Gukesh: “Today was a good day!”
The second game of the FIDE World Championship between Ding Liren and Gukesh D ended in a solid draw. Both players decided to play it safe, steering clear of major complications and avoiding any risks. After a series of exchanges, a draw was agreed by threefold repetition on move 23. This result seems to satisfy both players. Today’s ceremonial first move featured two local celebrities. Ten-time Singapore champion and a living legend of Singapore chess, Mr. Tan Lian Ann, opened with the white pieces. Among many other achievements, Tan Lian Ann represented Singapore in four Olympiads, with three of them on board one. For the black pieces, the move was performed by Professor Lim Kok Ann, widely known as the founder of Singapore chess. A famous microbiologist, he was Singapore’s first National Chess Champion, and for close to five years, he was instrumental in fostering many Singaporean chess masters. Having passed away, he was represented by his daughter Stella Kon, a renowned Singaporean playwright, novelist, short-story writer, and poet. She and her siblings have also sponsored the latest GM tournament in Singapore. Ding Liren’s first move 1.e4 surprised resident match commentator GM David Howell. “I am a bit shocked by his opening choice. 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!” Gukesh took a moment to reconsider his strategy when Ding Liren played 5.Nc3 – the Giuoco Pianissimo variation of the Italian Opening. The Chinese champion had never played this line before, always choosing more dynamic setups with 5.c3. His most recent example was earlier this year in the Sinquefield Cup against … Gukesh! “My basic idea was to play carefully, and I was fine with a draw. I remembered that my second said that the opening was 0.2 according to the computer, so I may have missed some opportunities,” said Ding, initially content with his approach. The theoretical novelty of today’s game was 9.a5, grabbing more space on the queenside. Funnily enough, another top Indian player, Praggnanandhaa R, was involved in the two elite games in this line: in those games, played in 2023, the chosen moves were 9.Bxe6 and 9.Bxc5 Gukesh was fine with this approach. “I just wanted to play a good game,” he said. “With Black, so early in a match, you don’t want to do anything stupid. Yesterday, I was feeling good; I was fresh and confident, just that I missed a few tactics, which can happen to anyone at any time.” Gukesh was on top of his game. He pondered over the position between moves nine and thirteen for about twenty minutes, eventually finding a very logical sequence of exchanges. The resulting endgame looked totally equal. Contrary to what happened in the first game, Gukesh was fully concentrated at the board while Ding Liren was the one to take a couple of brief disappearances to their personal resting rooms – the tables had turned. In the commentary booth, former World Championship challenger GM Boris Gelfand was asked which side he would choose. “If I had to choose sides, I would choose White. It’s a slow game, and we can improve our pieces slowly. Black has difficulties in choosing what to do”. However, Ding’s 14.Rdc1 came as a shocker. It’s very rare to see a player abandon an open file with no apparent reason. On the commentary, GM Howell was sure that Ding Liren was still in preparation: “He has definitely seen this position before, sliding the rook across. You don’t play rook to c1 within a few minutes if you haven’t studied it before!” The ideas behind the mysterious move were quite hidden, and Gukesh took more than twenty-five minutes to sort things out. Ding Liren prophylactically defends the c2-pawn, which will come under attack at some point, avoiding the exchange of rooks at the same time. Additionally, his king can move towards the center, and the knight on f3 can be transferred via e1 to d3 – an active position eyeing black’s pawn weaknesses and blocking the d-file. A fantastic idea!! That being said, it soon became clear that his plan had backfired. “The move Rc1 is a typical idea in this kind of structure, but I don’t think it’s a good move in the game because I didn’t know how to develop while he has such a strong knight on d4. In fact, later on, I moved the rook back to d1,” Ding lamented after the game. In contrast, Gukesh D was quite happy: “I was able to find a good formation of pieces, after which it’s hard for White to really make progress. Maybe his move 14.Rd-c1 was not the best, but I didn’t see any other challenges in the position. Today was a good day, and hopefully, we will have many more good days coming.” Midway through the game, the many tens of thousands of viewers on FIDE’s YouTube channel enjoyed the insights of the five-time World Champion Vishy Anand, who is also one of Gukesh’s mentors. “We are actually neighbors in Chennai, as we live very near each other. Of course, if Gukesh wins the match, it will be huge for Indian chess. Many people would take up the game and start following. The fact that he is so young means that we can look forward to having him for a while – he would be the youngest ever in history.” Although the World Championship is the main event, the local organizers, along with FIDE, have programmed a wide range of side events for all the fans coming to Sentosa for the match. This afternoon, Google DeepMind scientist Nenad Tomašev delivered an exclusive presentation on the development and impact of AlphaZero, an AI program that has mastered complex games like chess. The session shed light on the intersection of technology and chess and offered unique perspectives for all enthusiasts. The third
5 ways to explore chess during 2024 World Chess Championship
From Google Arts & Culture to GenChess, discover new ways to experience chess with AI and explore the history of this timeless game. Chess, the classic game of strategy, has long been a proving ground for artificial intelligence. Google has achieved breakthroughs in AI with programs like AlphaZero — a single system that taught itself, from scratch, how to master chess — demonstrating AI’s ability to find creative solutions in complex scenarios. The methods the company developed and refined through games like chess have also led to real-world results. For example, similar techniques were applied to predict protein structures with AlphaFold, accelerate mathematical research with AlphaProof, and even discover entirely new algorithms with AlphaDev. This ongoing exchange between chess and AI fuels our passion for the game and its enduring impact on the field. Now, with Google as the title sponsor of the World Chess Championship, we’re celebrating this timeless game with a range of new experiences worldwide. 1. Take chess beyond the board with a historical deep dive The International Chess Federation (FIDE) and Google Arts & Culture have launched “Beyond the Board“, a digital exhibition exploring the history of chess from the sixth century to today. Curated by Woman Grandmaster Anna Burtasova, the exhibition features the International Chess Federation’s archival collection of photos, rare scoresheets, and artworks, highlighting the evolution of the game and its key figures. “Beyond the Board” also examines the impact of AI on modern chess, showcasing the dramatic increase in processing power of chess engines, while celebrating the enduring appeal of chess as a space for human creativity and strategic thinking. This exhibition was made possible through close partnerships with experts and cultural organizations, and we’re looking forward to continuing to work with them on the next installment of this series. 2. Transform your ideas into one-of-a-kind chess pieces Next up, you’ll be able to reimagine the traditional chess set with GenChess, a new AI-powered experiment from Google Labs. Simply provide a text prompt like “sushi” or “mountain climbing” and Google’s most advanced image generation model, Imagen 3, will create a unique chess set for you. GenChess will be available this week for you to try. 3. Join the challenge to build an AI chess bot FIDE and Google are partnering to help create the next wave of breakthroughs in efficient AI with the FIDE & Google Efficient Chess AI Challenge, hosted by Kaggle. This coding challenge invites people from around the world to participate in creating their own AI chess engines on Kaggle. This competition has a unique twist: these engines must operate under strict memory and processing limitations. It levels the playing field, allowing anyone with a passion for AI and a creative mind to participate. Kaggle even provides free computational resources, alongside starter materials and a friendly community to help you dive in. Visit the competition homepage on Kaggle to learn more and participate. 4. Test your talent against Gemini’s Chess Gem Coming in December, Chess champ is a new, conversational way to experience chess within the Gemini app. Test your talent against a language model in a game of chess. Explore different openings, banter with Gemini and see if you can beat it. This feature will be available in English in the Gemini web app for Gemini Advanced subscribers. 5. Follow every move at the WCC with commentary by Gemini This year, Google is bringing AI directly to viewers who tune into the World Chess Championship. Imagine having an AI companion to guide you through the intricacies of a championship match — that’s what we’re doing with “Chatting Chess.” This new segment on the FIDE livestream will use Gemini to demystify the game, offering insightful commentary and fascinating chess trivia. You can also expect to find interesting comparisons and relatable analogies to help understand key moves and strategies. The championship kicks off on Monday, November 25, and you can catch all the action, including “Chatting Chess,” on FIDE’s YouTube livestream starting at 5:00 PM Singapore time.