Ding has 36:28 left to make 14 more moves, while Gukesh has just entered his final hour with 59 minutes on the clock. Both positions are looking solid, but Gukesh is holding a huge time advantage, could that make all the difference?
FIDE Chess World Championship 2024: Get all the live action and updates from match 1 as Gukesh D vs Ding Liren clash will get underway in Singapore
Ding has 36:28 left to make 14 more moves, while Gukesh has just entered his final hour with 59 minutes on the clock. Both positions are looking solid, but Gukesh is holding a huge time advantage, could that make all the difference?
Gukesh continues to hold onto his time advantage, with 1 hour and 20 minutes remaining on the clock. Meanwhile, Ding is running low on time, with only 36 minutes left to make his moves.
Last Three Moves
14. exd4 (white) - b6 (black)
15. O-O - c4
16. f2 - d7
And things are heating up now.
Gukesh castles, moving his king to g1, and Ding quickly strikes with a knight to c4, forcing Gukesh’s bishop to retreat. But Gukesh isn’t fazed, he responds by advancing his white bishop to d7.
Gukesh moved his white bishop to g2, and Ding responded by advancing his a-pawn. This started a series of moves, with Ding eventually capturing Gukesh’s d-pawn. Gukesh then forced Ding’s queen back to c7 and took the c-pawn Ding had used to capture his own.
At this point, Ding has less than an hour left on the clock, with 52 minutes remaining, while Gukesh has about 90 minutes.
The last few moves were:
12. b3 - cxd4
13. b4 - c7
14. exd4 - b6
Last Three Moves
10. g4 (white) - a5 (black)
11. g2- a3
12. b3 - cxd4
Ding finally gets his queen out to a5 after a long think, and his clock shows 1:11:11, got to love those repeating numbers.
For the first time, Gukesh slows down, eyes closed, deep in thought, running through the kind of calculations only grandmasters can manage. Ding, looking a bit more relaxed now, stares across the board, trying to figure out what Gukesh is up to.
India’s D Gukesh is playing with the white pieces against reigning champion China’s Ding Liren in the opening round of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2024 on Monday.
The World Champion, Ding Liren, is now trailing Gukesh’s notably rapid pace by over 40 minutes. This time disparity could become a critical factor later in the game. Ding’s body language, as always, reveals little, offering no hint of confidence or concern, a hallmark of his composed demeanor.
Gukesh makes an aggressive move, pushing his g-file pawn to the 4th rank. This sets the stage for a likely follow-up with f5, aiming to break open the center and accelerate the pace of the game. Such a plan could lead to a quick unraveling of the position, adding pressure on Ding Liren as he decides on his next move.
Here are the moves played so far:
e4 (White) e6 (Black)
d4 - d5
c3 - f6
e5 - fd7
f4 - c5
ce2 - c6
c3 - a5
f3 - a4
e3 - e7
g4
Ding Liren has not made any move.
So speaking on the time control, there are 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting on move 61.
Here are the first few moves:
1 e4 e6
2 d4 d5
3 Nc3 Nf
IA Abd Hamid Abd Majid is arbiter for the game 1 between Gukesh and Liren.
Chinese GM Ding Liren makes the first move in the mouth-watering clash against D Gukesh in Singapore. Indian chess player Tania Sachdev, on ChessBase, says Ding isn't looking 'super confident' in this clash. Interesting opinion.
After all the pre-game events that include two mascots of India-origin, American chess player Maurice says, let the game BEGIN!
D Gukesh, Indian grandmaster, is being introduced first and enters the match room.
Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind Technologies, made the first move for Gukesh. Talking about him, Hassabis was handed a Nobel Prize this year for his work with proteins.
And here comes, the reigning world champion, Ding Liren.
Game 1 - November 25, 2024 - Monday
Game 2 - November 26, 2024 - Tuesday
Game 3 - November 27, 2024 - Wednesday
Rest Day - November 28, 2024 - Thursday
Game 4 - November 29, 2024 - Friday
Game 5 - November 30, 2024 - Saturday
Game 6 - December 1, 2024 - Sunday
Rest Day - December 2, 2024 - Monday
Game 7 - December 3, 2024 - Tuesday
Game 8 - December 4, 2024 - Wednesday
Game 9 - December 5, 2024 - Thursday
Rest Day - December 6, 2024 - Friday
Game 10 - December 7, 2024 - Saturday
Game 11 - December 8, 2024 - Sunday
Game 12 - December 9, 2024 - Monday
Rest Day - December 10, 2024 - Tuesday
Game 13 - December 11, 2024 - Wednesday
Game 14 - December 12, 2024 - Thursday
Tie-breaks (If needed) - December 13, 2024 - Wednesday
We are minutes away from the big, titular clash between Ding Liren and D Gukesh.
Till then, here's what Magnus Carlsen had to say ahead of the big match.
"I'm not going to have anything particularly unique to say about the match. Based on the current form, Gukesh is a significant favourite," Carlsen said on Friday after winning the TATA Steel Chess India Rapid tournament in Kolkata.
Arjun Erigaisi has provided an 'important advice' for D Gukesh ahead of the game 1.
"If I were Gukesh, I would not think that I am a huge favourite. I would just try to focus on my preparation and everything. And, I am sure, Gukesh is also doing the same," said Erigaisi, who earned the title of GM as a 14-year-old and achieved a peak rating of 2799 in September this year, making him the 15th-highest-rated player in history.
As of now, there is no clear indication as to who is Gukesh’s seconds ahead of the World Chess Championship 2024. Gukesh enlisted Paddy Upton to his team to strengthen his mental game for the upcoming showdown.
As for Ding Liren, the Chinese has revealed Richard Rapport as his second for battle vs Gukesh.
Just as cricket and football have an umpire and referee, respectively, Chess have an arbiter, to manage a chess game.
According to the FIDE Arbiters' Commission's, an arbiter has four main responsibilities:
Ensure that laws of chess (rules) are followed
Prevent cheating
Act in the “best interest of the competition”
Observe the individual games
The total prize money on offer for the Gukesh vs Liren match is around $2.5 million (approx. INR 20.8 crore).
Gukesh and Ding have locked horns thrice in classical time control matches so far, out of which Ding has won twice with black. Their last match at the Sinquefield Cup was a draw.
For more on this and the prediction, read it HERE
The weight of expectations sits lightly on his teenaged shoulders and Grandmaster D Gukesh would bank heavily on his calm mind when he takes on Chinese Ding Liren in the World Championship showdown beginning in Singapore on Monday, aiming to become the first Indian after Viswanathan Anand to win the coveted title.
Get more of the preview, HERE
The D Gukesh vs Ding Liren, FIDE World Chess Championship 2024 match will be played between November 25 and December 13 at the Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore.
For all the details, get it HERE