Defending champion Ding Liren won the first game of the world chess championship in Singapore on Monday against his Indian challenger Gukesh Dommaraju, his first victory in a long game since January.
The performance is all the more surprising as the Chinese grandmaster had the black pieces, which play after the white pieces, leaving the initiative to his opponent. But after a game of more than four hours and 42 moves, the 32-year-old Chinese player gained the upper hand over his young opponent, 18 years old.
“I kind of panicked”
“Of course I was nervous. It would have been surprising not to be. Once the game started I started to calm down… I think I was playing at a good level… But then I kind of panicked,” explained Gukesh Dommaraju in a press conference after the game. The Indian had obtained a good position and a time advantage after the first shots but was unable to face the counterattack of the Chinese player led on the Queen’s side.
The victory is the first in 28 classic games for Ding, who has never regained his level since his success at the world championships in April 2023 and who did not start as a favorite for the match. But the road is still long since it is necessary to reach 7.5 points to win the title, in the best of 14 games. The two players will face each other again on Tuesday.
Belgium
