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

India’s D. Gukesh lost to reigning champion China’s Ding Liren in the first round of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2024 at the Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore on Monday.

China’s chess grandmaster Ding Liren (R) and India’s chess grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju (L) compete during the start of the FIDE World Chess Championship. | Photo Credit: AFP

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.

The evening’s biggest surprise was the result. Ding won and got off to a dream start in defence of his title: a win with black pieces.

AS IT HAPPENED | MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

He may be the defending champion, but about anyone who mattered in world chess, including the planet’s best player, Magnus Carlsen, had picked Gukesh as the overwhelming favourite. The 18-year-old from Chennai is World No. 5, while Ding is ranked 23rd.

Of course, the match has just begun, and 13 games remain to be played, so Gukesh has plenty of time to rebound. But, to lose in the opening game in a World title match, that too, with white pieces, isn’t the most ideal way to begin.

Gukesh didn’t seem bothered by Ding’s decision to go French, as he played his moves quickly. It was the Chinese, who needed much longer time in the early part; he was down by 20 minutes and then 30 minutes, and it continued to get worse.

Gukesh had made his intentions clear as he built up an attack on the king’s side. But, before long, the tables turned. On the other flank, Ding countered by pushing his ‘a’ pawn, which would prove pretty useful in the end. It marched forward and got ready for promotion.

Gukesh was now three pawns down and resigned on the 42nd move. He had to pay for his serious inaccuracies, such as the one with the queen on the 22nd move. Ding went on to build on his advantage.

The result was a surprise from a historical point of view, too. It was the first time that the opening game of a World Championship match was producing a result after 2010. In that match, Viswanathan Anand, now Gukesh’s mentor, had lost to Veselin Topalov. But Anand had bounced right back, winning the second game, and went to retain his World title.

So Gukesh needn’t look far for inspiration.