Chess: Ding stuns Gukesh in game one as world title match starts in ...
China’s world champion Ding Liren, who had not won a classical game since January and had sunk to No 23 in the rankings, defied forecasts on Monday as he outplayed India’s Dommaraju Gukesh, at 18 the youngest ever challenger, in the opening round of their 14-game, $2.5mn title match in Singapore.
Gukesh had the favourable white pieces, and the rapidity of his first dozen moves against the champion’s French Defence made it clear that he was unleashing his opening prep.
Ding responded calmly and cleverly, keeping his king in the centre and counter-attacking on the queen’s flank. As the black army threatened, Gukesh lost the thread, blundered at move 21, and found himself two pawns down and in deep time trouble, reaching the move 40 clock control with just one second to spare. His position was lost, and he resigned at move 43.
Ding said afterwards that the French Defence was not his normal choice, and that he had played in the hope that his opponent would suffer from game-one nerves.
This pattern, where a confident challenger faltered against the experience of the reigning champion, had a long-ago precedent in the opening game of the 1963 match, when Tigran Petrosian froze against Mikhail Botvinnik.
The Indian teenager had started the match a long odds-on favourite, due to his opponent’s poor results since winning the title last year. Soon after that victory, Ding withdrew from chess completely for several months due to mental health issues, and when he returned was well below his previous form, while Gukesh was an impressive winner of the Candidates in Toronto which decided the challenger.
In Saturday’s prematch press conference, Ding claimed to be in much better shape, saying that his motivation had improved since he arrived in Singapore. Although his own preparation has only been active for three weeks, his team, led by Hungary’s Richard Rapport — who was also his chief aide in 2023 — were at work preparing opening novelties. However, on Monday it was Ding’s superior middle-game understanding that created the surprise result.
There are still 13 games to go, so it is early days yet. The young Indian challenger, supported by a patriotic nation, will surely demonstrate his skills as the match progresses. However, fears that the match would be one-sided due to Ding’s health and form issues can now be put to rest.
Garry Kasparov, who was champion for 15 years and is ranked in the all-time top three along with Carlsen and Fischer, does not consider Singapore as a genuine world championship match. He believes that the line of 16 world champions ended with Carlsen: “Ding vs Gukesh is an event that has nothing to do with the main idea of the world championship to decide, to define the best player on the planet.”
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