Gukesh and Ding tied in world chess title clash as England’s best pitch up at Emirates

” frameBorder=”0″ class=”dcr-ivsjvk”>

China’s Ding Liren, the current champion, and India’s Gukesh Dommaraju, 18, are level at 1.5-1.5 after three of their scheduled best-of-14 games World Chess Championship match in Singapore. Ding won their first game before Gukesh, the challenger, levelled in game three when Ding, in a hopeless position, lost on time while making his 37th move.

Game four on Friday starts at 9am GMT, and is expected to last around four or five hours. You can watch it live and free at Fide’s YouTube channel, where the commentators are England’s David Howell and Jovanka Houska, and/or at chess.com with the all-time No 1 woman Judit Polgar and the US GM Daniel Naroditsky.

Ding’s game one victory defied the pre-match odds and was his first in any classical game for 10 months, but there have since been ominous signs that the momentum may already be swinging back towards Gukesh, whose confident opening play shows his deep preparation.

By contrast, Ding’s choice of an old-style Giuoco Piano in game two was limp, but the most concerning moments were at the press conference after game three, when the world champion seemed in a state of shock and gave hesitant answers to questions while Gukesh provided lucid replies and radiated calm confidence. If Ding is to retain his title, he needs to make much better use of his extra White in this weekend’s games four to six.

Meanwhile, a crucial few weeks has just begun for England’s leading masters and rising talents. The national 4NCL league, which launched its season last weekend, the XTX Markets London Classic and Fide Open, which both start at 4pm on Friday, and the Caplin Hastings Masters, which opens on 28 December, all have the potential to make or mar a player’s career.

The 4NCL (Four Nations Chess League) began its new season in the way that it ended in 2023-24. The trio of Wood Green, Manx Liberty and The Sharks, which dominated then with Wood Green taking the title on game points, all won both their opening matches. This trio, who all fielded eight-board teams averaging 2400+, will only meet in direct head-to-head matches at the season’s final weekend in May.

Manx have improved their squad by signing Harry Grieve, the 2022 British Champion, and Shreyas Royal, at 15 Britain’s youngest ever grandmaster, who announced his arrival by an energetic win where Black’s rooks combined to force checkmate.

The first 4NCL weekend was disappointing for several of England’s young talents, who had setbacks in their quest for international title norms. It could have been different if 10-year-old Supratit Banerjee had converted his winning advantage at move 40 against a Polish grandmaster.

They had just reached the clock control after a time scramble, when you should relax and regroup, but Banerjee continued to move quickly, sacrificing unsoundly by 41 Bxf7+?? after which Black won easily. A win would have set a new UK age record for the youngest to beat a GM in a classical game.

On Friday the action in England moves on to the Emirates, where the London Classic and Fide Masters take place. The event’s mid-tournament rest day coincides with Arsenal v Manchester United on the football pitch next Wednesday.

The eight-player Classic has teenager Royal taking on an elite field, which includes the two participants in this week’s puzzle – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Michael Adams – as well as the Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun, the British champion Gawain Jones, and Vidit Gujrathi from India’s Olympiad gold-medal team. Live commentary by the eight-time Russian champion Peter Svidler will be on the Chess In Schools And Communities Twitch feed.

The Fide Masters has a high-quality entry featuring 11 GMs and including very many of England’s best young talents. They will rarely have a better opportunity to score GM and IM norms, but it remains to be seen how many of them can seize the opportunity. Follow live at lichess.org.

On to Hastings next month, where the £10,000 Caplin Masters and many events for amateurs are still open to new entries. Royal will again be one of the main English hopes against a strong field of grandmasters from China, France, Ukraine and Hungary, plus leading young British talents, including Scotland’s rising star Frederick Waldhausen Gordon, aged 14.

3948 1 Qg8+ Kf4 (if Kh5 2 Nf6 mate) 2 Qg3+ Ke4 3 Nf6+ Kd4 4 Qd6+ and 5 Qxd1 wins.