The Chinese world champion denied all the predictions, which said he was in the grip of depression, by winning his first clash against the Indian Gukesh with the help of a relentless strategy.
Mental fatigue, depression, lack of confidence…almost all observers and chess fans gave little credit to the reigning champion, the Chinese Ding Liren, before the 2024 world championship match between him and the prodigy. Gukesh Indian.
By masterfully winning the first game, with the black pieces to boot, the grand master of Wenzhou showed once again that one should not sell the bear's skin before having killed it. In a seemingly passive French defense, he was able to build, step by step, a strategically winning position, without ever forgetting to remove any hope of a counterplay from his 18-year-old challenger. only.
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With this victory, Ding Liren revives interest in this match for the supreme title, which we wrongly thought was written in advance. Gukesh now has 13 classic games left to try to recover from this knockout….
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the first game of the 2024 World Chess Championship between Gukesh and Ding Liren live on LE FIGAROTV
Gukesh – Ding Liren, 1st part of the Singapore world championship, French defense
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Cc3 Cf6 4.e5 Cfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Cce2 Cc6 7.c3 a5 8.Cf3 a4 9.Fe3 Fe7 10.g4 Da5 11.Fg2 a3 12.b3 cxd4 13.b4 Dc7 14.Cexd4 Cb6 15.0–0 Cc4 16.Ff2 Fd7 17.De2 Cxd4 18.Cxd4 Cb2!! 19.De3 Tc8 20.Tac1 Dc4 21.f5 Dd3 22.De1 Fg5! 23.Tc2 Tc4 24.h4 Ff4 25.Db1 Txc3 26.Txc3 Dxc3 27.fxe6 fxe6 28.Ce2 Dxe5 29.Cxf4 Dxf4 30.Dc2 Dc4 31.Dd2 0–0 32.Fd4 Cd3 33.De3 Txf1+ 34.Fxf1 e5!! 35.Fxe5 Dxg4+ 36.Fg2 Ff5 37.Fg3 Fe4 38.Rh2 h6 39.Fh3 Dd1 40.Fd6 Dc2+ 41.Rg3 Dxa2 42.Fe6+ Rh8! white gives up 0-1
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