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- What: World Chess Championship
- When: November 25-December 13, 2024
- Who: Ding Liren (c) vs Dommaraju Gukesh
- Where: Singapore
Ding Liren will be seeking to defend his World Chess Championship later this year in Singapore. However, oddsmakers are not favoring the chances of the Chinese player doing that.
It’s India’s Dommaraju Gukesh who is being given the favorite’s betting line of -220 at the leading online sportsbooks. If you opt to back reigning champion Ding, you’ll be getting underdog odds of +165.
| World Chess Championship Odds |  |  |  |
| Ding Liren | +165 | +165 | +165 |
| Dommaraju Gukesh | -220 | -220 | -220 |
Were Liren to be beaten, he’d be the fifth reigning champion to fail to successfully defend his title since 2000. Interestingly, the last champ to be dethroned was from India. That was Viswanathan Anand in 2013.
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How World Chess Championship Works
The match to determine the best chess player in the world is a best-of-14 affair. The first player to accumulate 7.5 points will be declared world champion.
A point is awarded for each victory. Draws result in each player receiving a half point.
Should the match be deadocked at 7-7 following the 14th game, a tiebreaker will be played.
Two extra games are played. If the match is still tied, another two additional games are contested. If the tie is not broken by this point, one sudden-death game is played to determine the world champion.
Three of the last four World Chess Championships have required extra play to break a tie.
Ding Has Struggled With Top Rating
Since winning the world title, prosperity has not sat well with Ding. The Chinese chess master took a leave from competitive chess shortly after laying claim to his World No. 1 position.
Claiming fatigue and illness, Ding didn’t play a single match for several months. He withdrew from the 2023 Asian Games, and also took a pass on participating in the first four events of the 2024 Grand Chess Tour. Ding finally returned to competitive chess in January of 2024.
While it has appeared that Ding is indeed battling mental fatigue and physical illness, the top players in the world are also acknowleging that his overall game and raw talent for the sport has improved dramatically.
Gukesh Won Candidates Compeition
The Candidates Tournament determines the challenger for the World Chess Championship. Held in Toronto, Canada earlier this year, the competition brought together eight of the best players on the planet.
They earned their spots in the event by winning designated qualfying tournaments, or climbing to a specific placing in the world rankings. For instance, Gukesh carved out his spot in the Candidates Tournament by claiming the highest placing in the 2023 FIDE Circuit among players not already qualified for the event.
The field included two previous World Chess Championship finalists – Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi (2021, 2023) and American Fabiano Caruana (2018). Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, the world champion from 2013 until Ding claimed the crown in 2023, was also supposed to play. However, the world’s top-ranked player was opting to withdraw from the Candidates Tournament.
Gukesh would go on to collect five wins and nine points in the double round-robin tournament. He would finish a half-point ahead of Caruana, Nepomniachtchi and American Hikaru Nakamura.
Indian Player A Chess Phenom
Just 17 when he won the Candidates Tournament, Gukesh will be the youngest player to ever challenge for a world chess title. He entered the Candidates event ranked 16th in the world.
In other sports, he’d be classified as a phenom. Artistic folks would describe the young Indian player as a prodigy. In 2018, he won the under-12 classification at the World Youth Chess Championships.
Known affectionately as Gukesh D in the chess community, the talented Indian master will be seeking to join Anand as the only world chess champion from his homeland.
He is the third-youngest Chess Grandmaster in the history of the sport. The Indian player was 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days of age when he achieved that status. Gukesh is also the third-youngest to reach a chess rating of 2700 and the youngest to reach a rating of 2750.
World Chess Championship Pick
Gukesh was the third-youngest player to earn a spot in the Candidates Tournament. The only two players who were younger – Carlsen and Bobby Fischer – both wound up world champions.
Gukesh has climbed to No. 7 in the world rankings. Ding, meanwhile, has slumped to 15th overall in the world.
Head to head, though, Gukesh has never beaten Ding. In three prior matches, Ding has won twice, while the third would finish in a draw.
Gukesh is a hyper-focused competitor who seems to play his best chess when the stakes are the highest. That character trait served him well in the Candidates Tournament and it should also work to his advantage in the World Chess Championship. The challenger is the betting favorite, and rightly so.
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