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Indian chess Grandmaster D Gukesh comes into the tournament high on confidence fuelled by a spectacular year in the lead up to the event.
Ding Liren (left), the reigning world champion, will defend his title against rising star D Gukesh of India. (AFP Photo)
Singapore is set to play host to the 2024 iteration of the World Chess Championship as two exceptional brains in a modern-day version of the age-old sport, D Gukesh and Ding Liren, go head-to-head in a gruelling 14-game series starting on the 25th of November.
Liren, the reigning world champion, has the odds stacked against him at the upcoming edition of the championship and will have his job cut out for him if he is to retain the title as Indian chess grandmaster Gukesh comes into the tournament high on confidence fuelled by a spectacular year in the lead up to the event.
Liren, however, has had to contend with various issues, including form and mental health, since he clinched the title with his triumph over Ian Nepomniachtchi last year.
The 32-year-old Chinese grandmaster opted to sit out the tournaments subsequent to his title match in April 2023 citing the toll the sport and schedule had taken on his mental well-being and faced difficulties in regaining his form when he returned to action.
He has suffered a drop in rankings as well amid his ongoing tussle with form but has a clear lead over Gukesh in the head-to-head parameter as the Chinese star has clinched two victories against the Indian with another draw between them.
The latest victor in the engagement between the duo was as recent as the Tata Steel Chess 2024.
During the time that Liren was away from the board and toiling with his grip on his return, Gukesh went from strength to strength reiterating his abilities over the 64-square mat with statements performances, each one better than the last, in a series of triumphs.
Liren, who dropped from world number 2 to 23 amid his rocky stint, will come up against one of the biggest gainers in the year in terms of ranking points as the Indian teenager has managed to jump up to fifth.
Gukesh, the son of a surgeon and a microbiologist, scripted history by becoming the youngest Candidates champion in the 2024 edition of the same and in tow to emulate the biggest name in Indian Chess, Viswanathan Anand, if he were to get his hands on the coveted prize in the game against Liren.
Anand, a five-time world champion, is the only Indian to have his name up on the esteemed list and Gukesh entering the roll of honour would be a groundbreaking triumph for the sport in the nation that has been enjoying a revolution in chess in recent years.
Gukesh spearheaded the Indian men’s contingent that clinched the country’s maiden FIDE Chess Olympiad and lifted the silverware in a celebration mimicking the Indian cricket team skipper Rohit Sharma’s gimmick after lifting the T20I World Cup earlier in the year.
Gukesh would also become the youngest-ever champion, surpassing the legendary Gary Kasparov, who clinched the title at 22 years of age, if he were to get the beating of Liren in Singapore.
The 18-year-old also emphasised how the peninsular nation had already established itself as an unquestionable superpower in the sport on the back of the Olympiad triumph, which was doubled by the triumph of the women’s team in their section adding further weight to the claim.