 "D Gukesh vs Ding Liren: 'I am speechless,' legends react to World Chess Championship 2024 matches")
The 2024 World Chess Championship match between Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh and his Chinese counterpart Ding Liren in Singapore has been a neck-and-neck affair so far. The scores are tied 3-3 after six games in the 14-game competition, with both Gukesh and Liren having won a game each. The other four matches have ended in draws.
The seventh match between Gukesh and Liren will take place on 3 December in Singapore .
Gukesh began his campaign on a losing note while playing with white pieces in the first game. The 18-year-old secured a draw with black pieces in the second game before winning the third game with white and level the scores 1.5-1.5.
That was Gukesh's first-ever win over Liren in classical chess , but a victory has eluded both players ever since the third game, with the fourth, fifth and sixth games ending in draws.
After a “Rest Day” on Monday, the two players return to the chess board for the seventh game as both of them look to gain a lead. Unsurprisingly, the World Chess Championship match has been a major talking point among the sport’s legends. We take a look at how some icons of chess have reacted to the World Chess Championship match.
How chess legends have reacted to World Chess Championship games
Hungarian chess Grandmaster Judit Polgar was left “speechless” with Gukesh’s approach in the fifth game. “I’m just speechless to tell you the truth. I just couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this. I was like ‘What is this?’ This is game 5, the way Gukesh came into the playing hall it was clear to me that now it is going to be the time. Now it’s going to be sharp. And he goes e takes d5! It is so much not Gukesh," Polgar told Chess24 during the stream of the fifth game.
Five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen, too, was left unimpressed with Gukesh. “Gukesh has generally not impressed me so far. Ding has probably done a little bit better than we had thought. Well, we didn’t expect much (before the start of the world chess championship). But Gukesh has probably been a little bit worse,” Carlsen told in a video on the Take Take Take app after the fifth game.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“I will stand by what I said earlier, that Gukesh has generally not impressed me." @MagnusCarlsen pic.twitter.com/gDZN6qhGTS
— Take Take Take (@TakeTakeTakeApp) November 30, 2024
The legendary Viswanathan Anand, who is also a five-time champion, feels that the Gukesh-Ding match has been a “psychological duel” instead of being just “purely a chess match”. “The World championship in Singapore has suddenly taken on the flavour of a psychological duel instead of a purely chess match. In the last few games, we have started to see a very clear trend where Gukesh is trying to provoke his opponent into a battle, is ready to decline draws and take risks.
“Ding, on the other hand, seems to be pessimistic about his position and often goes for the safest line on the first opportunity, in the hope that Gukesh might overreact,” Anand wrote in a column for The Hindu.
After the first game, American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura backed Ding Liren to come good in the tournament. “Frankly, I have nothing to say other than that I am speechless. I tip my hat to Ding because frankly like most of the other pundits I really did not see Ding coming up firing like this and winning the first game. On top of that, it was a game where he shows great class!”, Nakamura said.
‘Don’t think he got carried away’: Vidit on Gukesh after Game 2
After the second game, where Gukesh drew with Liren, Indian GM Vidit Gujrathi said that it was “too soon” to draw into conclusions. “I don’t think he got carried away with the praise. It’s just one game and it’s too soon to draw such conclusions.. also mentally he is very tough, so he can adapt to this,” Vidit Gujrathi told _Firstpost_ in an exclusive interview. “…he is very creative and takes a lot of risks… that’s why when things start to go well, they can go excellent like in Olympiad," he added.
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