Sunday, 8 December 2024

2024 World Chess Championship - A familiar refrain

 One of the demands that Bobby Fischer made when World Chess Champion was that future title matches be determined by number of wins, rather than final score. He envisaged a situation where one player took an early lead and then the remaining games were all drawn. This idea was accepted by FIDE, at least up until the first Karpov v Kasparov match. 

In some ways, what Fischer feared happening has been evident for a while now. With shorter matches for the title, the number of 'risk free' draws has significantly increased. Combine this with much better opening preparation, and a lot of games see players hoping for a small edge out of the opening, and if that does not happen, then playing solid chess until a draw can be agreed.

Game 10 of the current match was very much like this. The only imbalance in the position was doubled f pawns for Black, but given the high level of defensive technique these days, there was no hope of a Rubenstein type ending masterclass from Ding, and the game ended in a draw at move 36.


 

Ding,Liren (2728) - Gukesh D (2783) [D02]
FIDE World Championship Match 2024 Singapore SGP (10), 07.12.2024


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