Aggression will likely be the secret when Indian teenager Gukesh, already an awesome favorite, and seasoned Ding Liren conflict within the World championship match whilst prime gamers cautioned in opposition to writing off the formidable Chinese language participant. Beginning Monday with the primary recreation, the gamers are slated to play a most of 14 Classical video games and the one to cross the 7.5 factors marker first will likely be declared the winner within the USD 2.5 million championship. In case of a tied end result, the video games of shorter length will likely be performed to find out the winner.
As per historical past, the defending champion has all the time been given choice over the challenger however the latest performances by each Gukesh and Liren have turned the tide within the favour for the 18-year outdated Indian, who’s by the way the youngest ever challenger and has the possibility to be the youngest ever world champion.
For the data, Liren has slipped to quantity 23 in world rankings following a string of under common performances since he gained the title in 2023.
Gukesh, alternatively, has risen to quantity 5 in world rating and was merely dominant when he annexed the Candidates’ title that certified him to tackle Liren earlier this April.
Liren’s freefall has been attributed to some psychological well being points together with melancholy that stored the Chinese language away from aggressive chess for the most important a part of 2023.
His return in early 2024 was marked by under par performances and the Chinese language had himself conceded that he would possibly lose the match badly a while again.
Nevertheless, the match is a unique ball recreation in chess whereby it is not solely the talents but in addition a contest of characters. Liren has confirmed as soon as that he holds the aces so far as taking part in robust matches is anxious by beating Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi final yr whereas Gukesh remains to be in search of that have.
In line with highest rated Indian and world quantity 4 Arjun Erigaise, “Gukesh will crush Liren” however world primary Carlsen believes that Liren at his peak will likely be a well-rounded participant in comparison with the Indian at his peak.
“Based mostly on the present kind Gukesh is a major favorite forward however based mostly on peak chess means it’s fairly even. So if Ding can regain that kind, he has a very good probability,” Carlsen had famous on the simply concluded Tata Metal speedy and blitz event.
The opening ceremony of the match will likely be held late on Saturday and the primary recreation will start at 2:30 PM on Monday. There will likely be a relaxation day after each third recreation.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
Subjects talked about on this article