Checkmating history: Gukesh aims to break chess record by beating Ding

The Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore, is hosting a world chess championship that has already set records by the halfway stage. This features a head-to-head battle between the defending world champion, 32-year-old Ding Liren of China, and the challenger, 18-year-old D Gukesh of India.

 

The first world title match was held in 1886, with Austrian-American Wilhelm Steinitz beating the British-Polish Johannes Zukertort. 

 

This is the first time in the 138-year history of the classical world championship that a match has featured two Asian contenders. Gukesh is by far the youngest challenger ever, and obviously, if he wins, he will become the youngest ever world champion.  

 

Beginning with a bang

 

Readers may be wondering what “classical” means. In chess, it is shorthand for a long time control. This match will ideally be decided over 14 games played out at long time controls with alternating colours.

 

Right now, the match is tied after nine games. If the players are tied at the end of 14 games, there will be a series of four games at shorter time controls. And if that does not break the deadlock, the time controls will get progressively shorter until the match is decided (see accompanying box).

 

Gukesh has done something unimaginable by making it to a title match at 18 by winning an extremely tough Candidates Tournament in April, edging out seven top grandmasters. The young man has been cited as world champion material since he became a Grandmaster at the ripe young age of 12. Apart from winning age group titles, Gukesh has picked up individual gold medals as the best top board player at two successive Olympiads, and spearheaded an Indian gold winning performance in 2024.

 

But the teenager is only at the beginning of what promises to be a long and glittering career. Though Gukesh is obviously remarkably talented, he would be the first to admit he is not a finished product. Five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen says Gukesh is an incredible calculator who can crunch through tricky positions finding the best moves. But Carlsen also says Gukesh has a weakness in that he always looks for a concrete solution rather than relying on his instincts or intuition.

 

Battle of prodigies

 

Ding, too, was a prodigy. He won the Chinese Championship at 16, which is when commentators started singling him out as a world-beating talent. The lawyer and poet has since displayed exceptional fighting spirit to go with his talent. He qualified for a world title match when Carlsen withdrew. He was behind several times in the 2023 match versus Russian grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi but equalised each time and finally took a decisive lead in the tiebreakers. Ding has since been in terrible form for more than a year, and admitted that he has had issues with depression. However, he appears to have overcome those problems, going into this match.

 

There have been only two decisive games, with Ding and Gukesh trading wins in Games 1 and 3, but the play has been thrilling. Several games have been cliffhangers, with both players missing winning chances. One way or the other, this looks to be one of the tightest matches ever.

 

The title of world champion carries a brand value that is hard to quantify. Here is one way to see it: Though more than 6,500 people have climbed Everest, there have only been 17 classical world chess champions in 138 years. Another way is: This match is being played for a prize fund of $2.5 million with a sweetener in that every decisive game carries a bonus of $200,000 for the winner.

 

The world champion is also guaranteed a multimillion-dollar match to defend the title against the next challenger, and he will get invitations to high-level events for the rest of his career. And, of course, there are sponsorships and brand endorsements, in addition to lucrative streaming deals.

 

Monetising victory

 

In the 21st century, such deals may be monetisable for large sums. For example, Carlsen, the 16th champion, made a controversial decision in 2022. He won the title in 2013 and defended it successfully four times before quitting playing the title cycle. He is arguably the best chess player in history. He is also a smart entrepreneur who set up a listed company, which he later sold for $82 million. He has done multiple corporate deals and makes money from streaming, etc.

 

The Norwegian grandmaster did the math and figured out that he did not need to put in the hard yards to play the title cycle anymore. Every title match involves months of brutal training. The two players go into huddles with their respective teams and figure out strategies. This involves deep analysis to work out their opponent’s style, strengths, and weaknesses, apart from strengthening their own play. It is an enormous investment, and Carlsen did not want to do it anymore.

 

It is different for Gukesh and, perhaps, for Ding as well. Gukesh’s ambitions are hardly likely to ebb, whatever happens in Singapore. The teenager from Chennai has unabashedly admitted he has always dreamt of being world champion. If he does not make it in this cycle, he will most likely keep trying.

 

Time controls

 

Four world title matches have been decided by tiebreaks played at rapid controls: Viswanathan Anand beat Boris Gelfand in 2012, Magnus Carlsen beat Sergey Karjakin in 2016 and Fabiano Caruana in 2018; and in 2023, Ding Liren beat Ian Nepomniachtchi.  

 

The time control for each classical game is 120 minutes per player for the first 40 moves, and 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move from move 41. Players are not allowed to agree to a draw before Black's 40th move. In theory, a game could continue indefinitely. If the match is tied after 14 such games, there will be tiebreaks.

 

The next set would be four games with 15 minutes per side and a 10-second increment starting with move 1. If a player scores 2½ points or more, he would win the championship. If the score is still equal, a mini-match of two games will be played, with 10 minutes per side and a 5-second increment starting on move 1. If a player scores 1½ points or more, he would win.

 

If the score is still equal, a mini-match of two games will be played, with a time control of 3 minutes per side and a 2-second increment starting with move 1. If a player scores 1½ points or more, he will win the championship.

 

If the blitz mini-match is tied, a sudden death single blitz game with a time control of 3 minutes per side and a 2-second increment starting with move 1 will be played, and its winner will be the champion. A drawing of lots will decide which player plays with which colour. If this game is drawn, another blitz game with reversed colours will be played at the same time control. This process will be repeated until somebody wins.