2024 Ding Liren - Gukesh, Warmup

In the nearly six months since my previous post on this blog, Toronto Candidates - Wrapup (June 2024), world class chess has moved from the end of a Candidates tournament to the start of a World Championship match.

For more info about the match and to follow the games, see:-

• Official site: FIDE World Chess Championship Singapore 2024
• Current Local Time in Singapore

Here are links to Fide.com news announcements during the months leading up to the match:-

• 2024-04-22: Gukesh D and Tan Zhongyi are World Championship Challengers
• 2024-04-27: FIDE World Championship Match 2024 - Call for bids
• 2024-07-01: Singapore to host 2024 World Chess Championship Match
• 2024-08-15: FIDE World Championship Match to be held in Singapore at Resorts World Sentosa
• 2024-09-02: FIDE World Championship Match 2024 Regulations announced
• 2024-09-12: Google announced as Title Sponsor of World Chess Championship 2024
• 2024-10-03: Tickets for FIDE World Chess Championship Match 2024 are now on sale!
• 2024-10-27: From a school in Chennai to the World Championship match in Singapore

The 'Schedule' on the official site says the first game starts 25 November with the following rhythm:-

The schedule of the World Championship match takes place over 3 weeks, with 14 match days and 4 rest days planned. All games start at 17:00 local time (GMT+8), and there are rest days after Games 3, 6, 9 and 12. The first player to reach 7.5 points will be the winner; in the case of a tie after 14 games, tiebreaks will be played the next day to decide the winner.

For equivalent posts on this blog for the two most recent title matches, see:-

• 2021 Carlsen - Nepomniachtchi, Warmup (November 2021)
• 2023 Nepomniachtchi - Ding Liren, Warmup (March 2023)

For previous games between the two players, see Ding Liren vs. Dommaraju Gukesh (chessgames.com). Gukesh appears to be the odds-on favorite for the 2024 match, but throughout his career Ding Liren has consistently outperformed expectations.