‘It’s not just luck but what you make out of luck that matters more,’ goes the famous adage. While that holds true for both the finalists of the World Chess Championship Match — champion Ding Liren and challenger D Gukesh — the Indian’s story is even more fascinating.
It is well documented that Ding came into the World Championship picture only because China organised some games for him and met FIDE‘s minimum-games-played criteria. Then, despite not winning the 2022 Candidates, he still got a shot at the title because Magnus Carlsen withdrew before the 2023 Match.
Gukesh remains the deserving challenger for the solidity and competitive nous that he has showcased. His 18/21 score on the top board in two Olympiads is legendary. But things came together, somewhat accidentally, for him too.
When Russian premier Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine in Feb 2022, the war killed Russia’s chance of hosting the Olympiad. That brought Gukesh on the top board as replacement hosts India were allowed to field a second team. Any other spot — either on the reserve board of the first team or on the second board of the second team — won’t have given Gukesh the big platform.
By scoring 8/8 on the top board, Gukesh announced himself on the world stage. But things started to go awry at the end of 2023 when he dropped 30 Elo points in three months preceding the 2024 Candidates cutoff. However, the Chennai GM tournament came to his rescue despite the floods in the city testing the organisers. The venue of the tournament could be finalised only a fortnight before. Gukesh won that event to seal the Candidates spot.
In the Candidates in Toronto earlier this year, Vidit Gujrathi defeated Gukesh’s closest rival Hikaru Nakamura twice and favourite Fabiano Caruana failed to beat Nepo in winning position in the last round. Maybe it was destiny’s way to balance things out as it had pitted Gukesh against Carlsen in the quarterfinals of the knockout World Cup last year (another qualifying event for the Candidates), an event where Pragg and Vidit were given relatively easy pairings.
Vishy Anand‘s semi-retirement phase, his astute mentorship, including sharing his trainer Grzegoz Gajewski with Gukesh, was also timed to perfection.
China’s Ding, son of a nurse, too has shown his gutsy side. In the last year’s Championship match, Ian Nepomniachtchi led thrice and Ding was not in the best condition. But he still scored three series levelling wins and then went on to win the title via rapid tiebreaks.
The first of 14 games of the World Chess Championship in Singapore begins at 2.30pm IST on Nov 25.
