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Ding Stuns Gukesh To Win Game 1 Of 2024 World Championship
Ding Liren won to get the 2024 FIDE World Championship off to an incredible start. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Ding Stuns Gukesh To Win Game 1 Of 2024 World Championship

Colin_McGourty
Colin_McGourty
Staff
| 264 | Chess Event Coverage

World Champion Ding Liren's first classical win in 304 days has given him the early lead in the 2024 FIDE World Championship in Singapore. Pre-event favorite GM Gukesh Dommaraju looked in command as Ding played the French Defense and burned up 27 minutes on move seven, while Gukesh then blitzed out an attacking novelty. The moment the young Indian slipped, however, Ding seized the initiative and followed up brilliantly to clinch victory. Match on! 

Game two starts Tuesday, November 26, at 4:00 a.m. ET / 10:00 CET /  2:30 p.m. IST / 5:00 p.m. local time in Singapore.

Match Score

Name Rating 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 Score
Ding Liren 2728 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Gukesh Dommaraju 2783 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
How to watch the 2024 FIDE World Championship
You can watch the 2024 FIDE World Championship live on Chess.com/TV and on the Chess24 Twitch and YouTube channels, while GM Hikaru Nakamura is streaming on Kick. IM Andras Toth is analyzing the games in a Chessable course. 
The live broadcast was hosted by GM Judit Polgar, GM Daniel Naroditsky, and John Sargent.

Ding Liren Wins Game 1 With The Black Pieces

Ding Liren pacing before the first game of the match. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

"This may be one of the most interesting world championship games I've ever seen, and it's game one!" exclaimed Naroditsky during the live commentary, and the start of the match in Singapore was all we could possibly have hoped for. The stakes are high for the first world championship between two Asian players in its 138-year history—will Ding remain champion or will Gukesh become the 18th undisputed world chess champion?

Most pre-match talk was of whether the old Ding—capable of beating GM Magnus Carlsen in tiebreaks and posting a 100-game unbeaten streak—would finally show up after a year of disappointment and plunging down the rating list. There were positive glimpses of a rejuvenated Ding in the pre-tournament press conference, but game one would be the acid test. 

Chemistry Nobel Prize winner Demis Hassabis made the ceremonial first move for Gukesh. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

It didn't take long to see that he'd come to fight, since he began with the combative French Defense, an opening he'd last played in game seven of the 2023 match against GM Ian Nepomniachtchi—back then Ding froze and collapsed in time trouble, resigning with three seconds to spare in a ruined position.  

Ding explained after the game that he'd picked the opening, one his second GM Richard Rapport specializes in, to exploit any early nerves from his 18-year-old opponent: "Because it’s the first game I think he might get nervous at the start of the match, so I tried to play something unusual, which I haven’t played for a long time, and it turned out to work perfectly!"

The players were competing inside a glass box, with spectators outside. Photo: Eng Chin An/FIDE.

The changed attitude from Ding was also evident in his staying fixed to the board for the whole game, in contrast to his previous match in Astana, Kazakhstan: "Today I spent nearly all the game sitting at the board, not hiding in the player’s lounge like the first game last time. I think this is totally new for me and I don’t think the last time I was so concentrated on one game."

I spent nearly all the game sitting at the board, not hiding in the player's lounge like the first game last time.

—Ding Liren 

The positive mental outlook didn't mean the plan would work out, however. Gukesh didn't blink when the French appeared on the board, played a less common sixth move, 6.Nce2, and then after 7.c3 Ding shuddered to a halt in a still relatively well-known position.

In the end Ding thought almost 28 minutes, later explaining of 7.c3:

"I analyzed it, but I couldn’t remember what was the continuation. I had to decide to play the line I knew, but maybe didn’t know properly, or I needed to come up with a new idea myself, like in the game, and I chose the second one."

Many games have been lost by following half-remembered opening preparation, and Ding's 7...a5 avoided that pitfall, but it didn't mean things were going to get better fast. Gukesh kept blitzing out his moves and was over 30 minutes up on the clock when he played the new move 10.g4, sending Ding into another 15-minute think.


Was it preparation, GM Maurice Ashley asked in the post-game press conference? "Yeah, a move like g4 you generally don’t play without preparation!" answered Gukesh.

Gukesh had come prepared, but Ding managed to find an interesting path out of his opponent's preparation. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

"I obviously surprised him in the opening and I was playing some good chess," said Gukesh, with Ding agreeing he was slightly worse, but this moment is where the seeds of victory were sown. One surprising threat, as spotted by Polgar and the computers, was that the natural 10...0-0 could walk into 11.g5!, with White getting a positional lock on the position.

Ding instead found a move that was not just playable, but had another merit. As Gukesh explained, "After 10...Qa5 I was playing on my own."

"It turns out time flows very quickly," said Ding as at one point he slipped 52 minutes behind on the clock, but the gap began to narrow, and when Gukesh took 33 minutes over the natural-looking 17.Qe2 it almost vanished. Ding's 17...Nxd4! gave Gukesh a choice, and for the first time he chose wrongly, capturing back on d4 with his knight instead of his bishop.

Ding pounced with 18...Nb2!, and it wasn't just the move but the speed that made an impression. He confirmed after the game that he was playing fast to pressure his opponent—Ding 2.0 (or is that 3.0?) looks like a beast: "Suddenly I found this idea Nxd4 and then Nb2 to create counterplay on the queenside, and I just moved the pieces very quickly, to give him the pressure not only on the board but on the clock."

I just moved the pieces very quickly, to give him the pressure not only on the board but on the clock.

—Ding Liren       

Ding may be quiet and friendly, but at the board he can be a killer. Photo: Eng Chin An/FIDE.

Gukesh would later call this a "tactical oversight," and more would follow. He realized his planned 22.Qf4 would run into 22...g5!, but the move he played instead, 22.Qe1?, meant for the first time in the game Ding was actually winning, after finding 22...Bg5!. 

Suddenly we were in the territory that Carlsen had talked about before the match:

"I think Ding will get the first big chance. I could see a scenario where Ding gets two or three massive chances in the first five-six games, and he absolutely has to take them."

This was a Ding who was totally determined. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Ding was flawless for the next sequence of moves as he grabbed a pawn, causing Naroditsky to describe him as "a tiger sensing the moment to jump out of the cage!" but 27...fxe6!? (27...Bxe6!) was an inaccuracy that might have cost a win against perfect defense.

The key moment came when Gukesh got down to four minutes and played 30.Qc2? instead of 30.Bc5! first, stopping Black castling and greatly improving White's chances.

The mistake was understandable, since both players had discovered something shocking in the best line. Ding would say after the game, "To be fair, I think it’s very lucky for me, because I missed two tactics!"

To be fair, I think it's very lucky for me, because I missed two tactics!

—Ding Liren 

What Gukesh had relied on, and Ding had initially overlooked, was that after 30.Bc5 Qxg4 there's what Ding called the "very brilliant move" 31.Qxh7!.

Black looks dead in the water, as if the rook takes the queen its checkmate with Rf8#, but as Ding happily noted, "fortunately I have 31...Qd4+!! to not only save the game, but turn the tables around."

It was still better for Gukesh to go for 30.Bc5, since in the game he found himself in a desperate situation on the clock and on the board. At one point he had just 45 seconds to make seven moves, with no time added each move before move 40, but at least the Indian star forced his opponent to show his brilliance.

Ding was up to the task, with 34...e5! not only the only move to win, but the only move that doesn't lose. 

Gukesh managed to make the move-40 time control with a second to spare, but the 30 minutes added to his clock seemed to be entirely superfluous in a hopeless position.

It was a tough loss for Gukesh to face, but there's a long road ahead. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Nevertheless, there was time for one last trick. 

Ding might have been chilling, but 42.Be6! caught him by surprise, since he said he'd calculated every other move. Here he realized to his horror that 42...Kh7?? actually loses all the advantage to 43.Qxe4+!, winning the queen on a2 and likely making a draw.

"I was very lucky I have 42...Kh8!," said Ding, and when he made that move Gukesh resigned.

Grandmaster Game Analysis, By GM Rafael Leitao

GM Rafael Leitao analyzes game one of the match below.

"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!" said Ding, who had also taken the lead in a world championship match for the first time, if you don't count the final move of the 2023 match. Ding commented:

"It’s a totally new experience. If it’s a Swiss or a closed tournament I will fight for a win in every possible game, but in the match I haven’t had any experience yet and tomorrow I have the white pieces, and since I haven’t prepared yet, I don’t know what approach I will take tomorrow."

Since I haven't prepared yet, I don't know what approach I will take tomorrow. 

—Ding Liren 

Facing a world championship press conference after a loss is something Ding has experience of, while this is Gukesh's first time. Photo: En Chin An/FIDE.

For Gukesh, meanwhile, it was a setback, but there are 13 games to go and his approach looks to be the right one. He summed up:

"I think 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!"

It's only more exciting now!

—Gukesh Dommaraju

Gukesh has now suffered three defeats to Ding, all with the white pieces, so he may not mind that he has Black in Tuesday's game two. Can he hit back, or can Ding take an early 2-0 lead? Don't miss all the action!

This was just the beginning! Photo: Eng Chin An/FIDE.

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The 2024 FIDE World Championship in Singapore decides the next world champion. 18-year-old Indian Challenger Gukesh Dommaraju takes on Chinese Defending Champion Ding Liren in a 14-game match, with the first to 7.5 points winning. The players have two hours for 40 moves, then 30 minutes to the end of the game, with 30 seconds added each move from move 41 onwards. The prize fund is $2,500,000, with $200,000 for a win and the remaining money split equally. If tied 7-7, a playoff will take place, starting with four games of 15+10 rapid chess.

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Colin_McGourty
Colin McGourty

Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.

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