Although there are a substantial number of chess tournaments happening around the globe this November, the 2024 FIDE World Championship Match commencing November 25 takes precedence. Chinese grandmaster Ding Liren is the world champion and Dommaraju Gukesh of India is the challenger. The 14-game classical match is sponsored by Google and will be played in Singapore. The chess column will feature each contender before the match begins starting with the world champion. The prize fund is a guaranteed US$2.5 million.
Ding Liren was born on October 24, 1992 in Wenzhou, China, and learned the game from his mother at age four. At an early age he was coached by Chen Lixing who also coached Women’s World Champion Zhu Chen. Liren’s first notable successes on the global stage were tying for first places in the Under-10 and the Under-12 World Youth Championships 2003 and 2004.
In 2009 at just 16 he became the youngest ever Chinese chess champion and simultaneously earned the chess grandmaster title. Liren went on to win the Chinese Championship two more times in 2011 and 2012. After fully conquering in China, Liren moved on to international chess. In 2014 he assisted China to win a gold medal at the Chess Olympiad and in 2015 he did so again at the World Team Championships. That same year, he became only the second player after Wang Yue to enter the world’s top ten in the FIDE International chess rankings.
Liren performed creditably in the 2017 and 2019 World Cup though he fell short of winning either; but his reputation as an accomplished international player continued to soar. In 2018 Liren won individual and team gold medals at the 43rd Chess Olympiad marking a major milestone in his career. In 2018 also, Liren became the first Chinese player to surpass the fabled ELO 2800 mark, peaking at 2816 – the tenth highest in chess history. From August 2017 to November 2018, Liren went unbeaten in 100 consecutive classical games, a streak broken only by former world champion Magnus Carlsen in 2019.
To be continued…
Chess game
White: Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa
Black: Viswanathan Anand
Event: 2024 Chess Masters Cup, London, England
Type of Game: Slav Defence, Modern Variation, October 15
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 b5 6. O-O e6 7. Ne5 Bb7 8. b3 cxb3 9. axb3 Be7 10. Bb2 O-O 11. Nd2 a5 12. Qc2 Nd5 13. Ne4 Nb4 14. Qc3 f6 15. Nd3 Nxd3 16. Qxd3 f5
17. Nd2 Na6 18. Qe3 Rf6 19. Nf3 Nb4 20. Rfc1 Nd5 21. Qd2 Bd6 22. Ne5 Bxe5 23. dxe5 Rf7 24. Bd4 Nb4 25. Qb2 Rd7 26. Be3 Nd5 27. Bc5 b4 28. Bd6 Nc3 29. Rxc3 bxc3 30. Qxc3 c5
31. Qxc5 Bxg2 32. Kxg2 Rb7 33. Ra3 Qe8 34. Qc3 Qb5 35. b4 Rba7 36. Qb3 Kf7 37. bxa5 Qxb3 38. Rxb3 Rxa5 39. Kf3 Ra4 40. Bc5 Rc4 41. Bd6 Ra7 42. Rb8 Rc3+ 43. Kg2 Rc2 44. Kf3 h6 45. h3 Rc3+ 46. Kg2 Ra2 47. Rf8+ Kg6 48. Re8 Rxe2 49. Rxe6+ Kh7 50. Bb8
Ra3 51. Re7 Raa2 52. Ba7 Rxa7 ½-½
Draw.
