The World Chess Championship between D Gukesh and Ding Liren will take place from 20 November to 15 December 2024 in Singapore.
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There’s still some time to go for the World Chess Championship between reigning champion Ding Liren and India’s D Gukesh, but the predictions have started to come in. The latest to back Gukesh to beat the veteran Chinese Grandmaster Liren and become the youngest world champion ever is Israel’s Boris Gelfand.
The 56-year-old Grandmaster Gelfand won the Chess World Cup in 2009 and the 2011 Candidates Tournament. He played against Viswanathan Anand in the 2012 World Chess Championship and lost in the rapid play tiebreak.
Gelfand feels that 18-year-old Grandmaster Gukesh is the favourite to win against Liren who has not won a classical match in over 300 days.
“For the moment, Gukesh is the favourite, but a lot depends on the ability of Ding Liren to get back to his best form,” Gelfand told Mid-Day.
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Gukesh vs Liren Chess World Championship match be a walkover for the Indian?
Gelfand, who had coached the Indian team before the 2022 Chess Olympiad in which both the men’s and women’s teams won bronze, was extremely proud of India for winning a
historic gold in both sections at the 45th Chess Olympiad last month.
Gelfant feels the gold medal wins by both Indian men’s and women’s teams indicate the start of India’s domination of the chess world.
“It was an amazing achievement and probably the beginning of a new era of Indian domination in the chess world,” he said.
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‘Gukesh is really really good. I think he is by far best apart from Alireza’: Carlsen
In an exclusive interview with
Firstpost, Indian chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi, who was part of India’s gold medal-winning team at the Chess Olympiad, also previewed the upcoming Liren vs Gukesh match. He said Liren is struggling for form and would have a tough time against Gukesh in the World Chess Championship.
“He (Liren) was not in good shape in the tournament, and he is not in good shape since he won the World Championship, he even publicly announced that mentally he was not in the right place. When I played him earlier this year, I could see him shivering when he’s playing. You know, I felt so bad when I saw that, like something is really off. I don’t know what it is, but something is really off. I can see him uncomfortable physically when he’s playing but he’s still a very strong player if he just comes back to his normal self,” Vidit said.
“It’s a pity, actually, honestly, as a human, I feel bad to see him in this condition, because if he’s at his peak, if he plays well, the World Championship will be a great match. But the way it is right now, I just see him suffering, which makes me sad. I hope he comes back and it’s a good fight. But I’m rooting for Gukesh there’s no doubt.”
The World Chess Championship will take place from 20 November to 15 December 2024 in Singapore.