World Chess Championship 2024

The World Chess Championship 2024 was a chess match between the reigning world champion Ding Liren and the challenger Gukesh Dommaraju to determine the World Chess Champion. The match took place between 25 November and 12 December 2024 in Singapore. It was played to a best of 14 games, with tiebreaks if required. The match was won by Gukesh 7½–6½ after 14 games. The win made Gukesh, at age 18, the youngest undisputed open-category world champion.
Ding Liren won the 2023 World Chess Championship by defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi, after reigning champion Magnus Carlsen declined to defend his title. Gukesh won the eight-player Candidates Tournament held in April 2024 to win the right to challenge Ding for the World Championship. Before the start of the match, Gukesh was ranked fifth in the FIDE rankings with an Elo rating of 2783 while Ding was ranked 23rd with an Elo rating of 2728.
Ding won two games and Gukesh won three. The 14th and final game ended with Gukesh winning the game and match with the black pieces after Ding resigned following a blunder that allowed Gukesh to simplify the position to a winning king and pawn versus king endgame.
Ding Liren became World Chess Champion in April 2023, after defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the 2023 championship match; Ding had finished second to Nepomniachtchi in the Candidates Tournament 2022, but when reigning champion Magnus Carlsen chose not to defend his title, Ding replaced Carlsen in the 2023 match. After acquiring the title, Ding did not appear in professional tournaments for months, an absence which Ding later revealed in interviews to be due to fatigue and depression. Ding withdrew from tournaments including the 2023 Asian Games and did not enter the first four events of the 2024 Grand Chess Tour. He returned to classical chess in January 2024 at the 2024 Tata Steel Chess Tournament and announced that he still intended to defend his world champion title.
Ding's return to chess introduced a rough stretch of form, with a set of poor performances at the 2024 Tata Steel Masters, Norway Chess, and the Grenke Chess Classic. Ding's rating fell from 2788 (at the time of the World Chess Championship 2023) to 2728, while his world ranking fell from world number 3 to world number 23. His poor results led several chess grandmasters to express concern about Ding's overall ability to defend his world championship title, notably Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura. However, while acknowledging Ding's weakened physical condition during the 2024 Sinquefield Cup, Anish Giri highlighted Ding's improved chess level during the first half of the tournament. Ding's opponent in the 2023 match, Ian Nepomniachtchi, also remarked on Caruana's podcast that Ding would be a clear favorite if he were in prime form.
Reflecting on his poor form in an interview during the 45th Chess Olympiad, Ding admitted that Gukesh is "playing extremely well in this tournament. Maybe he is a favorite in the World Championship Match. He also has a higher rating than me". Ding also remarked "[I have] dropped a lot since last year, but I will fight my best to try to overcome the rating difference".
The challenger, Gukesh Dommaraju, qualified by winning the Candidates Tournament 2024 in Toronto, Canada, which was an eight-player double round-robin tournament. It took place from April 3 to April 22, 2024. Fabiano Caruana won the 2023 FIDE Circuit, but had already qualified for the Candidates through the Chess World Cup 2023. Hence, Gukesh qualified for the Candidates via the FIDE Circuit, after overtaking Anish Giri with a win at the Chennai Grand Masters tournament.
The eight players who competed were:
Tie-breakers for first place: (1) results in tie-break games for first place;
Tie-breakers for non-first place: (1) results in tie-break games for first place, if any; (2) Sonneborn–Berger score (SB); (3) total number of wins; (4) head-to-head score among tied players; (5) drawing of lots.
Note: Numbers in the crosstable in a white background indicate the result playing the respective opponent with the white pieces (black pieces if on a black background). This does not give information which of the two games was played in the first half of the tournament, and which in the second.
Bids were originally to be presented to FIDE no later than 31 May 2024. Early interest was expressed in June 2023 by Argentina, India, and Singapore.
In June 2024, FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky announced that FIDE had received three bids to host the championship, two from India (Chennai and New Delhi), and one from Singapore. In July 2024, FIDE announced that the match would take place in Singapore from 20 November to 15 December 2024, with four venues being considered. Ultimately, the Singapore Chess Federation revealed that the Equarius Hotel at Resorts World Sentosa was chosen as the venue to host the world championship match. The main sponsor of the event was Google.
The prize fund allocated for the event is US$2.5 million. Each player receives US$200,000 for each game won (including forfeits), and the remainder of the money is split equally. If there is a tiebreak, however, the winner will receive US$1.3 million and the loser will receive US$1.2 million. That would also have been the distribution if the final score was 7½–6½ with 13 decisive games or 8–6 with 14 decisive games.
The first move of each classical game was ceremonially performed by guests invited by the organizers:
The regulations and format of the world championship are slightly different from the 2023 edition.
The time control for each game in the classical portion of the match is 120 minutes per side for the first 40 moves and 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting with move 41.
The match will be best of 14 games; a score of at least 7½ would win the world championship. If the score is equal after 14 games, tiebreak games with faster time controls will be played:
Players were not allowed to agree to a draw before Black's 40th move. A draw claim before then is only permitted if a threefold repetition or stalemate has occurred.
Prior to the match, Ding and Gukesh had played against each other three times at classical time controls. Ding won two games with the black pieces during the 2023 and 2024 editions of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, while their most recent pre-championship game during the 2024 Sinquefield Cup resulted in a draw.
A poll of various grandmasters before the match began found Gukesh a substantial favorite, mainly because of Ding's poor form over the past couple of months. In an October 2024 interview, Gukesh commented that he generally did not "believe in predictions and who are the favorites", and stated that he tried to "be at [his] best every day and play a good game".
Before the match, Gukesh specified that he was working with Grzegorz Gajewski, who was also his second during the 2024 Candidates Tournament. After the match, Gukesh revealed further seconds that supported him before and during the match. Cricket coach Paddy Upton was on Gukesh's team as a mental conditioning coach. Ding Liren was working with Richárd Rapport, who was also his main second in the 2023 championship, and Ni Hua.
The games began at 17:00 local time (SGT), which is 14:30 (IST) & 09:00 UTC.
Colors were drawn at the opening ceremony. Gukesh received the white pieces for the first game. Colors alternate thereafter, with no switching at the halfway point.
Tie-breaks were initially scheduled for 13 December, in which case the closing ceremony would have been held on 14 December. Since tie-breaks proved unnecessary, the closing ceremony was moved ahead to 13 December. There were likewise plans to move it forward if the match had concluded in less than fourteen games.
The first game of the match, a 42-move win for Ding, was played on 25 November. Ding surprised observers by playing the French Defense, which has traditionally been considered a "solid" opening, but some lines are quite combative. Ding had previously played it in game 7 of the World Chess Championship 2023 against Ian Nepomniachtchi. He then spent 28 minutes thinking on move seven while in a still relatively well-known position. Meanwhile, Gukesh was still in his preparation, blitzing out the attacking novelty 10.g4!? Ding's 10...Qa5, however, took Gukesh out of his preparation as Xie Jun believed "they haven't played this line before. They analyzed, they prepared, and they probably knew the plans, but this is the first time they gave it on the board. It's a very complicated position – the way they played is a little bit out of control."
Down on the clock in a complicated middlegame, Ding quickly spotted 18...Nb2! with queenside play, putting pressure on both Gukesh's position and his clock. With Ding's pieces infiltrating his position, Gukesh faltered with 22.Qe1? and his position crumbled. Ding made a slight inaccuracy with 27...fxe6?! (correct was 27...Bxe6!), allowing Gukesh to salvage the game, but although Gukesh spotted the idea, he executed incorrectly. Ding made no further errors and converted his advantage to a win, his first in classical chess since he defeated Max Warmerdam in January during the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024. This also marked the first time in 14 years that a win was registered in Game 1, after Veselin Topalov defeated Viswanathan Anand with the white pieces during the World Chess Championship 2010.
At the post-game press conference, Ding was elated with his performance, stating, "Well, of course I feel very good—I haven't won a single classical game for a long time and I managed to do that!" Gukesh on the other hand remarked, "It was just a tactical oversight by me. It can happen, it's a long match, and about my opponent's form, I think I expected nothing else. I expected the best version of him, and we have a long match ahead, so it's only more exciting now!"
The second game of the match, a 23-move draw, was played on 26 November. After Ding opted for the traditional Giuoco Pianissimo, commentator David Howell expressed surprise at the choice of 1.e4, noting that "He rarely employs the king's pawn openings until the last few months, when he has been experimenting a bit with it – he doesn't seem like a natural e4 player to me, but here we are!" Ding chose a quiet line, but offered Gukesh complicated play with 10.dxc4, inviting 10...Bb4!?. Aware that he was facing preparation, Gukesh declined. In a balanced position, Ding had a slight opportunity to play on with 20.h4, creating less space for his opponent, but the position would have remained even. Ding instead chose to repeat moves, resulting in a draw.
At the post-game press conference, Gukesh stated, "This early, with Black, was nowhere close to a must-win. I was never going to do anything stupid." Ding made comments to the same effect, remarking that "I was feeling a little up and down. I was slightly worse in the middle game. I thought I had misplayed."
The third game of the match, a 37-move win for Gukesh, was played on 27 November. Gukesh opted for a Queen's Gambit Declined with an early cxd5. In the opening, Ding intentionally got his bishop trapped with 10...Bc2. The game followed a previous game between Vladimir Kramnik and Arjun Erigaisi played in the World Rapid Team Championship 2023 until Ding's 13...Nbd7! After 14.Nd2 threatening to win Black's bishop with Rc1, Ding played 14...Rg8!, threatening ...g5 which counterattacks White's bishop and creates an escape for Black's. Gukesh responded by playing g5 himself, and both players believed the position to be good for White, but computer analysis suggests otherwise. Ding's 18...Rh5 was a mistake, leading to a sequence where Ding loses a bishop for two pawns; it was preferable to retreat the bishop immediately with 18...Bf5, or fight for the advantage with 18...Be7!. Gukesh re-trapped the bishop with 19.e4! and went on to precisely convert his advantage. Ding lost on time while executing his final move 37...Rh5, but his position was lost anyway (38.Bxf5! wins).
The fourth game of the match, a 42-move draw, was played on 29 November. Ding played an unconventional system beginning with 1.Nf3, resembling a Queen's Indian Defense with colors reversed, which surprised Gukesh but was not particularly aggressive. At the post-game press conference, Ding revealed that he intended to "play it safe", but that he took some risk with 11.b4. Gukesh's 13...Ne5!? took Ding by surprise since the knight can be easily kicked out with f4, but Gukesh believed that, "[f4] looked like a move which would turn out to be risky in the long run". Gukesh's 15...b6 was Ding's last chance to push for a win with 16.Ba6, but after he played 16.Nf3, the game was headed for a draw. Pieces were traded and the two ended up in a queen-and-rook endgame where White has a four-on-three majority on the kingside, and Black has a passed pawn on the c-file. Despite the result being all-but-inevitable, Gukesh continued to play out the game and pose questions for Ding, notably with 30...f5!?. Shortly thereafter, however, the two made a draw by threefold repetition.
The fifth game of the match, a 40-move draw, was played on 30 November. For the second time in the match, Ding played a French Defense. This time, however, Gukesh responded by exchanging the pawns on d5, and quickly traded off the queens and one pair of rooks. After Ding's 15...Nh5, Gukesh's dark-squared bishop had nowhere to escape, prompting Gukesh to play 17.g4!? after giving a check, which grandmaster Judit Polgár believed to be too risky. Nonetheless, the game seemed to be headed towards a draw, until Gukesh quickly played 23.dxe5? (a mistake, because after 23...Nd3 24.Bxd3 cxd3, Black has a passed pawn on the d-file two moves away from queening). In the post-game press conference, Gukesh revealed, "Once I saw Nd3 I realized I just blundered with dxe5. I didn't know how bad it was, really, but of course I should have played Rxe5. It would have been a draw anyway, but dxe5 Nd3 I kind of just hallucinated." Ding, however, was apparently unaware that he had a considerable advantage. As a result, he did not press very hard, and after 29...Bc6 (which Ding called "basically a draw offer"), Gukesh was able to stop the pawn and the players agreed to a draw.
The sixth game of the match, a 46-move draw, was played on 1 December. Ding played the London System, an opening he won with in the sixth game of his previous match against Ian Nepomniachtchi. In the post-game press conference, Ding reflected on his opening choice: "This time, I tried to push for an advantage in the opening, and this London. Last time, also in game six, I won a beautiful game in the London, so this time I wanted to repeat that success." The opening was considered a success for Ding, and Gukesh made an early inaccuracy with 17...Be6 (see first diagram). Gukesh commented, "I never really felt in danger because I thought once I take on c4... maybe I'm slightly worse, but it should be really hard to convert it with White because you can't really push the queenside pawns that easily and you always have some play on his king." Ding had an early time advantage in the opening, but lost it after his 42-minute think before playing 21.Qxc6.
After Gukesh's 21...Qxe5, the players repeated the position twice, and Gukesh had the option to make a draw by threefold repetition by playing 26...Qe7!. Instead, he played 26...Qh4!?, declining the draw and accepting a slightly worse position. In the post-game press conference, Ding commented, "Qh4 came as a total surprise because I think his queen is not so well placed on the kingside; it's better placed on the queenside", while Gukesh explained his decision, "I thought I might be slightly worse, I was not even sure fully if I'm slightly worse, but I thought it's more likely, but I thought with the files open in front of his king I always have counterplay, and I saw no reason to take a repetition right now." Ding responded well to Gukesh's draw rejection, and Peter Leko believed his decision might have been "a huge mistake" and called the move "psychological games". Gukesh denied such, stating, "I just like playing chess! It was more just the position than it was psychological. I just thought there was a lot of play left in the position, and I did not really see too much danger for me." Later in the game, Ding accumulated a slight advantage, which reached its peak after Gukesh offered a queen trade with 33...Qf3 (see second diagram), but Ding responded incorrectly, and the game went on to end with a draw by repetition.
The seventh game of the match, a 72-move draw, was played on 3 December. It turned out to be a thrilling effort by both players. Out of a Neo-Grünfeld Defence, Gukesh played the new move 7.Re1, which introduced a completely new idea to theory. Ding reacted poorly with 9...c5?!, and Gukesh gained both a strong position and a significant time advantage. Under serious pressure, Ding went for the queen maneuver Qa6xa2, which GM Anish Giri assessed as the desperation of a player who knows they are losing, but wants to at least grab some material before losing. Although Gukesh was clearly winning, Ding's active queen posed problems, and after 30.Qf4?! Ding was able to steer the game to a worse-but-tenable endgame. After the strong defensive move 34...Ng6! it seemed like Ding would save the position, but one move before the time control and with seven seconds left on the clock, Ding played 40...Ke5?, again giving Gukesh a winning position that was however difficult to win. After the human move 44.Ke1?! Ding found the deep resource 44...f6. Gukesh's 45.h4?! was a subtle inaccuracy, and following 46...f4! Ding had equalized the position. Gukesh still had practical winning chances, but Ding defended successfully to draw.
Many commentators later praised this game, with several calling it the best game of the match.
The eighth game of the match, a 51-move draw, was played on 4 December. Gukesh responded well to Ding's 1.c4, and put Ding in unfamiliar territory with 7...f6!?. The position was objectively equal, but Peter Leko believed Ding to be in "not a pleasant situation", facing an imbalanced position Gukesh was well-prepared for. Ding appeared to have made it out of the opening, albeit with a time disadvantage. That changed with 22.Rb1?, which allowed Gukesh to gain an advantage with 22...b5 23.cxb5 Qb6+ 24.Kf1 cxb5. Ding's position went from bad to worse with 25.Bb2?, allowing Gukesh to get two connected passed pawns on the queenside with 25...Bxa2. Gukesh quickly lost most of his advantage with 26...Nac5?! (26...Ndc5! was best). Gukesh explained that he thought Ndc5 "looked weird", and that he missed Ding's defensive resource 28.Qe1! (only evaluating the position after 28.Qd2?, which loses for White). Gukesh explained, "It was actually very impressive that my opponent found this Qe1 so quickly—so yes, great defense by him!" Qe1 not only allowed White to save the game, but gave White the chance to put pressure on Black. After Gukesh's 28...Be6?, Ding himself got an advantage, and eventually found himself up a rook for a knight and a pawn. Neither player, however, was aware that White was ever winning. In the post-game press conference, Gukesh stated, "I thought probably all my advantage is gone, but I did not think it was even bad for me. Now that I see the position it's quite obvious, but during the game it was not", whereas Ding stated, "In the last world championship, also one game he was winning at some point and then suddenly I'm winning at the end. But today during the game I didn't realize I was winning at some point. I think he missed some important details that let me get back into the game. Before that he was totally outplaying me, again." Due to his misevaluation, Ding began to make a draw by repetition, which was broken by Gukesh's 41...Qa2!? despite White having a better position. Gukesh reflected on this decision, "I didn't think I was in much danger. I always thought with his weak king and my strong pawn on b3 I should have play. I thought even I might have some chances, but okay, it was just a misjudgment of the position." The game continued with little challenge for either player, and they agreed to a draw after reaching an opposite-colored bishops endgame.
The ninth game of the match, a 54-move draw, was played on 5 December. As in game 3, Gukesh opened with 1.d4 and Ding responded with 1...Nf6 also seen in game 3. Rather than continuing with 2.Nf3 as seen in game four, Gukesh opted for the more popular 2.c4 and the game developed in a Catalan Opening after 2...e6 and 3.g3. Ding chose a line similar to the Retreat Variation of the Bogo-Indian Defense with 3...Bb4+ and 4...Be7, also employing the Closed Catalan structure with 7...c6 and 8...Nbd7. Gukesh maintained a slight advantage and pleasant position out of the opening until 20.Qb5?! which allowed Ding to equalize and trade off pieces into a draw.
The tenth game of the match, a 36-move draw, was played on 7 December. An uneventful game, Ding achieved nothing out of the opening. When he further agreed to trade off pieces it became clear that he was happy with a draw. The result was never in question, with commentators opining that if not for the rule that prohibited draw offers before move 40, the players could have agreed to a draw long before the game actually ended.
The eleventh game of the match, a 29-move win for Gukesh, was played on 8 December. Gukesh confused his preparation to fall into a poor position, but Ding underestimated his chances and failed to capitalize. A highly complicated game resulted in which both players committed several inaccuracies. The position was still complicated when Ding blundered his knight with 28...Qc8??, ending the game abruptly and allowing Gukesh to take the lead for the first time.
The twelfth game of the match, a 39-move win for Ding, was played on 9 December. In one of his best-ever games, Ding played with computer-like accuracy to "roll over" (Hikaru Nakamura) his opponent. Opting for the English opening, the game followed a previous game played in 2019 between Ding's seconds Ni Hua and Richárd Rapport up until move 7. Gukesh made some hesitant moves – 13...Rb8 apparently intended ...Nd4, which was not played; 16...Nd7 apparently intended ...Nc5, which was also not played – and Ding's advantage grew into a large one. After Gukesh's 17th move, chess engine Leela Chess Zero gave Ding's winning chances as having increased from 38.2% to 51.9%. Ding missed 26.Na7 to win the exchange, but his 26.d5 was also winning. Gukesh struggled on until move 39 as Ding finished in style with the rook sacrifice 39.Rxg7+, forcing Gukesh to resign due to the coming pawn promotion with mate soon to follow.
Bryan Armen Graham of The Guardian described Gukesh as being "confounded in a state of middlegame zugzwang". Both former world champion Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura were critical of Gukesh's opening choice after the game, since Ding's opening choice was fairly predictable, yet Ding still got a clear advantage and was able to play for a win with no risk of losing.
Game 13, a hard-fought draw in 69 moves, was played on 11 December 2024. Gukesh surprised Ding out of the opening with 7.a3 and 8.Be3, putting Ding under pressure. With 17.Qf3!? (which Magnus Carlsen called a move he would only consider if he were very inspired or in very bad shape) he offered the d4-pawn, but Ding believed his opponent and played 17...Qe8?!, a significant concession since the queen can no longer go to its best square (f6). Gukesh grew his advantage with 22.Bf4!, infiltrating on the weak d6- and c7-squares, but 25.Bxe7?! was a little hasty. This move forces an advantageous position, but 25.Rfe1 would have been even better. Gukesh briefly had a winning advantage when Ding misstepped with 30...Qf7? (it was necessary to trade queen for two rooks with 30...Qxe1!), but his 31.Ne4? allowed Black key defensive resources that Gukesh had missed (exchanging rooks first with 31.Rxe8+! Qxe8 32.Ne4 would have forced the win). Despite having only 8 minutes for 10 more moves, Ding found the only moves 31...Rf8! and 32...Rc7! to draw the game.
Game 14, a 58-move win for Gukesh, was played on 12 December 2024. Gukesh came up with the game's first surprise by playing the rare move 6...Nge7!?. He then played for a win with 13...Bb6?!, a move GM Magnus Carlsen criticized as "ambition without ammunition" since although it avoided a draw, it led to a position in which only Ding could be better. Ding failed to capitalize, however, and when he played 19.cxb5?! he indicated a desire to liquidate towards a draw. Ding's plan led to a pawn-down endgame which was a theoretical draw, although Black could try to win. After over 20 moves of maneuvering, Ding made a surprise blunder, offering a rook trade (55.Rf2??) at a time when his bishop was stuck on a corner square, allowing Gukesh to force a winning 2 pawns vs. 1 pawn endgame.
The win made Gukesh the youngest undisputed World Chess Champion; only Ruslan Ponomariov, the winner of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2002, a knock-out style tournament held when there was a divided world chess championship, was a younger world champion.
Per regulation, Gukesh won $1,350,000 while Ding took home $1,150,000. Despite winning the match, Gukesh lost 6.2 Elo rating points and remained fifth on the FIDE rating list, while Ding gained 6.2 points and moved to seventeenth.
Gukesh paid tribute to his opponent after the match, commending Ding for defending several very difficult positions in the match:
Gukesh acknowledged that although he had become world champion, he is not the best player in the world, which is still Magnus Carlsen; however, this only motivates him to try to catch Carlsen. For his part, Carlsen acknowledged that Gukesh has time and room to improve, and might even be the one to knock him off the top spot. Gukesh's win turned him into an instant celebrity in his home country of India, with a massive crowd greeting him on his return.
For Ding, the match exceeded expectations because he played strong chess following a period of poor form. Ding's second Richárd Rapport even opined that Ding had overall played better than his opponent, saying Ding "completely outplayed" Gukesh in both his wins. Chess.com's post-match analysis stated that whilst Ding had advantageous positions in all three of his losses, his apparent lack of self-belief and underestimation of his position meant he was unable to press home the advantage. Ding said after the match that he would continue to play chess, albeit with more focus on rapid and blitz. He was non-committal about fighting for another shot at the World Championship: there is no automatic berth for the loser of the match in the next Candidates Tournament, so he has to play in the World Cup or the FIDE circuit, which could require too many tournaments.