World Chess Championship 2024 - Gukesh vs. Ding : Countdown, news and updates

[rangeelaraja]

Super excited about this World Championship  - I know Gukesh is getting good advise, preparing really hard and not falling into this complacency trap.  Ding is very dangerous opponent who can have flashes of genius. He is capable of playing 1-2 really good games that can prove decisive at this level.

 

I will be in Mumbai for a personal trip in December and visit Singapore 11-13 December to witness the last 2 games ( Game 13 and 14 )  I am super excited to be in one of the hotels at the resort which is hosting this championship.  

 

Very hard to guess the seconds of either of them -  Gajewski has been his long time trainer.  My guess is at least one of the 4 trainers of the Men's Olympiad team is his second. 

 

Quite frankly I would be happy if his seconds are all Indians. We have a lot of home grown talent.

 

Richard Rapport was Ding's second in the last World Championship - but no longer working with him. 

[rangeelaraja]

Trainer Gajewski speaking of Gukesh :

 

 

 

 

[Gollum]

2 hours ago, rangeelaraja said:

Super excited about this World Championship  - I know Gukesh is getting good advise, preparing really hard and not falling into this complacency trap.  Ding is very dangerous opponent who can have flashes of genius. He is capable of playing 1-2 really good games that can prove decisive at this level.

 

I will be in Mumbai for a personal trip in December and visit Singapore 11-13 December to witness the last 2 games ( Game 13 and 14 )  I am super excited to be in one of the hotels at the resort which is hosting this championship.  

 

Very hard to guess the seconds of either of them -  Gajewski has been his long time trainer.  My guess is at least one of the 4 trainers of the Men's Olympiad team is his second. 

 

Quite frankly I would be happy if his seconds are all Indians. We have a lot of home grown talent.

 

Richard Rapport was Ding's second in the last World Championship - but no longer working with him. 

Bro, it may not even go till games 13 and 14. Would have been safer to book tickets for game 6, 7, 8.....historically also these rounds have generally seen less draws, more excitement/swings. 

 

Anyway I think @Mariyam too is going to the match. ICF community will be represented well in the match. 

Edited October 7 by Gollum

[rangeelaraja]

8 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Bro, it may not even go till games 13 and 14. Would have been safer to book tickets for game 6, 7, 8.....historically also these rounds have generally seen less draws, more excitement/swings. 

 

Anyway I think @Mariyam too is going to the match. ICF community will be represented well in the match. 

I would never ever underestimate anyone in a World Championship match. Ding was underdog against Nepo too.

 

I opted to book for game 13 and 14 purely because I wanted to be there to soak in the closing moments. Gukesh, the Indian media, Chessbase India - all of them will be in a different  mood at the end of Game 13 or 14 - relative to mid match. 
 

I feel it will be a close match. Why ? 
 

Because I feel in Chess  preparing for tournaments is very different to preparing for one player in a a head to head. 
 

I hope it does not come down to tiebreaks. 

Edited October 7 by rangeelaraja

[Tillu]

These Gutka and betting ads are finding their way into Chess tournaments as well.

 

Edited October 7 by Tillu

[rangeelaraja]

9 hours ago, Tillu said:

These Gutka and betting ads are finding their way into Chess tournaments as well.

 

 

The GCL tournament has been farcical without time increments. 

[Muloghonto]

16 hours ago, rangeelaraja said:

I would never ever underestimate anyone in a World Championship match. Ding was underdog against Nepo too.

 

I opted to book for game 13 and 14 purely because I wanted to be there to soak in the closing moments. Gukesh, the Indian media, Chessbase India - all of them will be in a different  mood at the end of Game 13 or 14 - relative to mid match. 
 

I feel it will be a close match. Why ? 
 

Because I feel in Chess  preparing for tournaments is very different to preparing for one player in a a head to head. 
 

I hope it does not come down to tiebreaks. 

 

I dont know if you follow chess on youtube, like through Agatmador or such, but Gukesh will start as heavy favourite, there is no doubt about it. Ding has been very off colour late and his gameplay has been riddled with errors. He's been a barely top-20 player since he's won the world champ, so pressure is on Ding to hold on.
Gukesh on the other hand, is one of the top 3 hottest players right now on current form. 

But yes, he will bring his best in the world championship, there is no doubt about it. I still do expect Gukesh to destroy him though. I wouldn't be surprised if its one of the most one-sided WC final in a while now because Ding has been worryingly error-prone whenever he's played in the last year and that isn't a matchup issue or something you can h2h prepare for, imo. 

 

 

[randomGuy]

3 hours ago, Muloghonto said:

 

I dont know if you follow chess on youtube, like through Agatmador or such, but Gukesh will start as heavy favourite, there is no doubt about it. Ding has been very off colour late and his gameplay has been riddled with errors. He's been a barely top-20 player since he's won the world champ, so pressure is on Ding to hold on.
Gukesh on the other hand, is one of the top 3 hottest players right now on current form. 

But yes, he will bring his best in the world championship, there is no doubt about it. I still do expect Gukesh to destroy him though. I wouldn't be surprised if its one of the most one-sided WC final in a while now because Ding has been worryingly error-prone whenever he's played in the last year and that isn't a matchup issue or something you can h2h prepare for, imo. 

 

 

You can reach the venue for game 10,11,12. And if the match is over by then, laugh at @rangeelaraja who will arrive for non existent games 13,14. You two can also discuss remaining things about Ambani wedding.

[rangeelaraja]

5 hours ago, Muloghonto said:

 

I dont know if you follow chess on youtube, like through Agatmador or such, but Gukesh will start as heavy favourite, there is no doubt about it. Ding has been very off colour late and his gameplay has been riddled with errors. He's been a barely top-20 player since he's won the world champ, so pressure is on Ding to hold on.
Gukesh on the other hand, is one of the top 3 hottest players right now on current form. 

But yes, he will bring his best in the world championship, there is no doubt about it. I still do expect Gukesh to destroy him though. I wouldn't be surprised if its one of the most one-sided WC final in a while now because Ding has been worryingly error-prone whenever he's played in the last year and that isn't a matchup issue or something you can h2h prepare for, imo. 

 

 

 

 

I've learnt that never be too sure in sports. You don't know what the opponent has up his sleeve.  

 

Kasparov beat Anand very comfortably in the 1995 World Chess Championship.  Kramnik dethroned Kasparov in 2000.

 

By that logic an inform Kramnik should have beaten Anand in 2008 right ? Except that Anand hammered Kramnik in 2008.

 

Sport is fickle. 

 

Ofcourse, we would all like Gukesh to totally dominate Ding, but one cannot be sure.  I would happily take a very very narrow victory as long as Gukesh wins. 

 

[rangeelaraja]

1 hour ago, randomGuy said:

You can reach the venue for game 10,11,12. And if the match is over by then, laugh at @rangeelaraja who will arrive for non existent games 13,14. You two can also discuss remaining things about Ambani wedding.

 

All 14 games will be played no matter what - I planned my short trip wanting to be part of the games that we would be ( very hopefully ) celebrating the most, at the end of the match.

 

 Game 13, 14 would still be "live" games  -Unless Gukesh is better than +2 at the end of Game 12.

 

[bharathh]

14 games?! Are they all classical or are there rapid games in there as well? Why do they play so many games? 

[Vickydev]

Gukesh is just a massive favourite, Ding is making a few too many mistakes in his games since his return from hiatus. Gukesh has shown incredible preparation in his recent outings so the signs look great.

 

But agree with @rangeelaraja, Gukesh is a tremendous tournament player but match is just different gravy and it'll be his first time.

 

Nerves too will play a big part plus the media attention. The key for him will be not to get into trouble with time pressure, that's the only way I think Ding can cause problems for him. 

 

 

[rangeelaraja]

18 hours ago, bharathh said:

14 games?! Are they all classical or are there rapid games in there as well? Why do they play so many games? 

 

14 classical games. If there is no winner after that - the match is decided by rapid games. 
 

In 2012 - When Anand became World Champion for the last time - he won in the tiebreak games against Boris Gelfand.

 

Many recent World Chess Championships have been decided by rapid games because 14 classical games have not yielded a winner.

 

2016 and 2018  Championships- Carlsen could not defeat Karjakin and Caruana respectively after 14 classical games and it took rapid games to yield a winner.

 

Even Ding won in 2023 in the tiebreaks against Nepo. 

 

 

Edited October 9 by rangeelaraja

[randomGuy]

On 10/8/2024 at 9:07 AM, rangeelaraja said:

 

All 14 games will be played no matter what - I planned my short trip wanting to be part of the games that we would be ( very hopefully ) celebrating the most, at the end of the match.

 

 Game 13, 14 would still be "live" games  -Unless Gukesh is better than +2 at the end of Game 12.

 

That doesn't seem to be correct bro 

 

"If the match ends in less than fourteen games, then the closing ceremony may be moved forward."

 

https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/FWCM2024.pdf

 

 

[bharathh]

According the doc above - first person to 7.5 pts wins. So theoretically the contest can get over in 8 games

[rangeelaraja]

15 hours ago, randomGuy said:

That doesn't seem to be correct bro 

 

"If the match ends in less than fourteen games, then the closing ceremony may be moved forward."

 

https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/FWCM2024.pdf

 

 

 

9 hours ago, bharathh said:

According the doc above - first person to 7.5 pts wins. So theoretically the contest can get over in 8 games

 

Dang ! I totally missed that. I thought all the games will be played regardless.

 

Unfortunately, I cannot change my travel itinerary because my India vacation has already been planned with other bookings.

 

Hope the match is theoretically live after game 12,  so that I can be around during the celebrations and award ceremony. Else, there is enough sight seeing to do in Singapore anyways ; )

Edited October 10 by rangeelaraja