FIDE World Chess Championship Match
November 20 – December 15, 2024
Singapore
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) announced that the Singapore Chess Federation supported by the Government of Singapore won the bid to host the 2024 FIDE World Chess Championship match.
The match will boast a $2.5 million USD prize, featuring defending World Champion China’s Ding Liren and the youngest Challenger in the history of chess, India’s 18-year-old D. Gukesh.
The match will consist of 14 Classical Chess games. The player who scores 7.5 or more points wins the match, then no further games are played. If the score is tied after 14 games, the winner is decided by a Rapid Chess tiebreak system.
Ding Liren’s
Emotional Collapse
After a grueling 18-game World Chess Championship match against Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, April 7-30, 2023, Ding Liren experienced an emotional collapse.
He did not play Classical Chess again for more than eight months, and when he returned he had mediocre to poor results with no significant wins.
2023 World Chess Championship
Final Results
April 30, 2023
Ding Liren described his collapse after winning the title in the 18-game match as a psychological and emotional breakdown brought on by insomnia and depression.
In a German interview in April 2024, Ding Liren talked about being treated for insomnia and depression.
He said, “I had a few problems, that’s true. I was exhausted, and I couldn’t sleep very well. That led to depression. I was treated twice in a clinic. Fortunately, things are slowly getting better again. Chess is mentally exhausting–and if you can’t sleep well, that’s fatal. At least I’ve been able to reduce my tablets from four a day to one at the moment.”
The Challenger
18-Year-Old
Dommaraju Gukesh
World Chess Candidates Tournament
Final Results
April 22, 2024
If Ding Liren Decides Not To Defend Title?!
What happens if Ding Liren is unable or decides not to defend his title? In that case, India’s 18-year-old D. Gukesh will play the runner-up of the 2024 World Chess Candidates Tournament–USA’s 36-year-old Hikaru Nakamura–for the title.
According to FIDE, the top 2 finishers of the 2024 Candidates Tournament would play for the title in a 14-game match. The player who scores 7.5 or more points wins, and no further games are played. If the score is tied after 14 games, the winner is decided by a tiebreak.
Depending on the timing of Ding Liren’s notification, FIDE would hope to have the World Chess Championship match as scheduled in November and December 2024–or as soon as possible!
#1 Carlsen and #2 Nakamura
Address
Ding Liren’s Condition
According to FIDE July ratings, the former 5-time World Chess Champion Norway’s Magnus Carlsen (2832) and USA’s Hikaru Nakamura (2802) are rated #1 & #2 in the world, respectively.
After Ding Liren won the title in April 2023 followed by his emotional collapse, his rating (2745) has fallen to #13 in the world.
Ding Liren’s Peak Rating was 2816 in November 2018; his Peak Ranking was #2 in the world in 2021!
FIDE July 2024 Ratings
Magnus Carlsen’s
Comments
Former 5-time World Chess Champion GM Magnus Carlsen, who retired a champion, says he fears that Ding Liren could be “permanently broken” and fail to recover after his world championship victory.
“The question is whether he [Ding Liren] is sort of permanently broken from the last world championship match that he played? I’m not sure, but I think there is a possibility that he could be.” -Magnus Carlsen
Hikaru Nakamura’s
Comments
In July 2024 at Norway Chess, Ding Liren had a catastrophic result, losing several games including resigning to Hikaru Nakamura in 54 moves in a Round 5 game at the Norway Chess tournament.
Hikaru Nakamura said that while overall he was “happy with what was going on in the game” with Ding Liren, he was a little concerned for Ding.
“Ding definitely doesn’t seem like the same person. It’s awkward actually because I’ve played against him many times. He definitely doesn’t seem like the same person. Not sure if it was visible on the video but at some point I was struggling to keep my composure because at some moment he started bouncing up and down. He was shaking, like literally shaking. It’s very hard in a way when your opponent–it seems as though something’s wrong—it’s very hard to not feel bad for him!” -Hikaru Nakamura
Learn To Play Chess
like
Grandmasters Play Chess!
D. Gukesh will challenge Ding Liren for the World Chess title on November 20 – December 15, 2024 in Singapore at a venue to be determined!
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