forty threshold.

At the end of the press conference, Gukesh congratulated his colleague teammate Nihal Sarin for his recent success: "I didn’t know that he won the 3rd President Cup in Uzbekistan, so firstly congrats to him. During the tournament, I generally don’t talk to many people outside my team, but it’s always nice when Indian youngsters keep achieving things, it’s motivating for all of us."

The sixth game of the match is scheduled for Sunday, December 1, at 5 PM local time in Singapore with Ding Liren playing White.

FACT SHEET, Game 5, FIDE World Championship:
White: Gukesh
Black: Ding Liren
Result: 0.5-0.5
Game length: 40 moves
Opening: French Defence
Variation: Exchange variation
Match score: 2.5-2.5

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)
Photos: Eng Chin An and Maria Emelianova

Full programme of side-events: worldchampionship.fide.com/events

About the event

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, will face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The first of the fourteen scheduled games will take place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm. Gukesh will open with White. The match will be hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa and will be broadcasted live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.

“Opening preparation is like an iceberg – most of the lines remain under the sea” (Ding Liren)

The sixth game of the FIDE World Championship match, presented by Google, ended in a draw after 46 moves this afternoon. Both players tried everything on the board, probing for mistakes in each other's play, but neither managed to break through.

The Indian challenger, Gukesh D. could have forced a draw on move twenty-six, but instead he chose to play on, arguing that although he thought that he might be slightly worse, there was no reason to not continue and see what happened. The champion Ding Liren was content with the result, but acknowledged that he needed to tighten up his game.

Today’s ceremonial move was performed by Scott Beaumont. A huge chess fan, Scott led Google in Asia Pacific over the last five years, and prior to that in Greater China and Korea. A key person in the partnership, he spearheaded Google's title sponsorship of this historic match: the first ever between two Asian grandmasters.

The use of super computers in high-level chess has completely changed opening preparation. Given that all openings have been analyzed to equality, it is increasingly important to find ideas that can surprise your opponent, gain some time on the clock and trust that they will not be able to find the key equalizing moves over the board.

This afternoon’s game was an excellent example. The champion Ding Liren went for the London system, which he already used successfully in the sixth game of his 2023 World Championship match against Nepomniachtchi. Although Ding is a consummate 1.d4 player, the London is an unusual choice in his opening repertoire.

But Gukesh came well-prepared to the board and blitzed out his first fifteen moves. He was clearly still in his preparation, no doubt following the Aronian-Dominguez game from the 2022 Saint Louis championship, which ended in a three-fold repetition draw quite early in the game.

Meanwhile, in the commentary booth, five-time World Champion and legend of the game Vishy Anand gave his thoughts on both players. “They have contrasting approaches. Ding is very solid with White, not taking a lot of risk yet. On the other hand, Gukesh is pushing it a bit more but every once in a while, he stumbles, like yesterday. I think they are both trying very hard – maybe Gukesh is putting a little bit more pressure but he needs to me more accurate”.

Ding uncorked his novelty on move sixteen (16.dxe5) forcing Gukesh to think out his sixteenth and seventeenth move for more than twenty minutes. Totally focused, he found one of the several lines that promised a more or less balanced position, and it was Ding’s turn to dive deep into thought: it took him over forty minutes to decide upon 21.Qxc6 – apparently, the game was on!

However, suddenly two moves later it seemed that the time came to pack the bags and head over to the press conference: both players were repeating moves.

Put yourself in Gukesh’s shoes. Would you play 26…Qe7, and claim a threefold position draw or go 26…Qh4 and play on?

Rather unexpectedly, Gukesh decided to play on, choosing 26…Qh4 instead of 26…Qe7, claiming a draw. After the game, he clarified his thoughts behind his decision: “I thought I might be slightly worse out of the opening but I wasn’t even sure. But with the files open in front of his king I thought I would always have counterplay and I didn’t see a reason to take the draw repetition. Obviously, I wasn’t playing for a win, I just wanted to play a few more moves and see what happened.”

“That’s the professional way to go – repeat twice, make your opponent think that he has a draw, and at the last moment change your move,” said commentator IM Jovanka Houska in the commentator’s booth. Anand added: “Maybe Ding has studied this position and knows there is counterplay all over the place: in that case, maybe his outlook is different.” A fantastic insight from five-time World Champion!

At some point, most of the online viewers considered Ding’s position to be slightly favorable, but, following a certain trend in this event, the advantage slipped away after a few inaccurate moves. Both players proceeded with caution and eventually exchanged queens, arriving at a fairly balanced rook ending. A draw was agreed on move 46.

The champion Ding Liren was content with the result, noting that the match is even with several more games still to be played. At the same time, he acknowledged the need to sharpen his focus. “I feel like I am letting my advantage slip away at a critical moment. I have to improve this in the following games,” were his thoughts after the game.

“Opening preparation is like an iceberg. The positions you see in the game are the ones that are on top, higher than the sea, but there are a lot of lines that don’t occur, they are all under the sea.”

Before leaving for the day, Vishy praised the young Indian players Gukesh D, Praggnanandhaa R and Arjun Erigaisi. "This is a golden generation; they were grandmasters at a very young age. The thing is they keep growing…You can’t keep talking about this as a future thing, it’s happening right now. They’re all top10 players!"

Tomorrow is the second official rest day for the players. The seventh game of the match is scheduled for Tuesday, December 3, at 5 PM local time in Singapore, with Gukesh playing White.

FACT SHEET, Game 6, FIDE World Championship:
White: Ding Liren
Black: Gukesh D
Result: 0.5-0.5
Match score: 3-3
Game length: 46 moves
Opening: London System

The full programme of side-events:
worldchampionship.fide.com/Side-events.php

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)
Photos: Eng Chin An and Maria Emelianova

About the event

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, will face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The first of the fourteen scheduled games will take place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm. Gukesh will open with White. The match will be hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa and will be broadcasted live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.

“When you cross the playing hall you can really feel the tension” (Anna Muzychuk)”

The champion Ding Liren dodged a bullet this afternoon. After a huge blunder on move forty, it looked like the challenger was about to make his claim to become the new FIDE World Champion.

Gukesh’s opening strategy was on point. His team prepared a strong novelty on move seven in a well-known line, allowing him to stay ahead on the clock for most of the game. The champion defended accurately but at a huge time cost and with only a few moves to go he was under acute time pressure.

With only seven seconds left on his clock, Ding Liren blundered on the last move before the time control. Instead of 40...Ke5?, he should have played 40...Nc8, followed by 41…Nb6, with a blockade and very good chances to draw.

But just when victory seemed locked up for the challenger, nerves kicked in. Converting his endgame advantage was not an easy task, and low on time, Gukesh was unable to find the win.

Let's dive into the details of what actually happened this afternoon in the Sentosa World Resorts Equarius Hotel in Singapore.

The ceremonial first move was performed by Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, and Second Minister for Law. He chose to open with 1.d4, but after a few seconds, Gukesh took it back and played 1.Nf3 instead, one of his three main opening moves.

Ding Liren took a couple of minutes to consider his options and decided on the classical variation of the Neo-Grünfeld defense, with 1…d5 and 2…g6. An expert in this line with White and Black, he had already played this setup on fourteen occasions from 2010 to 2021, against top players such as Nakamura, Kramnik, Svidler and Wesley So.

Gukesh blitzed out his opening moves and stunned all the fans with the novelty 7.Re1, a pawn gambit that had never been played before in more than 5000 master games.

Ding went into the tank for twenty-five minutes, trying to understand what was going on, and eventually decided to accept the pawn sacrifice, creating an unbalanced position: an extra pawn for Black in exchange for certain positional compensation.

"This line is very interesting for me as I play this line with Black regularly. This is the first time I see 7.Re1. It's a very rare move indeed but with a strong idea behind it, and actually, it's a bit scary to capture the pawn with 7…dxc4," explained GM Anna Muzychuk in the commentary booth.

A couple of moves later, the champion made a key decision. Instead of protecting his extra pawn with 9…b5 (the suggestion of engines), Ding Liren decided to give it back and also surrender his bishop pair to enjoy a superior pawn structure. "My first mistake was 9…c5 as after 10.d5 my opponent gets a better position and I have a hard defense," explained Ding after the game.

The resulting position seemed slightly better for Gukesh, and additionally he was clearly up on the clock. A few developing moves down the road, the second key position arose.

In all of his previous games with White, Gukesh had played g2-g4 at some point. "Now, g3-g4 would be a very Gukesh move," GM Howell called on commentary. Meanwhile, FIDE media polled the question on X, and included the mirror option b2-b4.

Although giving his opponent a protected passed pawn seemed very dangerous, Gukesh bravely pushed his b-pawn on move nineteen. The game was on!

White got a pair of bishops and an isolated passed pawn against a well-deployed Black army with a protected passed pawn for the endgame. "I thought I should be winning before the queen exchange and also after the queen exchange," explained Gukesh in the press conference. "I thought my position after 19.b4 was hopeless," was Ding's very frank opinion.

Meanwhile, in the commentary booth, GM Anna Muzychuk enjoyed every minute of the event. "Every World Championship match is a wonderful story; it's unique. No matter how it goes, I enjoy watching every game."

Back on the board, things were getting difficult for the champion. Ding only had 27 minutes left on the clock (Gukesh had 52) for 21 moves in an extremely complicated position, a fact observed by GM Danyyil Dvirnyy on "X".

Additionally, former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik wasn't impressed at all by the champion's play, and he made his opinion known on "X".

Taking all of this into account, it's actually a miracle that he survived to the endgame, as there were many pitfalls along the way. Gukesh could have sealed the deal on several occasions (30.Be3 instead of 30.Qf4, 32.Bg5 instead of 32.Qxf5, and finally 37.Rd2 instead of 37.Rf4) but allowed Ding to stay in the game.

Put yourself in Ding Liren's shoes. Would you play 40…Ke5 centralizing the king or 40…Nc8 to blockade on d6 or b6?

With only seven seconds left on the clock to reach move forty, Ding blundered big. Instead of the inferior 40...Ke5?, he should have played 40...Nc8! followed by 41…Nd6, with a blockade and very good chances to draw. After 41.Rh4! Ding lost his h-pawn, and things looked very bleak for Black indeed.

But just when victory seemed locked up for the challenger, nerves took their toll. Converting the endgame was not an easy task and, low on time, Gukesh was unable to find the win. Instead of 44.Ke1 played in the game, the correct move was 44.h4 (44.Ra6 also looks quite strong), and the rook ending after 44…Nd2+ is winning for White.

"I thought that the endgame with the weak f-pawns and my extra pawn should be enough to win, but it turned out to be more difficult than I expected," Gukesh explained at the press conference after the game. "For sure, 46.Bd1 was a bad move due to a miscalculation. I don't know exactly where the win was, but I should be winning," he lamented.

With seven of the fourteen scheduled classical games played, the match remains tied 3.5-3.5 heading into the second half.

The eighth game of the match will take place on Wednesday, 4th at 5 PM local time in Singapore. Ding Liren will play White.

FACT SHEET, Game 7, FIDE World Championship:
White: Gukesh D
Black: Ding Liren
Result: 0.5-0.5
Match score: 3.5-3.5
Game length: 72 moves
Opening: Neo-Grünfeld Defense
Variation: Classical Variation

Although the FIDE World Championship is by far the main event, the local organizers, along with FIDE, have programmed a wide range of side activities for all the fans coming to Sentosa for the match.

On the agenda this afternoon, three-time Women's Rapid World Champion GM Anna Muzychuk offered a talk in the VIP lounge open to all and then gave her thoughts on the game in progress as a guest in the commentary room.

The full programme of side-events:
worldchampionship.fide.com/Side-events.php

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)
Photos: Eng Chin An and Maria Emelianova

About the event

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The match is hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa and is broadcasted live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.

The eighth game of the 2024 FIDE World Championship, presented by Google, will go down in history as one of the most exciting encounters ever played in title matches. It was a struggle all the way through, with chances for both players, which finally ended in a draw after the challenger once again rejected a draw by threefold repetition.

The game began with the traditional ceremonial move, played by two distinguished guests. Opening 1.b3 with White, Mr. Kingston Kwek is a cryptocurrency entrepreneur and the founder of Academic Labs, or "AAX,” a sponsor of the chess championships. An avid chess player himself, Kwek enjoys playing against chess engines and on online platforms.

Grandmaster Kevin Goh Wei Ming, an eight-time Singapore National Champion, has represented his country in eight World Chess Olympiads and three South-East Asian Games. He is a Chartered Accountant and was the CFO of one of the fasting growing biomedical start-ups from Singapore before joining the Singapore Chess Federation as its CEO. He is also the chair of the Local Organizing Committee. On his move with Black, Kevin decided to counter with 1…a5, a move which elicited a smile from Ding Liren.

The champion Ding Liren opened the game with 1.c4, the English Opening. Following the trend shown so far by both players, Ding Liren decided not to repeat any of the opening moves used previously – we had a fresh position on the board!

“I have been playing the English Opening for the last ten years and one of the downsides in the variations in which Black plays a quick …e5 is that there are so many options,” observed GM David Howell in the commentary booth. He added, “When I am preparing a game, I often find that I am going down these rabbit holes, twenty moves deep in some variations, and then my opponent surprises me on move two or three. Suddenly you find yourself in waters that you haven’t researched recently.”

The challenger Gukesh D replied almost instantly and essentially blitzed out his first ten moves, once again displaying excellent opening knowledge and specific preparation for the match. Ding had the two bishops, Gukesh controlled the center.

Gukesh was delighted with his opening choice: “I want to congratulate my team, not only my head coach Gajewski, but also all the other coaches. They are doing an excellent job and I thank them for their interesting ideas,” he said after the game.

Meanwhile, Ding Liren seemed to struggle with remembering his own preparation, and soon he was, once again, clearly behind on the clock. After barely thirteen moves, he had already spent nearly half of his thinking time. The position was remarkable – it’s not every day that you see the two center pawns on their original squares.

International Master and chess streamer Eric Rosen gave his opinion on the match in the commentary booth: “Coming into the match, I honestly thought it was going to be a blowout in Gukesh’s favour, but now I think we’re in store for another close finish”.

The game remained more or less equal for several moves while both players tried to finish their development and find the best squares for their pieces. However, the clock was ticking for the champion, and with less than 15 minutes for 15 moves, he inexplicably went for 25.Bb2, sacrificing his a2-pawn.

After the game, Ding explained his reasoning behind the move: “I sacrificed the a2 pawn based on a miscalculation, because I figured that he couldn’t block on c5 with any of the knights, and that would allow me to play Ra1 and pick up the a5 pawn”.

“Ding might have overplayed his hand here,” observed David Howell, after Gukesh captured the pawn.

The key position of the game arose on move twenty-six.

Put yourself in Gukesh’s shoes. Would you play 26…Nac5 or 26…Ndc5?

In a very tricky position, Gukesh D. played the natural 26…Nac5, whereas the not-so-logical 26…Ndc5 was the correct move to cement the advantage according to the engines.

Reflecting on his decision during the press conference, he admitted: “Blocking with 26…Ndc5 (instead of 26…Nac5) looked weird to me. I thought that my move was winning, but I missed his key move 28.Qe1, when 28…Nxd3 loses to 29.Qc3. If I had spotted this idea, then I would probably have thought a bit more. It was a very tricky position, and he found these ideas very quickly – great defense by my opponent.”

Ding immediately blitzed out 27.Rc1 smelling blood. “Ding’s in the zone!” exclaimed GM David Howell. “He’s found the way to trick Gukesh and turn the game around,” observed IM Jovanka Houska, co-host.

Forcing his hand, Ding was able to win the exchange, but Gukesh’s two passed pawns were scary. Maybe 31.Ne1 was a better way to go for a win instead of 31.Nd4. Sensing the danger, Ding proposed a draw via a three-fold repetition, but at the last minute Gukesh decided to play on.

However, a few moves later, both players recognized the lingering dangers in the position. Ding decided to force the exchange of queens and return the extra material, and a draw was agreed.

Ding Liren was visibly happy with the result. “He outplayed me once again, but then he missed some important details and let me back into the game,” the champion acknowledged during the press-conference.

In the commentary booth, the local organizer explained the process of getting a top international company to support the event: “Google is very pleased with how the project is going: there are a lot of impressions online and a lot of interest all over the world. It’s all very positive, and hopefully we can continue discussions for more events and collaborations,” said GM Kevin Goh Wei Ming.

The ninth game of the match will take place on Thursday, December 5th at 5 PM local time in Singapore. Gukesh will play White.

FACT SHEET, Game 8, FIDE World Championship:
White: Ding Liren
Black: Gukesh D
Result: 0.5-0.5
Match score: 4-4
Game length: 51 moves
Opening: English Opening
Variation: King's Variation, Kramnik-Shirov Counterattack

Although the FIDE World Championship is by far the main event, the local organizers along with FIDE have programmed a wide range of side events for all the fans coming to Sentosa for the match.

On the agenda today, five-time World Champion Vishy Anand held a meet-and-greet in with local kids, in which he signed autographs and photo opportunity. During the afternoon, American International Master and chess streamer Eric Rosen gave a masterclass in the VIP lounge and then joined GM David Howell and IM Jovanka Houska in the commentary room.

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)
Photos: Eng Chin An and Maria Emelianova

About the event

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The first of the fourteen scheduled games took place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm with Gukesh opening with White. Hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa the match is broadcast live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.

In common wisdom, after a violent storm, the weather typically becomes calm. After a period of turmoil or chaos, peace and tranquility follow. In the wake of the two very complex and dramatic previous games, today’s encounter was quite a peaceful affair.

After Dr Shilpak Ambule, High Commissioner of India to Singapore performed the ceremonial move for Gukesh this afternoon, the Indian challenger opened the game with 1.d4.

Playing with Black, Ding Liren opted for the Bogo-Indian defence, which after a few moves transposed into one of the most popular lines of the Catalan Opening. Although both players have employed the Catalan regularly in the past, it was the first game of the match featuring this opening.

The first key moment came when Gukesh essayed an interesting move 10.Bc3 (see diagram below). One of the ideas was to try and get in b2-b4 straight away.

In this position, there are hundreds of games played with the more popular 10.b3 and above all 10.Bf4. Visibly surprised, Ding Liren spent nearly twenty minutes pondering on his response, finally choosing the standard development with 10…Bb7.

Still in preparation, Gukesh expanded on the queenside with 13.b4 and soon after started working his way into his opponent’s position with the dangerous pin 16.Ba5.

The Indian was playing fast and confidently, while Ding appeared to overthink his moves.

On move seventeen, the engines suggested a forced line beginning with 17…Nxc4, with massive exchanges. Instead, Ding preferred to relinquish his bishop with 17…Bxf3 and defend a slightly worse middlegame.

Reflecting after the game, Ding admitted missing this good opportunity to equalize: “My second told me after the game that I could have played 17…Nxc4 equalizing easily. I calculated the line but missed 19…Nd7 and I am not worse at all.”

By move 20, Gukesh held a significant time advantage with one hour twenty-one minutes, while Ding Liren was down to thirty minutes!

Put yourself in Gukesh’s shoes. Would you play 20.Qb5 or maybe 20.Ne5?

“The game was very precise. I might have had a small edge after 16.Ba5, but I think that 20.Qb5 was premature: maybe I should have played 20.Ne5 with a small edge, although it shouldn’t be decisive in any way,” explained Gukesh after the game. “It was based on a miscalculation: I missed his defensive idea 21…Qa7 and 22….Rb8.”

From then on, the champion played very accurately, successfully neutralizing White’s initiative and liquidating to an equal ending, in which he even had a tiny edge.

In the press conference, Gukesh calmly analyzed the match situation: "So far, it’s been a very interesting match: a few missed chances from me, a few missed chances from him. We have both showed fighting spirit and entertaining chess, and there are still five more exciting games to go."

He added: “Especially in the last few games, I think I'm playing pretty well, and I just hope to continue playing good games, and hopefully, at some point when I do the right things, I believe that the results will come.”

FACT SHEET, Game 9, FIDE World Championship:
White: Gukesh D
Black: Ding Liren
Result: 0.5-0.5
Match score: 4.5-4.5
Game length: 54 moves
Opening: Catalan Opening (stemming from the Bogo-India defence)

Although the FIDE World Championship is by far the main event, the local organisers along with FIDE have arranged a wide range of side events for all the fans coming to Sentosa for the match.

Today's agenda featured a variety of activities, starting with a lecture in the Fan Zone by FIDE Vice President GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili, who shared insights into his experiences as a second for Garry Kasparov. In the afternoon, FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky participated in the Chess History Trivia Quiz, while Singapore's own stars, GMs Tin Jingyao and Siddharth Jagadeesh, entertained spectators with live interactions in the fan zone.

The Singapore International Open also concluded this morning, bringing together 559 players from 34 federations, including 37 GMs and 6 WGMs. GM Lu Shanglei from China emerged as the clear winner, while GM Szymon Gumularz from Poland clinched silver and local GM Jagadeesh Siddharth secured bronze.

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)
Photos: Eng Chin An, Maria Emelianova and Singapore Open

Full programme of side-events: worldchampionship.fide.com/events

About the event

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The first of the fourteen scheduled games took place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm with Gukesh opening with White. Hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa the match is broadcast live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.

As the players approach the final stages of the match, we are witnessing increasingly cautious play. Neither opponent is willing to risk making a mistake that could undermine the efforts they have invested so far.

First to arrive at the venue this afternoon, exactly ten minutes before the start of the round, was the champion Ding Liren. Accompanied by his two main coaches, GM’s Ricard Rapport and Ni Hua, Ding underwent the anti-cheating body checks and then spent a few minutes meditating in the sunshine on a special chair outside the playing hall.

A few minutes later, the challenger Gukesh D, with his father and his main coach GM Grzegorz Gajewski, exited the lift and quickly joined his opponent at the board, ready for the game.

The master of ceremonies, GM Maurice Ashley, introduced the players and was joined by Mr Kon Yin Tong, Chair at Sport Singapore, for the ceremonial first move.

Kon Yin Tong served as a Sport Singapore council member from 2012 before becoming Deputy Chairman in 2016 and subsequently Chairman in October 2018. He has held roles with Sport Singapore as Finance Committee Chairman, and leads the Sports Excellence Scholarship selection and approval committee.

Perhaps a slight moment of doubt right at the beginning of the game, Ding Liren paused momentarily when executing his first move (1.d2-d4), which caught commentators’ attention. When asked about it after the game Ding explained with a grin: “I realized it was the same if I started with 1.Nf3 as he can also play 1…d5 like the previous games and I can transpose with 2.d4.”

Playing with White, the champion once again went for the London system, repeating the line he used in game six. This time, he tried out a relatively unconventional idea: 5.Be2, followed by 6.dxc5 and 7.c4 - a setup previously used by his second, GM Richard Rapport.

“This opening is one of my second’s ideas - apart from this line, I had also prepared for the other line,” Ding revealed after the game.

"Pawn to Ding Four," was commentator GM David Howell’s reaction to the champion's opening. “This is the third time in the history of the World Championship Matches that we have seen the London System, and all three of them have been played by Ding.”

A few moves later, the pawn structure resembled one of the many lines of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, but with White’s c1-bishop developed outside the pawn chain. A quick scan of the database revealed a couple of games played by Ding’s second GM Richard Rapport in this same line, against GM’s Aronian and Shankland in 2018-2019.

“Black’s position is very solid; it has no weaknesses. White has a very small dynamical advantage, slightly better development. He has to take advantage of this momentum to develop some initiative,” said GM Pavel Eljanov, former coach of many top players such as Boris Gelfand and Anna Muzychuk.

However, Ding Liren didn’t seem in the mood to play an attacking game. He quickly found an opportunity to exchange queens and a couple of minor pieces, inflicting a very small pawn weakness on his opponent’s kingside – it definitely didn’t seem enough to press for a win. “I thought I had a stable advantage but after 11…Be7 it’s not the case. My bishop is very bad,” Ding admitted.

“Ding is looking for a small but absolutely risk-free advantage. Keeping the queens on the board was much more ambitious,” Eljanov added. “It’s like going into one of those Norwegian homes with barely any furniture, it’s just minimalism,” joked Howell with Jovanka.

But with no real chance for a favorable outcome, Ding exchanged queens and liquidated to a totally equal ending. The game ended in a draw by a threefold repetition on move thirty-six.

“Obviously, I am up for a game with either color, but to get a solid draw like this with Black is obviously a good result,” said Gukesh after the game.

After ten of the fourteen scheduled classical games, the match remains tied at 5-5. The eleventh game will take place on Sunday, December 8th at 5 PM local time in Singapore, with Gukesh playing White.

FACT SHEET, Game 10, FIDE World Championship:
White: Ding Liren
Black: Gukesh D
Result: 0.5-0.5
Match score: 5-5
Game length: 36 moves
Opening: London System

Although the FIDE World Championship takes central stage, the local organizers along with FIDE have arranged a wide range of side events for all the fans coming to Sentosa for the match.

On the agenda this afternoon, GM’s Alexandra Kosteniuk and Anna Muzychuk played a 20-board tandem simultaneous exhibition for VIP ticket holders, achieving 18 wins and 2 draws.

Additionally, GM Pavel Eljanov joined the official commentary and gave his thoughts on the game in progress, and then joined GM Maurice Ashley in the fan-zone, providing entertainment for the onsite spectators.

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)
Photos: Eng Chin An, Maria Emelianova and Singapore Open

Full programme of side-events: worldchampionship.fide.com/events

About the event

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The first of the fourteen scheduled games took place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm with Gukesh opening with White. Hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa the match is broadcast live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.

This afternoon in Singapore, the 18-year-old chess prodigy Gukesh D took a huge step toward becoming the youngest classical chess champion in history. After one of the most exciting games of the match, in which both players spent almost an hour on one single move, he defeated the champion Ding Liren, setting the match score at 6-5 with only three games to go.

Let’s take a closer look at today’s game. A double ceremonial move inaugurated the eleventh game, made by two chess trailblazers.

GM Hou Yifan, 4-time Women’s World Champion, made the ceremonial first move today for Ding Liren. Hou Yifan has achieved many notable accomplishments: At 14 years, 6 months, and 2 days old, she became the youngest female player to ever earn the grandmaster title. At 16, Hou became the youngest ever to win the Women's World Chess Championship. She is the second highest rated female player of all time, and one of only three women to have been rated among the world's top 100 players.

GM Eugene Torre from the Philippines, made the ceremonial first move for Gukesh D. Torre has been a trailblazer for Asian chess for half a century, achieving a number of continental milestones including first grandmaster, first to defeat a reigning world champion, and first to reach the Candidates stage of the World Championship. A member of the Philippine Olympiad team a record 23 times, Torre won three individual medals on board one. He also won a bronze medal on board three at Baku 2016 at the age of 64.

Playing with White, Gukesh went for the reversed Blumenfeld gambit for the first time in his life, sacrificing a pawn for the initiative! “A provocative opening, not necessarily computer approved, but this is a human game,” explained GM David Howell in the commentary booth.

The database revealed only one game played by Ding Liren in this opening (an online rapid against Indian GM Adhiban Baskaran). However, interestingly enough another very strong Indian player, GM Arjun Erigaisi, has had a lot of success with this gambit, and it has been rumored that Erigaisi may be one of Gukesh’s “secret” seconds in this match...

Ding Liren went into the tank for nearly forty minutes (!) to decide on his opening approach – to accept the pawn gambit with 4…dxe3, or play 4.Nf6 and potentially running into Gukesh’s preparation.

“It was a very difficult game for me. Already on move four, I wasn’t sure if I had made the correct choice. I remembered a game I played in a rapid tournament against GM Adhiban, but I couldn’t remember the other moves. I spent 40 minutes calculating some nonsense variations,” a visibly upset Ding explained after the game.

“I do wonder if it’s this conscience thing - you take a quick draw with White and in your mind, you feel guilty, you don’t feel good about yourself afterward. Every time I take a quick draw with White, just like Ding did yesterday, I guarantee I will lose the next game with Black. It’s happened many times in my career,” added GM David Howell in the commentary booth.

The official novelty of the game was 5…Bg4. By this time, Ding had already used up more than an hour – half of his total thinking time. “These types of positions with …c5 and …d4 can be very tricky, for both sides,” explained four-time Women’s World champion Hou Yifan, who joined the commentary at the end of the opening. “Sometimes the lack of time is a factor, but other times the position is more important. Players need to balance well their time-management. But today, there is already a huge time difference.”

On move nine, Gukesh could have played 9.c5 and develop his light-squared bishop actively to c4 or b5. Instead, he preferred to close down the queenside and then spent an hour of his thinking time to calculate all the complications in the line 11.g3 and 12.Bg2, which allowed Ding’s knights to create some threats in the center.

Hou Yifan offered a bit more insight on Ding Liren: “I played many games against Ding when we were younger. He is a very creative player and can play all the structures. He doesn’t always play the most logical moves, but he often is more thoughtful.”

At this point, Gukesh thought that he had messed up the opening, but he saw come chances to get back into the game in the middlegame: “Full congratulations to my team for their effort in the preparation of this opening, which caught my opponent by surprise. Then I did some stupid things, but I am happy I was able to get it back together,” he shared.

Ding was getting into time trouble and Gukesh took advantage by sacrificing the b-pawn and then pressing with all his pieces on the queenside, along the b-file and the h1-a8 long diagonal. Ding was hanging on but everyone in the media center sensed that he might crack at any moment.

In the end, time pressure proved decisive. With only seven minutes to go, Ding blundered on move 28, dropping a piece in a one-move combination. Instead of 28…Nb4, returning his extra pawn with decent drawing chances, he played the losing 28…Qc8 and after 29.Qxc6 had to resign.

In an attempt to remain positive, Ding Liren recalled that in the previous match he managed to make a come-back: “In the last match I made a comeback on the twelfth game, so I am hoping to play well tomorrow.”

After eleven of the fourteen scheduled classical games, Gukesh D. leads 6-5. The twelfth game will take place on Monday, December 9th at 5 PM local time in Singapore, with Ding Liren playing White.

FACT SHEET, Game 11, FIDE World Championship:
White: Gukesh D.
Black: Ding Liren
Result: 1-0
Game length: 29 moves
Opening: Reti Opening
Variation: Reversed Blumenfeld Gambit
Match score: 5-6 (for Gukesh D.)

Although the FIDE World Championship takes central stage, the local organizers along with FIDE have arranged a wide range of side events for all the fans coming to Sentosa for the match.

The main side-event today was the visit of four-time Women’s World Champion Hou Yifan. Currently, the number one player in the world, Hou Yifan gave an interview and masterclass in the fan-zone, packed to the brim this afternoon, and then joined the live commentary, offering great insights on the match.

Additionally, a Challenge Match between Beijing University and Singapore Tertiary All-Stars was organized in the Fan Zone, providing an exciting experience for chess enthusiasts.

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)
Photos: Eng Chin An, Maria Emelianova and Singapore Open


Full programme of side-events: worldchampionship.fide.com/events

About the event

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The first of the fourteen scheduled games took place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm with Gukesh opening with White. Hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa the match is broadcast live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.

In an unexpected twist, current World Champion Ding Liren defeated the challenger Gukesh D. this afternoon in game twelve, emulating last year’s twelfth-game comeback win against Ian Nepomniachtchi.

Even though he was initially taken back by Gukesh’s opening approach, Ding managed to find his way and create a chess masterpiece, perhaps one of the best games of his career.

In an unexpected twist, reigning World Champion Ding Liren defeated the challenger Gukesh D. this afternoon in game twelve, echoing twelfth-game comeback win against Ian Nepomniachtchi in the 2023 title match.

Even though he was initially taken aback by Gukesh’s opening approach, Ding managed to find his way and create a chess masterpiece, arguably one of the best games of his career. Let’s take a closer look at today’s game.

As usual, both players arrived a few minutes before 5pm and Gukesh took a moment to enter “meditation mode” for a couple of minutes, closing his eyes to focus on the game. Meanwhile, Mr. Zhu Jing, Chargé d’affaires ad interim of the Chinese Embassy in Singapore, performed the ceremonial first move.

For the second time in the match, Ding opened with 1.c4, the English opening. Gukesh immediately responded 1...e6, aiming for a Queen’s Gambit declined setup. Unexpectedly, the champion thought for three minutes considering his options: maybe he was expecting a repeat of 1…e5, Gukesh’s game eight choice. He decided to go for a Reti setup, with a kingside fianchetto.

“With his move order, it seems that Ding has tried to side-step the …Bb4+ line in the Catalan. Maybe that is why Gukesh has played 4…d4 instead of 4…Ae7, which would have permitted the traditional Catalan opening move 5.d4,” was GM David Howell’s reasoning in the commentary booth.

One of the key games in this variation was played in 2019 between Richard Rapport and Ni Hua in China - both of whom are seconding Ding in the match! In that game, Ni Hua played 7…0-0 instead of Gukesh’s 7…dxe3.

Both players developed their pieces logically and the position remained equal going into the middlegame. The champion was manoeuvring around, waiting for the best moment to break in the centre with d3-d4, while the challenger was trying to keep control of the d-file and keep his position together in what basically looked like a waiting strategy.

Arriving at the key moment, Gukesh decided to target Ding’s backward d3-pawn with the maneuver 16…Nd7 and 17…Nc5, but the champion anticipated this and struck with 18.d4!, sacrificing material for the initiative if necessary!

As he confirmed after the game, Gukesh already sensed that he was in big trouble. Opening the position was out of the question, given the activity of White’s pieces. 18…e4 played by the challenger was the lesser of many evils, but it didn’t matter - Ding was on a roll. He capitalized on his central pawns combined with his pair of bishops, steadily increasing his advantage.

The champion could have played the simple 26.Na7, winning the exchange and the game, but instead he went for the powerful 26.d5 with the idea 27.d6! crashing in. However, after the game, Ding acknowledged missing some tactics! After losing two pawns, Gukesh could have resigned, but he kept on in time trouble searching for some sort of defensive resource, that never came.

39. Rxg7+! and Gukesh capitulated, facing the inevitable checkmate 1-0

Despite suffering a major blow, Gukesh took it in stride. “Although I didn’t remember all the details, I was aware of the opening position. I thought I was quite comfortable after the opening but later on, I wasn’t sure what to do,” he explained after the game.

"In the second half of the match, I had chances in many of the games. Today was obviously a bad game, but I wouldn't draw too much from it. Bad games happen. But if you look at the second half overall, I think we are both playing better than the first half. 6-6 is overall the fair result, but since I was leading after yesterday, it is a bit disappointing to lose this game," he added.

Gukesh ended the press conference on a positive note: “Obviously it’s not pleasant to lose this game, but at least the score is tied – two more games are remaining, so let’s see,” the challenger concluded before he retired for the night.

A visibly happy Ding Liren reflected on his recovery in the postgame press conference: “Yesterday was a difficult game to deal with, but I tried to continue with my normal routine and be refreshed for this important game. Today I had a cup of coffee before the game, which helped me feel much more energetic, and also, I had some snacks to maintain my energy levels for the critical moment. I think I played a very good game and found some good moves.”

After twelve of the fourteen scheduled classical games, once again the match is tied 6-6. The players will enjoy their final rest tomorrow and the match will resume on Wednesday, December 11th at 5 PM local time in Singapore, with Gukesh playing White.

FACT SHEET, Game 12, FIDE World Championship:
White: Ding Liren
Black: Gukesh D
Result: 1-0
Game length: 39 moves
Opening: English Opening
Variation: Agincourt Defence
Match score: 6-6

Although the FIDE World Championship takes central stage, the local organizers along with FIDE have arranged a wide range of side events for all the fans coming to Sentosa for the match.

Today’s highlight was a screening of “The Thinking Game”, a documentary chronicling visionary scientist Demis Hassabis' relentless pursuit to crack artificial general intelligence, a journey of extraordinary perseverance.

Additionally, a Q&A session with five of Singapore’s Grandmasters—Wong Meng Kong, Wu Shaobin, Kevin Goh, Tin Jingyao, and Siddharth Jagadeesh—delighted spectators in the Fan Zone.

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)

Photos: Eng Chin An, Maria Emelianova and Singapore Open
Full programme of side-events: worldchampionship.fide.com/events

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The first of the fourteen scheduled games took place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm with Gukesh opening with White. Hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa the match is broadcast live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.

With the match tied at six points and only two classical games remaining, nerves are running high. At this point, any mistake could be decisive and both players are showing incredible concentration considering the circumstances.

With the match tied at six points and a half and only one classical game left, nerves are strained to the limit. At this point, any mistake could be decisive, and both players are displaying remarkable composure under intense pressure.

Reigning World champion, GM Ding Liren from China, was on the verge of losing this afternoon. A mix of excellent defensive skills and a fair share of luck allowed him secure a much better outcome than expected. Let’s take a closer look at the game.

After greeting both players, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich performed the ceremonial first move, playing 1.Nf3. Gukesh, however, quickly returned to g1 and opened the game with 1.e4, his choice for games one and five.

Ding took a moment to collect his thoughts and responded once again with 1…e6 – the French Defence, an opening that has worked fine for him in the match. Gukesh followed the same line as the first game, the Steinitz variation, but introduced a small modification on move five, playing 5.Nce2 instead of 5.f4, reflecting his team’s had work preparing new ideas.

Gukesh sprung a surprise on move seven with 7.a3. Ding spent more than fifteen minutes of his time trying to grasp the subtleties of the position. The move had been tried out before in a few master games, but never at the highest level.

“I was surprised. He played a move-order trick, I was confused, and I had to figure it out during the game. By delaying f2-f4 in some lines he will play f4 and in other lines he will play Nf3 and Nf4,” Ding explained in the press conference.

"This is Gukesh's preparation, his match strategy. He's been picking these off-beat rare lines," added GM David Howell in the commentary booth.

After eight moves, Ding had already used over fifty minutes of his time, while Gukesh spent less than a minute. A few moves later, the engines suggested a solid advantage for Gukesh after 12.Qg4 attacking the g7-pawn, but instead the challenger preferred to complete his development. “I briefly saw that 12.Qg4 was possible, but I didn’t think it was very strong. I thought that what I played was also very good,” he explained later.

After both opponents castled, Gukesh suddenly stopped to think. Co-commentator IM Jovanka Houska explained what was going on: “Black holds all the long-term trumps: if Gukesh doesn’t try to pose any problems, Ding is going to be better.”

“If somehow we could magically take the queens off the board, Black would undoubtedly have an advantage. Ding has the three-against-two queenside majority and Gukesh has a backward d-pawn: he has to go for the mate,” GM David Howell added.

After Gukesh transferred his knight to h5, threatening to swing over his queen to g4 and start an attack, Ding decided it was time to weaken his pawn structure but activate pieces and went for 15…f5.

At this point, five-time World Champion and FIDE Vice President GM Vishy Anand proclaimed: “There is about 60% chance that the match will go to the tie-breaks”.

The position remained more or less equal for a few more moves, with both players maneuvering to find the best squares for their pieces. With twenty moves to go to the time control, both players were in their last thirty minutes: time trouble was looming.

Gukesh kept pressuring on the board and on the clock and from the outside. Visibly nervous, Ding was trying to keep it together. After the game he admitted: “I also missed his excellent moves 19.Qe2 and 22.Bf4. He was able to gradually improve his position.”

Suddenly, Gukesh unexpectedly decided to trade off his dark-squared bishop for Ding’s knight, leaving his opponent with a bad bishop on c8 and some other pawn weaknesses. “This is a game of two results now: Ding is holding on, but he doesn’t seem to have any winning chances,” David Howell observed.

“He is so nervous visibly; he knows he is walking a tightrope” said Howell. Online, 30,000 chess fans were following the game on FIDE’s YouTube channel, holding their breaths. On X, GM Pavel Eljanov also chimed in.

With only six minutes for ten moves in a highly complex position, things looked very grim for Ding. Disaster struck on move thirty – Ding should have swapped his queen for Gukesh’s two rooks, with decent chances to hold the draw, but instead he played 30...Qf7, allowing Gukesh to win.

The challenger missed a key defensive idea. “I thought I played quite a good game. When I played 31.Ne4 I missed his defense idea with 31…Rf8 and 32…Rc7. My initial intention was to exchange rooks first and only then Ne4, which should be winning,” he explained after the game.

Once both players reached the 40-move time control, there was not much they could do to unbalance the game. Ding took the practical decision to go into a rook ending a pawn down, but considered a technical draw and they signed the peace on move 68.

“I am quite tired after this long game. We will decide the strategy for the next game, which will be a golden game,” said Ding in the press conference. “I don’t think you will see a short draw tomorrow” were Ding’s final words before joining his team to prepare what might be his most important game of the year.

“It will be an important game, and I will try to do my best. As close as the match gets, it’s more exciting. My approach will be the same: to go with the same energy and just give it my best and see what happens,” Gukesh reflected after the game.

After thirteen of the fourteen scheduled classical games, the match is tied at 6.5 – 6.5. The final classical game will take place on Thursday, December 12, at 5 PM local time in Singapore, with Ding Liren playing White. If the game ends in a draw, the rapid tiebreaks will be held on Friday, December 13, at 5 PM.

White: Gukesh D

Black: Ding Liren

Result: 0.5-0.5

Game length: 68 moves

Opening: French Defence

Variation: Steinitz Variation

Match score: 6.5–6.5

Although the FIDE World Championship takes central stage, the local organizers along with FIDE have arranged a wide range of side events for all the fans coming to Sentosa for the match.

The highlight of the day was the screening of the movie “FIDE 100: The Game is Just Beginning”, hosted by FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. Following the screening, special awards were presented to several journalists, cameramen, and photographers who have contributed to promoting chess worldwide.

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)
Photos: Eng Chin An, Maria Emelianova and Singapore Open

Full programme of side-events: worldchampionship.fide.com/events

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The first of the fourteen scheduled games took place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm with Gukesh opening with White. Hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa the match is broadcast live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.

18-year-old Indian prodigy Gukesh D is the new FIDE World Champion and the 18th in the line of champions, the youngest ever in history.

In a dramatic and unexpected turn of events, when it seemed that the final game was heading for a draw and tiebreaks were unavoidable, the champion Ding Liren made a huge mistake on move fifty-five and was forced to resign three moves later. The final result of the match is 7.5-6.5 for Gukesh D.

Let’s take a closer look at what happened this afternoon in the fourteenth and final game of the 2024 FIDE World Championship, presented by Google.

History doesn’t always repeat itself. Last year’s thrilling 14-game classical World Championship match between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi finished in a 7-7 tie and was decided in the rapid tie-break. By winning the fourth rapid game in great style, Ding became the 17th World Champion.

The game started at 5 PM sharp, with Maurice Ashley introducing the players to the hundreds of fans in the venue. The ceremonial first move was performed by Professor Hsu Li Yang, a distinguished academic at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Beyond science, Professor Hsu is also passionate about chess. He achieved the title of International Master in 1994, and he currently serves as the President of the Singapore Chess Federation.

For the second time in the match, the champion opened the game with 1.Nf3 – the Reti opening. The challenger defended with 1…d5, his main response, which he also employed in games 4 and 12 (via a different move order). Commentator GM David Howell quickly observed: “There are not many forcing lines in this variation, so we shall probably see most of the pieces on the board for most of the game.”

For this important game, Ding had prepared a kingside fianchetto, followed by a quick 4.d4 – the Reversed Grunfeld! “Ding is a big expert in the Grunfeld with Black: he is now playing a Reversed Grunfeld – a total mirror image, but with an extra move for White,” explained co-commentator IM Jovanka Houska in the commentary booth.

Gukesh’s opening preparation in this match has been top-notch. He blitzed out the relatively new idea 6…Ng-e7, trying to improve on the main line 6…Bc5, which was played a couple of times by his Indian colleague GM Praggnanandhaa. Ding decided to play it safe, trying to secure a small opening advantage without taking significant risks.

Even FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich gave his opinion on the position in his interview with Howell and Houska: “Ding’s opening choice was expected, but Gukesh played a variation that nobody expected. Of course, it will all depend on the motivation of the players and if Ding is ready for a big fight today, or he wants to play it safe: in any case, I think that there is a lot of life in this position.”

Dvorkovich was also very appreciative towards the hosting country: “Singapore is a beautiful location for anything, but for the World Championship in particular, as it combines all kinds of cultures and chess is exactly about that, bringing the cultures together.”

Ding had the chance to play aggressively for a win and wrap up the match. However, the champion opted to secure a small opening advantage if possible, but without incurring in any major risks. As Ding’s rapid and blitz ratings (2776 and 2785) are much higher than Gukesh’s (2654 and 2615), most analysts considered the Chinese GM the favorite in tomorrow’s potential tiebreaks.

One of the two key moments of the game occurred just out of the opening. Instead of 14.Qe2, which according to engines might have promised a small but stable advantage, Ding Liren opted for 14.b3, which allowed Gukesh to immediately equalize.

From then onwards, the opponents maintained near-perfect accuracy of nearly 100%. They started exchanging some minor pieces and seemed content with the draw. Still, the challenger tried everything to keep the game going and get some winning chances, but it just didn’t seem enough.

On move twenty-nine, Ding decided to sacrifice a pawn, to ensure the exchange of queens and rooks. Although White was a pawn down, the game was clearly heading towards a draw.

Ding was holding his ground, but just when most of the analysts and journalists in the media center were already preparing their reports with the draw and tie-breaks, disaster struck for the champion.

In an effort to force a quick draw, he offered an exchange of rooks on f2 at an inappropriate moment. "I was totally in shock when I realized I made a blunder,” Ding explained in the postgame press conference.

After the exchange of rooks followed by 56…Bd5!, the king ending with the extra pawn is winning and Ding had to resign. Gukesh couldn’t believe his eyes when Ding Liren blundered with 55.Rf2: “At the first moment, I didn’t see that I was winning. When I realized that I was winning, it was the best moment of my life.”

Ding Liren painfully acknowledged his defeat: "I think I played my best tournament of the year. It could be better, but considering yesterday's lucky survive, it's a fair result to lose in the end. I have no regrets."

In the postgame press conference, Gukesh shared his appreciation for his opponent: “We all know who Ding is, he has been one of the best players in the world for several years and to see him struggling, and to see the fight he gave, it shows what a true champion he is and for me, he is the real world champion.”

“For the past two years he hasn’t been in the best shape, but he fought like a true champion; he put on a great show and I would like to thank him,” Gukesh added.

“Since I was seven, I have been living this moment, already for ten years. Every chess player wants to experiment this moment and doesn’t get the chance. I am living my dream,” said the elated new World Champion.

White: Ding Liren

Black: Gukesh D

Result: 0-1

Game length: 58 moves

Opening: Zukertort Opening

Variation: Reversed Grunfeld

Match score: 7.5–6.5 (for Gukesh D)

Although the FIDE World Championship takes central stage, the local organizers along with FIDE have arranged a wide range of side events for all the fans coming to Sentosa for the match.

The main highlight today was the talk “How to win a game” by Dana Reizniece-Ozola, Managing Director of FIDE.

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)
Photos: Eng Chin An, Maria Emelianova and Singapore Open

Full programme of side-events: worldchampionship.fide.com/events

Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The first of the fourteen scheduled games took place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm with Gukesh opening with White. Hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa the match is broadcast live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.

After almost a month of fierce competition, against an opponent who never gave in, 18-year-old Grandmaster from Chennai Gukesh D. raised the winner’s trophy this evening, in the magnificent ballrooms of the Equarius Hotel Sentosa.

It has been an extraordinary journey, one that has kept us all on the edge of our seats with each move, and each brilliant game. It has been a celebration of not just the players and their remarkable achievements, but also of the spirit of chess—its ability to inspire, connect, and transcend boundaries.

The awards ceremony took place next to the “fish tank”, the extra sensorial cube in which the 14-game match has been played. Over 1000 authorities, chess fans and media saluted the 18th champion in the line of the greatest players in history.

The gala evening and closing ceremony began with a warm welcome to everyone by the two outstanding Masters of Ceremonies, Maurice Ashley and Charlize Van Zyl. Following the rendition of the Singaporean and FIDE anthems, a short video was projected, revisiting the incredible highlights that have made this championship unforgettable.

Singapore provided the perfect backdrop for this championship, combining the city’s stunning beauty with the warmth hospitality of its people. Mr. Murali Pillai, Minister of State for the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Transport took to the stage and thanked FIDE and the local organizers for putting the event together. He also congratulated the two finalists, Ding Liren and Gukesh D. for their sportsmanship, setting such a fine example for chess enthusiasts all over the world.

Immediately afterwards, the CEO of the Singapore Chess Federation, Kevin Goh Wei Ming, joined the moderators on stage. Months and months of meticulous planning and hard work resulted in an impeccably organized event. Goh congratulated the players for their remarkable spirit and highlighted that the match had captivated millions of spectators all over the world.

The ceremony entered its final stage as Arkady Dvorkovich, President of the International Chess Federation, was invited to take the floor. He delivered heartfelt appreciation for everyone that had participated in the event during the last few weeks. He also highlighted the fighting spirit that the players brought to the table, with good moves but also mistakes.

Before prizegiving, Dvorkovich awarded commemorative appreciation plaques to both the minister Murali Pillai and to Professor Hsu Li Yang, the President of the Singapore Chess Federation.

Gratitude was extended to those who made this championship possible, including those working inside the cube every day - Chief Arbiter Hamid Bin Abd Majid, Deputy Arbiter Anastasia Sorokina, and Fair Play officer Aleksandar Colovic.

A special round of applause was awarded to FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky, who wasn’t able to join us tonight, but whose leadership and passion were pivotal in the championship’s success.

Kevin Goh was once again called to the stage and awarded the runner-up medal to the outgoing champion, Ding Liren - a player whose journey to this stage has exemplified his perseverance and mastery.Gratitude was extended to those who made this championship possible, including those working inside the cube every day - Chief Arbiter Hamid Bin Abd Majid, Deputy Arbiter Anastasia Sorokina, and Fair Play officer Aleksandar Colovic.

Accompanied at all times by his family and friends, he received the most important recognition: a round of thunderous applause for his effort in the competition.

And last but not least, the moment that everyone had been waiting for — the crowning of the 2024 FIDE World Chess Champion. Gukesh D, a player who has dazzled us with brilliance, poise, and creativity across the board.

The gold medal was presented by the Singapore Chess Federation President Professor Hsu Li Yang, the iconic World Champion laurel was presented by Minister Mr. Murali Pillai and finally, the champion’s trophy was presented by FIDE President Mr. Arkady Dvorkovich.

Before the final photo opportunity shoot, Gukesh gave an emotional 10-minute speech, in which he thanked his family and friends, his team of coaches and his sponsors. He said that the journey had been nothing less than a dream, that there had been a lot of ups and downs, many beautiful moments but also setbacks, but that he wouldn’t change a single thing of his career.

Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)

Photos: Eng Chin An, Maria Emelianova and Singapore Open

Official website: worldchampionship.fide.com/

Full programme of side-events: worldchampionship.fide.com/events

World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, faced each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more wins the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.

The match was hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa and broadcasted live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.