2024 World Chess Championship - all endgames are winning

 Defending World Champion Ding Liren has started the defence of his title with a win in Game 1. Such a win came as a real surprise to most (including me), but Ding recovered from a cramped opening position to dominate the board in the middlegame. Part of his plan was to push the a pawn down to a3, which meant that Gukesh had to be very careful about any potential queenless endings. Despite have some tactical tricks, Gukesh wasn't able to find a way to attack Ding's king, which remained in the centre for a lot of the game. 

Not only does this give Ding a 1-0 lead in the match, it no doubt upsets predictions for the final result, as well as potentially changing how Gukesh approaches the next few game. Following the  Russian antidote for a loss (draw the next game) is probably advisable, especially as Gukesh would then have white in game 3. On the other hand, Ding can approach the next few games with confidence, recognising that he held off Gukesh in a position that did not start of well for him.

Gukesh D (2783) - Ding,Liren (2728) [C11]
FIDE World Championship 2024 Singapore, Singapore (1.1), 25.11.2024

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nce2 Nc6 7. c3 a5 8. Nf3 a4 9. Be3 Be7 10. g4 Qa5 11. Bg2 a3 12. b3 cxd4 13. b4 Qc7 14. Nexd4 Nb6 15. O-O Nc4 16. Bf2 Bd7 17. Qe2 Nxd4 18. Nxd4 Nb2 19. Qe3 Rc8 20. Rac1 Qc4 21. f5 Qd3 22. Qe1 Bg5 23. Rc2 Rc4 24. h4 Bf4 25. Qb1 Rxc3 26. Rxc3 Qxc3 27. fxe6 fxe6 28. Ne2 Qxe5 29. Nxf4 Qxf4 30. Qc2 Qc4 31. Qd2 O-O 32. Bd4 Nd3 33. Qe3 Rxf1+ 34. Bxf1 e5 35. Bxe5 Qxg4+ 36. Bg2 Bf5 37. Bg3 Be4 38. Kh2 h6 39. Bh3 Qd1 40. Bd6 Qc2+ 41. Kg3 Qxa2 42. Be6+ Kh8 0-1