India’s D Gukesh will take on defending champion Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship final, set to happen between November 25 and December 13.
Here’s the match preview, format, schedule, venue, prize money, live streaming info and all you need to know about the World Championship match:
PREVIEW
If you want to search for the most exclusive clubs in international sport, you needn’t look beyond the one reserved for the World Chess Champions. In the tournament’s history, dating back to 1886, there have been only 17 World Champions. And we will soon know if we will get the 18th after the World championship match that kicks off in Singapore on November 23.
If D. Gukesh, the 18-year-old from Chennai, beats Ding Liren of China, he will become not just the 18th World Champion but also the youngest in history. He will break the record set by Garry Kasparov in 1985.
Kasparov became the 13th World Champion after defeating fellow Soviet Union player Anatoly Karpov in a remarkable match that lasted — believe it or not — more than a year. The match began on September 24, 1984, but was stopped on February 10, 1985, after 48 games. Karpov was leading 5-3, but the momentum had shifted to Kasparov, who, therefore, wasn’t happy at all with the world chess governing body FIDE’s decision, apparently made due to concerns about the players’ health.
The rule for that World Championship was that a player who won six games would be the winner. Karpov had taken a 5-0 lead after the 27th game. Then, Kasparov, the younger and hungrier player, staged one of the greatest comebacks in the history of any sport.
-P.K. Ajith Kumar
FORMAT
The 2024 World Chess Championship match between D. Gukesh and Ding Liren consists of 14 games. The first player to score 7.5 points will be crowned the World Champion. If the match ends in a tie after all 14 games, a tiebreak will be held the following day to determine the winner.
SCHEDULE
Rest Day - November 28, 2024 - Thursday
Rest Day - December 2, 2024 - Monday
Rest Day - December 6, 2024 - Friday
Rest Day - December 10, 2024 - Tuesday
*All games will start at 2:30 PM IST (17:00 local time).
TIME CONTROL
The World Chess Championship match will consist of 14 classical games. Each game will adhere to a time control of 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the remainder of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting from move 41.
TIE-BREAKS RULES
If the World Chess Championship match goes to tie-breaks:
Rapid Match: Four games, 15 minutes per side with a 10-second increment. The first to score 2½ points wins.
Mini Rapid Match (if tied): Two games, 10 minutes per side with a 5-second increment. The first to score 1½ points wins.
Blitz Match (if still tied): Two games, 3 minutes per side with a 2-second increment. The first to score 1½ points wins.
Sudden Death Blitz (if still tied): Single blitz games with 3 minutes per side and a 2-second increment, alternating colours until one player wins.
A drawing of lots determines who plays White before each mini-match.
PRIZE MONEY
The total prize fund for the event is $2.5 million (approximately Rs 20.8 crore).
Each player earns $200,000 (Rs 1.67 crore) for every game they win (including forfeits).
The remaining prize money is split equally between the players.
If tiebreaks are required, the winner gets $1.3 million (Rs10.83 crore), and the loser gets $1.2 million (Rs10 crore). This distribution also applies if the final score is 7½–6½ (13 decisive games) or 8–6 (14 decisive games).
VENUE
The World Chess Championship final between India’s Gukesh and China’s Ding will happen in Singapore, with Resorts World Sentosa set to act as the host.
LIVE STREAMING INFO
The World Chess Championship 2024 match between Gukesh and Ding will be streamed on FIDE social media handles (YouTube, Twitch), Chess.com social media handles (YouTube, Twitch) etc.
You can follow all the live action, commentary, moves and live chess board widgets on Sportstar’s daily match blog.
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