| Header: | World Chess Championship 2024 |
| Dates: | 25 November – 13 December 2024 |
| Location: | Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore |
| Comp1: | Ding Liren |
| Comp2: | Gukesh Dommaraju |
| Title1: | Defending champion |
| Title2: | Challenger |
| Flag1: | CHN |
| Flag2: | IND |
| Dob1: | 24 October 1992 |
| Age1: | 32 years old |
| Dob2: | 29 May 2006 |
| Age2: | 18 years old |
| Qual1: | Winner of the World Chess Championship 2023 |
| Qual2: | Winner of the Candidates Tournament 2024 |
| Elo1: | 2728 |
| Elo2: | 2783 |
| Rank1: | 23 |
| Rank2: | 5 |
| Prev: | 2023 |
| Prev Link: | World Chess Championship 2023 |
| Next: | 2026 |
| Next Link: | World Chess Championship 2026 |
| Score1: | 4 |
| Score2: | 4 |
| Game1: | |
| Game2: | -w23 |
| Game3: | >b37 |
| Game4: | -w42 |
| Game5: | -b40 |
| Game6: | -w46 |
| Game7: | -b72 |
| Game8: | -w51 |
The World Chess Championship 2024, officially known as the World Chess Championship 2024 presented by Google,[1] [2] is an ongoing chess match between the reigning world champion Ding Liren and the challenger Gukesh Dommaraju to determine the World Chess Champion. The match is currently taking place between 25 November and 13 December 2024, with Singapore chosen as the host country for the match. It will be played to a best of 14 games, with tiebreaks if required.[3]
The score is currently tied at 4–4, with Ding and Gukesh each having won one game.
Ding Liren won the 2023 World Chess Championship defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi, after reigning champion Magnus Carlsen declined to defend his title. Gukesh won the eight-player Candidates Tournament held in April 2024 to win the right to challenge Ding for the World Championship. Before the start of the match, Gukesh was ranked fifth in the FIDE rankings with an Elo rating of 2783 while Ding was ranked 23rd with an Elo rating of 2728.
Ding Liren became World Chess Champion in April 2023, after defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the 2023 championship match.[4] After acquiring the title, Ding did not appear in professional tournaments for months, an absence which Ding later revealed in interviews to be due to fatigue and depression.[5] [6] Ding withdrew from tournaments including the 2023 Asian Games and did not enter the first four events of the 2024 Grand Chess Tour. He returned to classical chess in January 2024 at the 2024 Tata Steel Chess Tournament and announced that he still intended to defend his world champion title.[7]
Ding's return to chess introduced a rough stretch of form, with a set of poor performances at the 2024 Tata Steel Masters, Norway Chess, and the Grenke Chess Classic.[8] Ding's rating fell from 2788 (at the time of the World Chess Championship 2023) to 2728, while his world ranking fell from world number 3 to world number 23. His poor results led several chess grandmasters to express concern about Ding's overall ability to defend his world championship title, notably Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura.[9] [10] [11] However, whilst acknowledging Ding's weakened physical condition during the 2024 Sinquefield Cup, Anish Giri highlighted Ding's improved chess level during the first half of the tournament.[12] Ding's opponent in the 2023 match, Ian Nepomniachtchi, also remarked on Caruana's podcast that Ding would be a clear favorite if he was in prime form.[13]
Reflecting on his poor form in an interview during the 45th Chess Olympiad, Ding admitted that Gukesh is "playing extremely well in this tournament. Maybe he is a favourite in the World Championship Match. He also has a higher rating than me". Ding also remarked "[I have] dropped a lot since last year, but I will fight my best to try to overcome the rating difference".[14]
See main article: Candidates Tournament 2024. The challenger, Gukesh Dommaraju, qualified by winning the Candidates Tournament 2024 in Toronto, Canada, which was an eight-player double round-robin tournament.[15] [16] It took place from April 3 to April 22, 2024.[17] [18] Fabiano Caruana won the 2023 FIDE Circuit, but had already qualified for the Candidates through the Chess World Cup 2023. Hence, Gukesh qualified for the Candidates via the FIDE Circuit, after overtaking Anish Giri with a win at the Chennai Grand Masters tournament.[19]
The eight players who competed were:[20] [21] [22]
| Qualification method | Player | Age | Rating | World ranking | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (April 2024) | ||||||||
| 2023 World Championship runner-up | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2758 | 7 | |||||
| The top three finishers in the Chess World Cup 2023 | bgcolor=lightgray | | bgcolor=lightgray | bgcolor=lightgray | 2830 | bgcolor=lightgray | 1 | |
| 2747 | 14 | |||||||
| 2803 | 2 | |||||||
| 2632 | 114 | |||||||
| The top two finishers in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2023 | 2727 | 25 | ||||||
| 2789 | 3 | |||||||
| Highest place in the 2023 FIDE Circuit not already qualified | 2743 | 16 | ||||||
| Highest rating for January 2024 not already qualified | Alireza Firouzja | 2760 | 6 | |||||
Bids were originally to be presented to FIDE no later than 31 May 2024.[23] Early interest was expressed in June 2023 by Argentina, India, and Singapore.[24]
In June 2024, FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky announced that FIDE had received three bids to host the championship, two from India (Chennai and New Delhi), and one from Singapore.[25] [26] In July 2024, FIDE announced that the match would take place in Singapore from 20 November to 15 December 2024, with four venues being considered.[27] [28] Ultimately, the Singapore Chess Federation revealed that the Equarius Hotel at Resorts World Sentosa was chosen as the venue to host the world championship match.[29]
The prize fund allocated for the event is 2.5 million.[30] Each player receives 200,000 for each game won (including forfeits), and the remainder of the money is split equally. If there is a tiebreak, however, the winner will receive 1.3 million and the loser will receive 1.2 million. That would also have been the distribution if the final score was 7½–6½ with 13 decisive games or 8–6 with 14 decisive games.
The first move of each classical game was ceremonially performed by guests invited by the organisers:
| Game | Guest | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Demis Hassabis | Co-founder of Google DeepMind and 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner[31] |
| 2 | Singaporean chess master[32] | |
| Lim Kok Ann | Singaporean chess player and microbiologist | |
| 3 | Olivier Lim | Chairman of the Singapore Tourism Board[33] |
| 4 | Women's World Chess Champion (1991–1996; 1999–2001)[34] | |
| Deputy President of FIDE and World Chess Champion (2000–2002; 2007–2013) | ||
| 5 | K. Shanmugam | Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law of Singapore[35] |
| 6 | Scott Beaumont | President of Google's operations in the Asia–Pacific region[36] |
| 7 | Edwin Tong | Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law of Singapore[37] |
| 8 | Kingston Kwek | Singaporean entrepreneur[38] |
| Singaporean chess grandmaster and CEO of the Singapore Chess Federation | ||
The regulations and format of the world championship are slightly different from the 2023 edition.[39]
The time control for each game in the classical portion of the match is 120 minutes per side for the first 40 moves and 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting with move 41.
The match will be best of 14 games; a score of at least 7½ would win the world championship. If the score is equal after 14 games, tiebreak games with faster time controls will be played:
Players are not allowed to agree to a draw before Black's 40th move. A draw claim before then is only permitted if a threefold repetition or stalemate has occurred.[40]
Prior to the match, Ding and Gukesh have played against each other three times at classical time controls. Ding won two games with the black pieces during the 2023 and 2024 editions of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament,[41] [42] whilst their most recent pre-championship game during the 2024 Sinquefield Cup resulted in a draw.[43]
| Classical | Ding (White) – Gukesh (Black) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gukesh (White) – Ding (Black) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Total | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Blitz / rapid / exhibition | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Total | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||
A poll of various grandmasters before the match began found Gukesh a substantial favorite, mainly because of Ding's poor form over the past couple of months.[44] In an October 2024 interview, Gukesh commented that he generally did not "believe in predictions and who are the favorites", and stated that he tried to "be at [his] best every day and play a good game".
Before the match, Gukesh specified that he is working with Grzegorz Gajewski, who was also his during the 2024 Candidates Tournament.[45] [46] Ding Liren is working with Richárd Rapport,[47] who was his main second in the 2023 championship,[48] as well as Ni Hua.
The games begin at 17:00 local time (SGT), which is 14:30 (IST) & 09:00 UTC.[39]
Colours were drawn at the opening ceremony. Gukesh received the white pieces for the first game.[49] Colours alternate thereafter, with no switching at the halfway point.[39]
| Date | Event | |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 23 November | Media day, opening ceremony, and technical meeting | |
| Sunday, 24 November | Rest day | |
| Monday, 25 November | Game 1 | |
| Tuesday, 26 November | Game 2 | |
| Wednesday, 27 November | Game 3 | |
| Thursday, 28 November | Rest day | |
| Friday, 29 November | Game 4 | |
| Saturday, 30 November | Game 5 | |
| Sunday, 1 December | Game 6 | |
| Monday, 2 December | Rest day | |
| Tuesday, 3 December | Game 7 | |
| Wednesday, 4 December | Game 8 | |
| Thursday, 5 December | Game 9 | |
| Friday, 6 December | Rest day | |
| Saturday, 7 December | Game 10 | |
| Sunday, 8 December | Game 11 | |
| Monday, 9 December | Game 12 | |
| Tuesday, 10 December | Rest day | |
| Wednesday, 11 December | Game 13 | |
| Thursday, 12 December | Game 14 | |
| Friday, 13 December | Tiebreaks (if necessary) | |
| Saturday, 14 December | Closing ceremony |
If the match ends in less than fourteen games, then the closing ceremony may be moved forward.[39] [50]
| Rating | Match games | Points | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | ||||
| 2783 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4 | ||||||||
| 2728 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4 | ||||||||
The first game of the match, a 42-move win for Ding, was played on 25 November. Ding surprised observers by playing the French Defense, which has traditionally been considered a "solid" opening but some lines are in fact quite combative. Ding had previously played it in game 7 of the World Chess Championship 2023 against Ian Nepomniachtchi.[51] He then spent 28 minutes thinking on move seven while in a still relatively well-known position. Meanwhile, Gukesh was still in his preparation, blitzing out the attacking novelty 10.g4 Ding's 10...Qa5, however, took Gukesh out of his preparation as Xie Jun believed "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."[31]
Down on the clock in a complicated middlegame, Ding quickly spotted 18...Nb2 with play, putting pressure on both Gukesh's position and his clock. With Ding's pieces infiltrating his position, Gukesh faltered with 22.Qe1 and his position crumbled. Ding made a slight inaccuracy with 27...fxe6 (correct was 27...Bxe6!), giving Gukesh an opportunity to salvage the game, but although Gukesh spotted the idea, he executed incorrectly. Ding made no further errors and converted his advantage to a win, his first in classical chess since he defeated Max Warmerdam in January during the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024.[31] [52] This also marked the first time in 14 years that a win was registered in Game 1, after Veselin Topalov defeated Viswanathan Anand with the white pieces during the World Chess Championship 2010.[53]
At the post-game press conference, Ding was elated with his performance, stating, "Well, of course I feel very good—I haven't won a single classical game for a long time and I managed to do that!" Gukesh on the other hand remarked, "It was just a tactical oversight by me. It can happen, it's a long match, and about my opponent's form, I think I expected nothing else. I expected the best version of him, and we have a long match ahead, so it's only more exciting now!"[52]
The second game of the match, a 23-move draw, was played on 26 November. After Ding opted for the traditional Giuoco Pianissimo, commentator David Howell expressed surprise at the choice of 1.e4, noting that "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!" Ding chose a quiet line, but offered Gukesh complicated play with 10.dxc4, inviting 10...Bb4!?. Aware that he was facing preparation, Gukesh declined. In a balanced position, Ding had a slight opportunity to play on with 20.h4, creating less for his opponent, but the position would have remained even. Ding instead chose to repeat moves, resulting in a draw.
At the post-game press conference, Gukesh stated, "This early, with Black, was nowhere close to a must-win. I was never going to do anything stupid." Ding made comments to the same effect, remarking that "I was feeling a little up and down. I was slightly worse in the middle game. I thought I had misplayed."[54]
The third game of the match, a 37-move win for Gukesh, was played on 27 November. Gukesh opted for a Queen's Gambit Declined with an early cxd5. In the opening, Ding intentionally got his bishop trapped with 10...Bc2. The game followed a previous game between Vladimir Kramnik and Arjun Erigaisi played in the World Rapid Team Championship 2023 until Ding's 13...Nbd7! After 14.Nd2 threatening to win Black's bishop with Rc1, Ding played 14...Rg8!, threatening ...g5 which counterattacks White's bishop and creates an escape for Black's. Gukesh responded by playing g5 himself, and both players believed the position to be good for White, but computer analysis suggests otherwise. Ding's 18...Rh5 was a mistake, leading to a sequence where Ding loses a bishop for two pawns; it was preferable to retreat the bishop immediately with 18...Bf5, or fight for the advantage with 18...Be7!. Gukesh re-trapped the bishop with 19.e4! and went on to precisely convert his advantage. Ding lost on time while executing his final move 37...Rh5, but his position was lost anyway (38.Bxf5! wins).[55]
The fourth game of the match, a 42-move draw, was played on 29 November. Ding played an unconventional system beginning with 1.Nf3, resembling a Queen's Indian Defense with, which surprised Gukesh but was not particularly aggressive. At the post-game press conference, Ding revealed that he intended to "play it safe", but that he took some risk with 11.b4. Gukesh's 13...Ne5!? took Ding by surprise since the knight can be easily kicked out with f4, but Gukesh believed that, "[f4] looked like a move which would turn out to be risky in the long run". Gukesh's 15...b6 was Ding's last chance to push for a win with 16.Ba6, but after he played 16.Nf3, the game was headed for a draw. Pieces were traded and the two ended up in a queen-and-rook endgame where White has a four-on-three on the, and Black has a passed pawn on the c-file. Despite the result being all-but-inevitable, Gukesh continued to play out the game and pose questions for Ding, notably with 30...f5!?. Shortly thereafter, however, the two made a draw by threefold repetition.
The fifth game of the match, a 40-move draw, was played on 30 November. For the second time in the match, Ding played a French Defense. This time, however, Gukesh responded by exchanging the pawns on d5, and quickly traded off the queens and one pair of rooks. After Ding's 15...Nh5, Gukesh's had nowhere to escape, prompting Gukesh to play 17.g4!? after giving a check, which grandmaster Judit Polgár believed to be too risky. Nonetheless, the game seemed to be headed towards a draw, until Gukesh quickly played 23.dxe5? (a mistake, because after 23...Nd3 24.Bxd3 cxd3, Black has a passed pawn on the d-file two moves away from). In the post-game press conference, Gukesh revealed, "Once I saw Nd3 I realized I just blundered with dxe5. I didn't know how bad it was, really, but of course I should have played Rxe5. It would have been a draw anyway, but dxe5 Nd3 I kind of just hallucinated." However, Ding was apparently unaware that he had a considerable advantage.[56] As a result, he did not press very hard, and after 29...Bc6 (which Ding called "basically a draw offer"), Gukesh was able to stop the pawn and the players agreed to a draw.[57]
| + Ding–Gukesh, game 6 |
The sixth game of the match, a 46-move draw, was played on 1 December. Ding played the London System, an opening he won with in the sixth game of his previous match against Ian Nepomniachtchi. In the post-game press conference, Ding reflected on his opening choice: "This time, I tried to push for an advantage in the opening, and this London. Last time, also in game six, I won a beautiful game in the London, so this time I wanted to repeat that success." The opening was considered a success for Ding, and Gukesh made an early inaccuracy with 17...Be6 (see first diagram). Gukesh commented, "I never really felt in danger because I thought once I take on c4... maybe I'm slightly worse, but it should be really hard to convert it with White because you can't really push the queenside pawns that easily and you always have some play on his king." Ding had an early time advantage in the opening, but lost it after his 42-minute think before playing 21.Qxc6.
After Gukesh's 21...Qxe5, the players repeated the position twice, and Gukesh had the option to make a draw by threefold repetition by playing 26...Qe7!. Instead, he played 26...Qh4!?, declining the draw and accepting a slightly worse position. In the post-game press conference, Ding commented, "Qh4 came as a total surprise because I think his queen is not so well placed on the kingside; it's better placed on the queenside", while Gukesh explained his decision, "I thought I might be slightly worse, I was not even sure fully if I'm slightly worse, but I thought it's more likely, but I thought with the files open in front of his king I always have counterplay, and I saw no reason to take a repetition right now." Ding responded well to Gukesh's draw rejection, and Peter Leko believed his decision might have been "a huge mistake" and called the move "psychological games". Gukesh denied such, stating, "I just like playing chess! It was more just the position than it was psychological. I just thought there was a lot of play left in the position, and I did not really see too much danger for me." Later in the game, Ding accumulated a slight advantage, which reached its peak after Gukesh offered a queen trade with 33...Qf3 (see second diagram), but Ding responded incorrectly, and the game went on to end with a draw by repetition.
The seventh game of the match, a 72-move draw, was played on 3 December. It turned out to be a thrilling effort by both players. Out of a Neo-Grünfeld Defence, Gukesh played the new move 7.Re1, which introduced a completely new idea to theory. Ding reacted poorly with 9...c5?!, and Gukesh gained both a strong position and a significant time advantage. Under serious pressure, Ding went for the queen maneuver Qa6xa2, which GM Anish Giri assessed as the desperation of a player who knows they are losing, but wants to at least grab some material before losing. Although Gukesh was clearly winning, Ding's active queen posed problems, and after 30.Qf4?! Ding was able to steer the game to a worse-but-tenable endgame. After the strong defensive move 34...Ng6! it seemed like Ding would save the position, but one move before the time control and with seven seconds left on the clock, Ding played 40...Ke5?, again giving Gukesh a winning position that was however difficult to win. After the human move 44.Ke1?! Ding found the deep resource 44...f6. Gukesh's 45.h4?! was a subtle inaccuracy, and following 46...f4! Ding had equalized the position. Gukesh still had practical winning chances, but Ding defended successfully to draw.[58]
Many commentators later praised this game, with several calling it the best game of the match.[59] [60] [61]
The eighth game of the match, a 51-move draw, was played on 4 December. Gukesh responded well to Ding's 1.c4, and put Ding in unfamiliar territory with 1...f6!?. The position was objectively equal, but Peter Leko believed Ding to be in "not a pleasant situation", facing an imbalanced position Gukesh was well-prepared for. Ding appeared to have made it out of the opening, albeit will a time disadvantage. That changed with 22.Rb1?, which allowed Gukesh to gain an advantage with 22...b5 23.cxb5 Qb6+ 24.Kf1 cxb5. Ding's position went from bad to worse with 25.Bb2?, allowing Gukesh to get two connected passed pawns on the queenside with 25...Bxa2. Gukesh quickly lost most of his advantage with 26...Nac5?! (26...Ndc5! was best). Gukesh explained that he thought Ndc5 "looked weird", and that he missed Ding's defensive resource 28.Qe1! (only evaluating the position after 28.Qd2?, which loses for White). Gukesh explained, "It was actually very impressive that my opponent found this Qe1 so quickly—so yes, great defense by him!" Qe1 not only allowed White to save the game, but gave White the chance to put pressure on Black. After Gukesh's 28...Be6?, Ding himself got an advantage, and eventually found himself up a rook for a knight and a pawn. However, neither player was aware that White was ever winning. In the post-game press conference, Gukesh stated, "I thought probably all my advantage is gone, but I did not think it was even bad for me. Now that I see the position it's quite obvious, but during the game it was not", whereas Ding stated, "In the last world championship, also one game he was winning at some point and then suddenly I'm winning at the end. But today during the game I didn't realize I was winning at some point. I think he missed some important details that let me get back into the game. Before that he was totally outplaying me, again." Due to his misevaluation, Ding began to make a draw by repetition, which was broken by Gukesh's 41...Qa2!? despite White having a better position. Gukesh reflected on this decision, "I didn't think I was in much danger. I always thought with his weak king and my strong pawn on b3 I should have play. I thought even I might have some chances, but okay, it was just a misjudgment of the position." The game continued with little challenge for either player, and they agreed to a draw after reaching an opposite-colored bishops endgame.[62]