World Chess Championship

 As I mentioned, the chess world championship is going on in Singapore between Ding Liren and Dommaraju Gukesh. Magnus Carlsen is still the #1 ranked player by a significant margin but bowed out because he just didn't like playing these matches because of the role of computer preparation in killing off games (meaning removing winning chances and leading to draws). He also cares more about the #1 world ranking and maintaining that. Some people feel much less interest in the match now because it is very clearly no longer a contest to decide the strongest player in the world. (Something that was also talked about with the Anand-Gelfand match).

Ding Liren is the defending champ from China and for a time was a very strong player even ranked #2 in the world at one point. However he has had some serious mental health struggles and has been struggling with depression and a desire to quit chess. The consequence of this is that his rating has taken a big hit and he is no longer ranked even in the top 20 in the world. Basically he expressed at one point that if he hadn't won his match with Nepo in the last cycle that he was considering retiring from chess. But winning did nothing to rekindle his fire and he has had some lengthy absences from competitive chess in the meantime and when he has played he has played poorly.

Gukesh is very young for a world championship contender. He is only 18. He is one of a large crop of talented grandmasters from India that resulted from the Anand boom. However, even he is not the world number 2. That is his compatriot Erigasi. However, Gukesh has been in good form and has been playing and performing well.

The above facts led many to consider that this would be a blowout and Gukesh would crush Ding. However the first game was a shock to everyone when Ding actually beat Gukesh with the black pieces. Since then Gukesh won one game to tie the score and the other four have been draws. However, in game 5, Gukesh apparently blundered but Ding failed to capitalize. So, at least it has seemed to be a real match so far. The match is 14 games with rapid and blitz tie breaks if the score is tied at the end of that.

Some people are highly critical of the tie breaks being rapid and blitz games (meaning played much faster) because this is supposed to be the classical world championship. (There are separate world championships for both rapid and blitz although at one time Magnus held all three.) For myself it doesn't bother me that much. Organizers are in a bind because they need to have a regular schedule to book the venue and FIDE doesn't have an unlimited budget to support matches that drag on indefinitely. There is also the specter of the first Karpov-Kasparov match that dragged on so long that FIDE made the controversial decision to end the match before it was decided by the terms agreed on. One option would be the old way that allowed Botvinnik to remain champion, which is to say that a tie results in the defending champion retaining his title. This also seems undesirable because it is unfair to the challenger who clearly performed as well as the champion and fails to satisfy fans' desire for a decisive result. So basically I accept rapid and blitz tie-breaks as a compromise with these various considerations. I do feel some of the force of the argument that says rapid and blitz are basically totally different modes of chess (especially when you throw in the final armageddon game rules which actually is a different game) but basically it just doesn't bother me as much as it does the passionate critics of this system.

As far as rooting goes, I feel a bit mixed. Part of me is rooting for Ding just because I can relate to struggling with mental health issues. I would like to see him rekindle his fighting spirit and overcome his demons. However, winning last time only seemed to worsen his problems. Secondly, regardless of the fact that the world champ won't be the #1 ranked player, the position still carries weight and the champ is an ambassador of the game. So if Ding were to win but continue to struggle that would be bad for the game. Gukesh is quite young so he will have plenty of more shots at if he loses this time. But unless Ding were to make a full recovery, it seems clear that Gukesh winning and then being an active player and interviewee is better for the game.