Choose the best words and gestures to appreciate, if not, remain silent !! In life, many people find it difficult to appreciate even great accomplishments – they criticize with venom, grave attention seekers ! Ignore them !!
For this
important game, Ding had prepared a kingside
fianchetto, followed by a quick 4.d4 – the Reversed Grunfeld! “Ding is a big expert in the Grunfeld with
Black: he is now playing a Reversed Grunfeld – a total mirror image, but with
an extra move for White,” explained co-commentator IM Jovanka Houska in the
commentary booth.
18-year-old Indian prodigy Gukesh D is the new FIDE World Champion and the 18th in the line of champions, the youngest ever in history. In a dramatic and unexpected turn of events, when it seemed that the final game was heading for a draw and tiebreaks were unavoidable, the champion Ding Liren made a huge mistake on move fifty-five and was forced to resign three moves later. The final result of the match is 7.5-6.5 for Gukesh D.
The cherished news is 18-year-old GM Gukesh Dommaraju (DOB 29th May, 2006) set Singapore on fire becoming the 18th world chess champion, the youngest in the history of chess at the FIDE World Chess Championship 2024, presented by Google, at the Equarius Hotel Sentosa, Singapore. In the 14th and final game of the world championship match defending champion Ding Liren chose to Hara-Kiri (Japanese for suicide) when he played 55.Rf2 in a technically drawish rook and bishop ending position. The final official match score read 7.5-6.5 in favor of Gukesh, who will be crowned in an official ceremony by FIDE tomorrow and will be presented a winner’s cheque of US$ 1.35 million.
Gukesh Dommaraju, the second world champion from India and Asia after five
time world champion Viswanathan Anand, would be an youth icon and ambassador
for the change that world yearns for. The Indian teenager overtakes Russian
Garry Kasparov as the youngest world champion in the history of chess, by a few
years. This year has gone like a dream for Gukesh, who won the Candidates in
Toronto, individual and team gold in the 45th Olympiad, Budapest and add the
world crown on top of that, it’s bound to feel dizzy.
Doing this for myself, for my loved ones and my country, there is probably nothing better than this” said the just crowned world champion Gukesh, who brought the title back to country of it’s birth. Assisting the teen aged world champion right through were GMs Grzegorz Gajewski (POL), Radoslaw Wojtaszek (POL), Pentala Harikrishna (IND), Vincent Keymer (GER), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL) and IM Jan Klikowski (POL). Add the global celebrity and mental coach Paddy Upton (South Africa) & Indian legend Viswanathan Anand, the winning team is complete.
A very very happy moment for the Nation – very well done Gukesh ! – we are proud of you.
The Zukertort Opening, under reversed Grunfeld variation set the ball rolling for a quiet start. The stakes for one single game was huge and both the gladiators were well aware of the same. Ding appeared to be coasting for a risk free game with a draw happening on the cards. But going for a pawn down rook and bishop ending wasn’t called for and the 17th world champion put himself in deep discomfort. With no possibility of losing, Gukesh found himself thrown into a position where he could make life difficult for Ding. The Chennai based Grandmaster continued to push the Chinese who erred in a drawn rook and bishop ending. Offering to exchange his rook, Ding unfortunately failed to see that his bishop is cornered and will be forcibly exchanged taking black to an instant won endgame.
Having noticed the Ding’s Himalayan blunder Gukesh went restless for a moment not believing his eyes. Upon checking it dawned upon him that he’s few minutes away from becoming the next world champion. Ding instanly covered his face not wanting to see that he threw away a draw and the title in one go. The gentleman that world knows Ding to be, resigned a couple of moves later. “It could have been better but considering yesterday’s lucky survive, it’s a fair result to lose in the end”, said the dethroned world champion Ding Liren, a thorough gentleman. An act that left the new world champion weeping even as the moment started sinking into the boy who became a man.
Sunil Gavaskar was one of the greatest opening batsmen of all time, with strong virtually unbreachable defence and range of shots. He displayed excellent judgement of length and line, and was beautifully balanced. He was the first to score 10000 runs in Test Cricket and when he retired his 34 tons was the record.
As a commentator he is often acerbic. When Team India failed at Adelaide with star batsman not performing at all, he chose to leave them outside the off and blame the wicket-keeper batsman badly. Rishabh Pant can change this Test but he won't': Gavaskar tore into India keeper, saying ‘If dropped, you have IPL’ – it smacked opportunism and bias. "Very entertaining, no question about it. But you mustn't forget, in the old days, there was no alternative to Test cricket; if you didn't play Test cricket, you went back to Ranji Trophy, you went back to club cricket, and that was it. When you have a cushion like the IPL, like the contract system, you can play this way. So what if you get dropped from the Indian team, you have the IPL," Gavaskar said in the post-match show on Star Sports after the end of Day 2 in Adelaide. Will Mr Sunil Gavaskar clarify whether the same yardstick applies to other stars especially Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Jaiswal & KL Rahul ?? - no, he won’t!!
A similar or even worser comment came from former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, who made a scathing attack after the 18-year-old D Gukesh pipped holder Ding Liren in Game 14 of the World Chess Championship to become the youngest world champion in history. Kamnik called it an “End of chess,” after Gukesh won the championship in the Game 14. “No comment. Sad. End of chess as we know it,” Kramnik wrote in one of his post on X.
The 18th world champion Gukesh is at age 18, four years younger than Garry Kasparov, who had been the youngest world champion since 1985 when he beat Anatoly Karpov.
Kramnik called
Ding’s mistake childish and wrote, “Nevet yet WC title was decided by childish
one move blunder.” Former world champion Kramnik ranted
about the quality of chess played between Gukesh and Liren. “Frankly, I am very
disappointed by today’s game (Game 6). Even Game 5 was not extremely high
level, but today it was really — for a professional — it was really weak play
from both players. It’s a very disappointing level,” he had said after the Game
6. “Maybe I’m old-school but it’s pretty basic! Of course, they’re both great
players and great calculators. They calculate fantastically. “But I expect something a bit more from a
world championship match, like ideas! Human play, human concepts! If I want to
enjoy chess as just a game of calculation, I would rather watch a world
championship of chess engines!”
World perhaps is
not really worried about whether Kramnik enjoys seeing the games or whether he
accepts – factually - Gukesh Dommaraju
is the new FIDE World Champion.
The King's Fianchetto Opening or Benko's Opening (also known as the Hungarian Opening, Barcza Opening, or Bilek Opening) is a chess opening characterized by the move: 1. g3. White's 1.g3 ranks as the fifth most popular opening move, but it is far less popular than 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.c4 and 1.Nf3. It is usually followed by 2.Bg2, fianchettoing the bishop.
Some ex-champions are unable to accept reality and digest facts !
Regards – S Sampathkumar
13.12.2024
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