So now the big duel finally starts, on Monday afternoon at 5 p.m. local time in Singapore. The two days after the opening evening on Saturday passed slowly at 30 degrees in damp, sticky air on the edge of the glittering amusement park, which the World Chess Federation Fide seems to be a suitable atmosphere for long-term reflection. But perhaps this long run-up is also needed to increase the tension that can actually be physically felt in front of the ballroom of the Equarius Hotel. Cheerful, excited, solemn anticipation over a few hundred people. Men, women, children, locals, Malaysians, Indians, Chinese and in the middle the media people from Singapore, Australia, Spain, Great Britain, Germany and the USA.
A refreshing contrast, this anticipation of the lower fans, to the grumpiness of the chess-loving public. It’s been known for years: the right people never play at the World Cup! The two finalists may have been the only ones to have qualified according to the rules, and yet in the opinion of those who know better, others should actually be competing here, stronger, more worthy, more desirable fighters, first and foremost Magnus Carlsen, this more than ex-world champion, the very, very best player. But unfortunately, unfortunately the Norwegian no longer wants to endure the agony of preparation. He’s had enough. The youngest challenger of all time, the one-named Gukesh, 18 years old, from Chennai in India, and the reigning world champion, Ding Liren, 32, from Wenzhou in China, are now playing here.
Ding has been struggling since he won his title in April 2023, insomnia, lack of strength, defeats; a heap of misery in medical treatment, sliding down the world rankings. Gukesh would finish him off, it was written everywhere, short process, and the attitude was: Maybe Ding would rather not compete at all in order to prevent damage to the chess.
The general prejudice had reached such an extent that defiance arose here and there: Let’s see first. Even India’s former world champion Viswanathan Anand, mentor of the young Gukesh, warned last week in the ZEIT that one should not underestimate Ding; the world championship fight as such could revitalize him and take him to new heights. Gukesh would do well to prepare for a strong opponent rather than an effortless pursuit of the coveted title.
When the game begins in the soundproof and opaque glass box in front of hundreds in the ballroom, the first black move comes as a surprise. Thing plays French! The opening that is so popular at club level, whose restraint and resilience is only surpassed by its variety and complexity. She hadn’t been seen at a World Cup for decades until Ding brought her on the board in his 2023 title fight in Astana, Kazakhstan, against Russian Jan Nepomnyashchi. He managed it half well and was in a worse position when Ding got into a time crunch and finally froze: he sat there frozen as the last minutes ticked by.
There’s something to be said about such a defeat at the start of a 14-game competition in which the chess grandees hardly give you a chance. Choosing French also signals: I want to play here. I don’t want to play it safe, I rely on counterplay from behind the cover.
Soon the game takes a spectacular turn
But then. Gukesh plays the following moves a tempo, pawn, knight, pawn, pawn, knight, pawn, and after this seventh white move Ding falls into deep contemplation. Minutes pass, finally half an hour – and he only has two hours for the first forty moves. Is this another freeze? Is the surpriser surprised himself?
Finally he draws, and he must have seen his opponent’s time on the clock when he immediately draws again: Gukesh took 58 seconds for his first eight moves. It goes on like this for a while, and the audience may be amazed at how well the young man has prepared himself to be able to break everything down in a rather unexpected area.
Gukesh’s tenth move comes quickly, a bold pawn advance on the kingside that raises eyebrows among the masters in the room. Forward, forward, yes, but doesn’t that weaken the structure too much? Pawns never go back, and the white king stands vulnerable behind them on the back rank.
Soon the game takes a spectacular turn. Ding rushes forward on the queenside, Gukesh thinks and thinks, the time relationship is reversed. And then Ding brings a little combination that Gukesh probably didn’t see coming. Strong black forces suddenly in the white camp, the white king in the wind, a few of his pawns flying away. Gukesh finds himself at a disadvantage with just a second left on the clock when he makes his 40th move. If time had run out, he would have lost. So he gets 30 minutes extra – and loses shortly afterwards: three pawns less, no more counterattack, surrender on move 43.
Was that all correct? Could he have defended himself better? With its end, the game is handed over to posterity; all knowledgeable and non-informed people will now analyze it with the help of computers. The great what-if game.
It’s all very entertaining and, above all, this World Chess Championship is starting with a bang. Ding, who hasn’t played much for months and hasn’t won anything, is back, at least at this immensely important moment. Does that motivate him? Maybe that was it? We’ll see.
The second round of the World Cup begins on Tuesday at 10 a.m. German time. You can find the reports from our World Cup reporter here.
