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China’s Ding Liren, the world champion, and India’s Gukesh Dommaraju, 18, are level at 2-2 after four of their scheduled best-of-14 games title match in Singapore. Ding won their first game before Gukesh, the challenger, levelled in game three when Ding, in a hopeless position, lost on time while making his 37th move.
Friday’s game four was a calm draw by repetition of position in 42 moves, with frequent exchanges which finally produced a level rook endgame. They would probably have settled for peace earlier, but the match rules forbid agreed draws before the move 40 time control.
It was a result which suited both players, as Ding aimed to recover psychologically from his heavy defeat in game three, while Gukesh seems to be developing a strategy of targeting equality as Black while making his major efforts with the white pieces in a long match.
Game five on Saturday, with Gukesh as White, starts at 9am GMT, and is expected to last around four or five hours. You can watch it live and free at Fide’s YouTube channel, where the commentators are England’s David Howell and Jovanka Houska, and/or at chess.com with the all-time No1 woman Judit Polgar and the US GM Robert Hess.
Ding’s game one victory defied the pre-match odds and was his first in any classical game for 10 months, but there have since been signs that the momentum was swinging back towards Gukesh, whose confident and sharp opening play shows his deep preparation.
A concerning moment for Ding came at the press conference after game three, when the world champion seemed in a state of shock and gave hesitant answers to questions while Gukesh provided lucid replies and radiated calm confidence.
Ding’s opening choices so far with White have been cautious, an old style Giuoco Piano in game two and an unambitious flank strategy in game four. The world champion’s chief aide, Richard Rapport, has a reputation for creative ideas, and he may feel that there will be better moments later in the match for opening bombs.
Gukesh has the match initiative now, but he faces an important test in the next three games, where he will have two Whites. This could be the right time for the 18-year-oldteenage challenger to strike out and attempt to take the lead, a strategy which was effective in at least two previous world championships.
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The players
China’s Ding Liren is defending the world chess championship against fast-rising Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju. The best-of-14-games match is scheduled to take place from 23 November to 15 December at Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore for an overall prize fund of $2.5m (£1.98m).
Ding became China’s first men’s world chess champion by defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi last year in Kazakhstan, winning the title vacated by longtime world No 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway. But the 32-year-old from Zhejiang province has played only 44 classical games in the 19 months since winning the world title while battling personal difficulties including depression and will go off as an underdog in his first world title defense.
Gukesh, commonly known as Gukesh D, stunned the chess establishment by winning the eight-man Candidates tournament in Toronto aged 17 to become the youngest ever challenger for the world championship, finishing top of a stacked field that included Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana. The 18-year-old can shatter the record for youngest ever world champion held by Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he dethroned Karpov in their 1985 rematch in Moscow.
The format
The match will consist of 14 classical games with each player awarded one point for a win and a half-point for a draw. Whoever reaches seven and a half points first will be declared the champion.
The time control for each game in the classical portion is 120 minutes per side for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting with move 41.
If the score is equal after 14 games, tiebreak games with faster time controls will be played:
• A match consisting of four rapid games with 15 minutes per side and a 10-second increment starting with move 1 would be played. If a player scores 2½ points or more, he would win the championship.
• If the score is still equal, a mini-match of two rapid games would be played, with 10 minutes per side and a five-second increment starting with move 1. If a player scored 1½ points or more, he would win the championship.
• If the score is equal after the rapid portion, a mini-match of two blitz games would be played, with a time control of three minutes per side and a two-second increment starting with move 1. If a player scored 1½ points or more, he would win the championship. A drawing of lots would take place before each mini-match to decide which player plays with the white pieces.
• If the blitz mini-match are tied, a single blitz game with a time control of three minutes per side and a two-second increment starting with move 1 would be played, and the winner would win the championship. A drawing of lots would decide which player plays with the white pieces. If this game was drawn, another blitz game with reversed colors would be played with the same time control, and the winner would win the championship. This process is repeated until either player wins a game.
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.
The schedule
Sat 23 Nov Opening ceremony and technical meeting
Sun 24 Nov Rest day
Mon 25 Nov Game 1
Tue 26 Nov Game 2
Wed 27 Nov Game 3
Thu 28 Nov Rest day
Fri 29 Nov Game 4
Sat 30 Nov Game 5
Sun 1 Dec Game 6
Mon 2 Dec Rest day
Tue 3 Dec Game 7
Wed 4 Dec Game 8
Thu 5 Dec Game 9
Fri 6 Dec Rest day
Sat 7 Dec Game 10
Sun 8 Dec Game 11
Mon 9 Dec Game 12
Tue 10 Dec Rest Day
Wed 11 Dec Game 13
Thu 12 Dec Game 14
Fri 13 Dec Tiebreaks (if necessary)
Sat 14 Dec Closing ceremony
All games start at 5pm local time, 2.30pm in India, 9am in London, 4am in New York.
Meanwhile, a crucial few weeks has just begun for England’s leading masters and rising talents. The national 4NCL league, which launched its season last weekend, the XTX Markets London Classic and Fide Open, which both start at 4pm on Friday, and the Caplin Hastings Masters, which opens on 28 December, all have the potential to make or mar a player’s career.
The 4NCL (Four Nations Chess League) began its new season in the way that it ended in 2023-24. The trio of Wood Green, Manx Liberty and The Sharks, which dominated then with Wood Green taking the title on game points, all won both their opening matches. This trio, who all fielded eight-board teams averaging 2400+, will only meet in direct head-to-head matches at the season’s final weekend in May.
Manx have improved their squad by signing Harry Grieve, the 2022 British Champion, and Shreyas Royal, at 15 Britain’s youngest ever grandmaster, who announced his arrival by an energetic win where Black’s rooks combined to force checkmate.
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The first 4NCL weekend was disappointing for several of England’s young talents, who had setbacks in their quest for international title norms. It could have been different if 10-year-old Supratit Banerjee, 10, had converted his winning advantage at move 40 against a Polish grandmaster.
They had just reached the clock control after a time scramble, when you should relax and regroup, but Banerjee continued to move quickly, sacrificing unsoundly by 41 Bxf7+?? after which Black won easily. A win would have set a new UK age record for the youngest to beat a GM in a classical game.
On FridayThis weekend the action in England moves on to the Emirates, where the London Classic and Fide Masters take place. The event’s mid-tournament rest day coincides with Arsenal v Manchester United on the football pitch next Wednesday.
The eight-player Classic has teenager Royal taking on an elite field, which includes the two participants in this week’s puzzle – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Michael Adams – as well as the Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun, the British champion Gawain Jones, and Vidit Gujrathi from India’s Olympiad gold-medal team. Live commentary by the eight-time Russian champion Peter Svidler will be on the Chess In Schools And Communities Twitch feed.
The Fide Masters has a high-quality entry featuring 11 GMs and including very many of England’s best young talents. They will rarely have a better opportunity to score GM and IM norms, but it remains to be seen how many of them can seize the opportunity. Follow live at lichess.org.
On to Hastings next month, where the £10,000 Caplin Masters and many events for amateurs are still open to new entries. Royal will again be one of the main English hopes against a strong field of grandmasters from China, France, Ukraine and Hungary, plus leading young British talents, including Scotland’s rising star Frederick Waldhausen Gordon, aged 14.
3948 1 Qg8+ Kf4 (if Kh5 2 Nf6 mate) 2 Qg3+ Ke4 3 Nf6+ Kd4 4 Qd6+ and 5 Qxd1 wins.
