Indian GM D. Gukesh will be keen to get back to winning ways in the 14-game World championship match.
Reaching the venue of the World chess championship, Equarius Hotel at World Resorts Sentosa, from mainland Singapore involves multiple modes of transport for most people.
To get to the small island Sentosa, which used to be called the island behind which lies death (there is no consensus on the reason behind it, though), you have to take an underground metro station, then a monorail that is way over-ground, up in the air in fact, and then you have to take a bus, if you don’t to walk in the sweltering heat.
The journey of the World championship match, which is approaching its half-way mark, thus far has just been as fascinating. Especially given the circumstances – much of the chess world had been dismissive of the reigning champion Ding Liren’s chances and was expecting D. Gukesh to dominate.
The 18-year-old from Chennai has shown more initiative and looked keener for intense battles, but the defending champion has so far been able to prove his peers wrong. He may have been happy to look for a draw in most positions and may have also had a tougher time while handling the pressure from the clock, but he has been solid enough.
Given the contrast in form between the two players, Ding should not be too unhappy with the way things have gone, though he was rather critical of himself in the self-appraisal at the last press conference before Monday’s rest day. He spoke of how he slipped from advantageous positions.
Before the match, he had also talked of having to seek professional help for his mental issues. Doubts had been raised therefore if he would be in the ideal shape of mind for the match.
He has looked fine. He was even joking at the press conference about the memes about ‘Ding Chillin’, after the sixth game.
It was the game in which Gukesh again showed his willingness to take risks, despite having to pay the price for being more aggressive in the opening game. He had lost that game with white pieces, but came back strongly to win the third game to level the scores.
It is still all square – 3-3. The last three games were all drawn. If you feel that is too many, you could just go back to the 2018 World championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana in London.
All the 12 games were drawn, forcing a tie-breaker (speed chess), in which Carlsen crushed Caruana. Here it is a best-of-14 affair.
Published – December 02, 2024 10:32 pm IST
