World Chess Championship LIVE Updates, Game 2: Gukesh eyes revenge against Ding Liren after Round 1 loss

What’s been your observation of Gukesh, especially given his monk-like personality during tournaments? His ability to cut himself off from the outside world is quite remarkable for his age.

I’ve been very impressed with his maturity and his thinking, specifically in his self-awareness of what he’s thinking about, and what’s going on for him. He definitely has a self-awareness that is beyond his years. Obviously, he’s a chess genius. But he’s got an amazing self-awareness and ability to self-regulate.

A lot of chess players, I imagine, are naturally quite introverted and his personality is almost like Jacques Kallis’. Kallis could stay in his own bubble, unaffected by what was happening around him, and Gukesh has that same quality. But what’s special about Gukesh is that big moments really seem to bring out his best. In sports, we often talk about “big-match temperament,” where high-stakes situations bring out peak performance.

You have guys like Virat Kohli who have that ability to really deliver in a World Cup final exactly like he did earlier this year. He had a very average tournament but then when the final came, you can look to someone like him and the way he steps up. I think back to the 2011 World Cup, when (M.S.) Dhoni and (Gautam) Gambhir were the two players — someone who steps up when the pressure is highest. For Gukesh, these big moments in chess seem to have a similar effect, pushing him to perform at his peak. His performances in the Olympiad and the Candidates show that, when the stakes are high, he finds his best form.

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.

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.

The beauty of sport lies in surprises.

And surprise was the major theme on the opening day of the World Chess Championship at Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore, on Monday. It all began with the opening itself of the opening game. The defending champion Ding Liren opted for French Defence against his young challenger D. Gukesh.

That is not known as Ding’s favourite opening from the black side. He had used it once in his World Championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi last year and had lost that game.

Read P.K. Ajith Kumar’s full report here: 

World Chess Championship 2024, Game 1: Gukesh’s dream start derailed by Ding’s bold play

Surprises abound as defending champion Ding Liren won the opening game against favourite Gukesh in World Chess Championship.

Game 1 - November 25, 2024 - Monday: Ding Liren beat Gukesh

Game 2 - November 26, 2024 - Tuesday 

Game 3 - November 27, 2024 - Wednesday 

Rest Day - November 28, 2024 - Thursday 

Game 4 - November 29, 2024 - Friday 

Game 5 - November 30, 2024 - Saturday 

Game 6 - December 1, 2024 - Sunday 

Rest Day - December 2, 2024 - Monday 

Game 7 - December 3, 2024 - Tuesday 

Game 8 - December 4, 2024 - Wednesday 

Game 9 - December 5, 2024 - Thursday 

Rest Day - December 6, 2024 - Friday 

Game 10 - December 7, 2024 - Saturday 

Game 11 - December 8, 2024 - Sunday 

Game 12 - December 9, 2024 - Monday 

Rest Day - December 10, 2024 - Tuesday 

Game 13 - December 11, 2024 - Wednesday 

Game 14 - December 12, 2024 - Thursday 

Tie-breaks (If needed) - December 13, 2024 - Wednesday

Where to watch the D. Gukesh vs Ding Liren World Chess Championship 2024 matches?

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.

Hello and welcome to Sportstar’s live coverage of the World Chess Championship, where India’s D. Gukesh will take on reigning champion China’s Ding Liren in Game 2 at the Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore on Tuesday.

In a surprising result yesterday, Gukesh was handed a crushing loss by Ding with black pieces. The 18-year-old Indian prodigy will have the black pieces now, let’s see how he strikes back.