FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich defended the quality of the D Gukesh vs Ding Liren World Chess Championship in Singapore. He responded to criticism from former world champions.
Dvorkovich addressed the criticism during the closing ceremony. He stated that mistakes are inherent in sports.
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“Sports is about mistakes, without mistakes, there would be no goals in football. Every sportsman makes mistakes but that’s what we are excited about, whether the opponent can find the way to use a mistake.”
He congratulated both Gukesh and Liren for their performances in the championship.
The final game saw defending champion Liren make a critical blunder. This allowed 18-year-old Indian challenger D Gukesh to secure victory. Before it, the match had appeared to be heading towards a tiebreak.
Former champion Vladimir Kramnik criticised Ding’s error. He called the mistake “childish.”
“No comment. Sad. End of chess as we know it. Never yet has a WC title been decided by such a childish one-move blunder.”
Kramnik, also the Russian Chess Federation chief, even suggested the mistake might have been deliberate. He demanded an investigation into the incident.
Dvorkovich downplayed the controversy surrounding the quality of the Championship. He emphasised the excitement that arises from players capitalising on their opponents’ mistakes. Gukesh’s win made him the youngest-ever World Chess champion.
Five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen also expressed his disappointment with the quality of play in earlier rounds. He compared the level of play to that of an open tournament.
“This does not look like a game between two World Championship contenders. It just looks like maybe the second round or third round of an open tournament,” said the Norwegian.
Viswanathan Anand, a five-time world champion, offered Gukesh advice. He encouraged the Chennai-born Grandmaster to disregard the criticism surrounding the Championship match. Anand asserted that criticism is an inevitable consequence of success. “I feel very happy. I was literally watching history being made yesterday.”
Anand acknowledged the presence of criticism in every match. He advised Gukesh to ignore it. “It (criticism) comes with every match. To be honest, I think it just comes with the territory. You ignore it and that’s all.”
