 "FIDE slams claims of Liren losing World Chess Championship match to Gukesh on purpose: 'Every sportsman makes mistakes'")
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) President Arkady Dvorkovich has downplayed claims of China’s Ding Liren losing to India's D Gukesh on purpose during the recently-concluded 2024 World Chess Championship match in Singapore. During Game 14 of the World Chess Championship match on Thursday, Ding, the then defending champion, made a blunder towards the end of the game that cost him the title.
D Gukesh thus became only the second Indian, after Viswanathan Anand, to win the prestigious title. Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik had termed Ding's blunder as "childish" and the Russian Chess Federation president Andrei Filatov questioned Liren's "deliberate" loss .
‘Every sportsman makes mistakes’: FIDE President
“Sports is about mistakes, without mistakes, there would be no goals in football. Every sportsman makes mistakes but that’s what we are excited about, whether the opponent can find the way to use a mistake,” Dvorkovich said during the tournament’ closing ceremony on Friday. He also applauded Gukesh and Liren for their excellent performances.
World Chess Championship | D Gukesh emerges as a mental monster to make his boyhood dream come true and make India proud in chess
Magnus Carlsen, a five-time world champion, had also criticised the quality of the games at the World Championship. “This does not look like a game between two World Championship contenders. It just looks like maybe the second round or third round of an open tournament,” he had said.
Viswanathan Anand, who is also a five-time champion, however, was pleased with the competition and advised Gukesh to ignore the criticism. “I feel very happy. I was literally watching history being made yesterday,” Anand was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. “It (criticism) comes with every match. To be honest, I think it just comes with the territory. You ignore it and that’s all,” he added.
Gukesh defeated Ding with a 7.5-6.5 scoreline to become the youngest-ever winner of the World Chess Championship. Gukesh, 18, broke the record of Garry Kasparov, who was 22 years old when he won the title in 1985.
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