For Ding Liren, it was a very sad way to lose his world championship match against Gukesh in Singapore. In the 14th game, the last one before an eventual tiebreak, he was a pawn down, but it didn’t seem to matter.
Even with his eyes closed, Ding should have been able to make a draw, and then on the next day there would be fast tiebreak games, in which he was considered the favorite.
If only he had done it, closing his eyes, because then he would undoubtedly have seen with his mind’s eye that his bishop was standing in a corner of the board.
With eyes open, Ding didn’t pay attention to this detail. Objectively it wasn’t very important, it just meant that one of the many moves that all the time had been available to keep the draw in hand, for a brief moment, would not work. Still, almost every plausible move would be alright, except for one, and that was the fatal move that Ding made. A few minutes later, Gukesh was world champion.
Ding disappeared from the playing room and Gukesh burst into tears, just as Ding had cried in Astana in Kazakhstan in 2023 when he had become world champion.
What a moment for Indian chess, and what a year! After the gold medals for the men and the women in the Olympiads in Budapest, India had now an individual world champion who was only 18-years old. The frosting on the cake for India was that Humpy Koneru would become women world champion in rapid at the end of December.
The following video was not made when Gukesh became world champion, but a few days earlier in a studio in Chennai. On the screen, Gukesh is winning game 11 and taking the lead in the match.
If you want to see a heartwarming example of chess patriotism, watch especially the first two minutes.
https://www.schaaksite.nl/2024/12/09/filmpje-gukesh-en-gukesh-fans/
The experienced Indian commentators Sagar Shah and Tania Sachdev are strong chess players. Especially Sachdev, who is an international master and a woman grandmaster. She is always sharp and objective in her commentary.
But watch that video. She and Sagar Shah shout at Gukesh (who is far away in Singapore) when they see the winning moves coming.
“Gukesh, Gukesh, Gukesh, play knight c5, knight c5!!” And when Gukesh does indeed play Nc5 and then the move that will make Ding resign, pandemonium breaks loose in the room and among the commentators, and it seems as if they want to jump on their desks and then break through my computer screen and the millions of Indian chess fans to hug them. I thought it was wonderful.
On the next day Ding won the 12th game, equalizing the match. A draw in game 13 followed and then came the final game.
Gukesh said that his tears after Ding’s resignation in that game had been caused by the rapid succession of emotions. Just a few minutes before, he had been thinking mostly about the tiebreak to come the next day, and then suddenly he was world champion.
An old dream had come true. In 2013, when Gukesh was seven, he had watched the world championship match between Anand and Magnus Carlsen in his hometown Chennai. Now he said, “When Magnus won, I thought I wanted to be the one to bring the title back to India, and this dream that I had more than a decade ago, has been the most important thing in my life so far.”
He said humbly that another old dream, becoming the world’s strongest player, had not yet been fulfilled. And indeed, a certain Magnus Carlsen still stands in the way. But things can change. Carlsen is already 34 and Gukesh is only 18.
Gukesh also said that God had helped him in that last game, just as God had helped him at the end of the candidates’ tournament in Toronto earlier this year. “Nobody else can have done it.”
I wonder if one can really think about God as such a partial chess fan. I would call it illegal match fixing. And then, what about the Chinese gods? But nuances may have been lost in the translation from Tamil to English to Dutch.
When you look at images of Gukesh’s triumphant homecoming in Chennai and Ding’s humble return in Hangzhou, the contrast is heartbreaking.
Here is Gukesh on Chennai Airport
https://twitter.com/i/status/1868541485316198433
I think one should click on the image to activate the sound. It seems almost a miracle that Gukesh wasn’t trampled by the wild crowd.
And here is Ding’s reception in Hangzhou. I think the banner reads “Welcome home Ding.”
https://x.com/Skyxia528/status/1868311014355439690
Click here to follow game 12 in the game viewer.
Click here to follow game 14 in the game viewer.