World Chess Championship 2024

World Chess Championship 2024

Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore
25 November – 13 December 2024
	Defending champion	Challenger
	Ding Liren	Gukesh Dommaraju
	Born 24 October 1992 32 years old	Born 29 May 2006 18 years old
	Winner of the World Chess Championship 2023	Winner of the Candidates Tournament 2024
	Rating: 2728 (World No. 23)	Rating: 2783 (World No. 5)
← 2023 2026 →

The World Chess Championship 2024, officially known as the World Chess Championship 2024 presented by Google,^[1][2] will be a match between the reigning world champion Ding Liren and the challenger Gukesh Dommaraju to determine the World Chess Champion. The match is set to take place between 25 November and 13 December 2024, with Singapore chosen as the host country for the match. It will be played to a best of 14 games, with tiebreaks if required.^[3]

Ding Liren became World Chess Champion in April 2023, after defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the 2023 championship match.^[4] 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.^[5][6] 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.^[7]

Ding's return to chess marked a rough stretch of form, with a set of poor performances at this years' Tata Steel Masters, Norway Chess, and the Grenke Chess Classic.^[8] 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 of Ding's overall ability to defend his world championship title, notably Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura.^[9][10][11] However, whilst 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.^[12] Ding's opponent in the 2023 match, Ian Nepomniachtchi, also remarked on Caruana's podcast that Ding would be a clear favorite if he was in prime form.^[13]

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 favourite in the World Championship Match. He also has a higher rating than me". Albeit, Ding remarked that he has "dropped a lot since last year, but I will fight my best to try to overcome the rating difference".^[14] 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".^[15]

The challenger, Gukesh Dommaraju, qualified by winning the Candidates Tournament 2024 in Toronto, Canada, which was an eight-player double round-robin tournament.^[16][17] It took place from April 3 to April 22, 2024.^[18][19] 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.^[20]

The eight players who competed were:^[21][22][23]

Qualification method	Player	Age	Rating	World ranking
		(April 2024)
2023 World Championship runner-up	Ian Nepomniachtchi[a]	33	2758	7
The top three finishers in the Chess World Cup 2023[b]	Magnus Carlsen (winner, withdrew)	33	2830	1
	R Praggnanandhaa (runner-up)	18	2747	14
	Fabiano Caruana (third place)	31	2803	2
	Nijat Abasov (fourth place, replacement for Carlsen)	28	2632	114
The top two finishers in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2023	Vidit Gujrathi (winner)	29	2727	25
	Hikaru Nakamura (runner-up)	36	2789	3
Highest place in the 2023 FIDE Circuit not already qualified[c]	Gukesh Dommaraju	17	2743	16
Highest rating for January 2024 not already qualified[d]	Alireza Firouzja	20	2760	6

Standings of the 2024 Candidates Tournament

Rank	Player v t e	Score	SB	Wins	Qualification		GD		HN		IN		FC		RP		VG		AF		NA
1	Gukesh Dommaraju (IND)	9 / 14	57	5	Advance to title match				½	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	1	1	0	1	1
2[e]	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	8.5 / 14	56	5			½	½			½	½	1	½	½	1	0	0	1	1	1	½
3[e]	Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE)	8.5 / 14	56	3			½	½	½	½			½	½	½	½	1	1	1	½	½	½
4[f]	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	8.5 / 14	54	4			½	½	½	0	½	½			½	1	1	½	1	½	1	½
5	R Praggnanandhaa (IND)	7 / 14	42.5	3			0	½	0	½	½	½	0	½			½	1	½	½	1	1
6	Vidit Gujrathi (IND)	6 / 14	40.25	3			0	½	1	1	0	0	½	0	0	½			1	½	½	½
7	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	5 / 14	32.75	2			1	0	0	0	½	0	½	0	½	½	½	0			1	½
8	Nijat Abasov (AZE)	3.5 / 14	25.5	0			0	0	½	0	½	½	½	0	0	0	½	½	½	0

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.^[28]

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.^[29] Early interest was expressed in June 2023 by Argentina, India, and Singapore.^[30]

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.^[31][32] 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.^[33][34] 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.^[35]

The prize fund allocated for the event is US$2.5 million.^[36] 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 will also be the distribution if the final score is 7½–6½ with 13 decisive games or 8–6 with 14 decisive games.^[37]

The regulations and format of the world championship are slightly different from the 2023 edition.^[37]

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:

• A match consisting of 4 rapid games with 15 minutes per side and a 10-second increment starting with move 1 would be played. If a player scores 2½ points or more, he would win the championship.
• If the score is still equal, a mini-match of two rapid games would be played, with 10 minutes per side and a 5-second increment starting with move 1. If a player scored 1½ points or more, he would win the championship.
• If the score is equal after the rapid portion, a mini-match of two blitz games would be played, with a time control of 3 minutes per side and a 2-second increment starting with move 1. If a player scored 1½ points or more, he would win the championship. A drawing of lots would take place before each mini-match to decide which player plays with the white pieces.
• If the blitz mini-match are tied, a single blitz game with a time control of 3 minutes per side and a 2-second increment starting with move 1 would be played, and the winner would win the championship. A drawing of lots would decide which player plays with the white pieces. If this game was drawn, another blitz game with reversed colours would be played with the same time control, and the winner would win the championship. This process is repeated until either player wins a game.

Players are 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.^[38]

Prior to the match, Ding and Gukesh have 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,^[39][40] whilst their most recent pre-championship game during the 2024 Sinquefield Cup resulted in a draw.^[41]

Before the match, Gukesh specified that he is working with Grzegorz Gajewski, who was also his second during the 2024 Candidates Tournament.^[15][43]

The games begin at 17:00 local time (SGT), which is 14:30 (IST) & 09:00 UTC.^[37]

If the match ends in less than fourteen games, then the closing ceremony may be moved forward.^[37][44]

• Official website