The Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore, is hosting a world chess championship that has already set records by the halfway stage. This features a head-to-head battle between the defending world champion, 32-year-old Ding Liren of China, and the challenger, 18-year-old D Gukesh of India.
The first world title match was held in 1886, with Austrian-American Wilhelm Steinitz beating the British-Polish Johannes Zukertort.
This is the first time in the 138-year history of the classical world championship that a match has featured two Asian contenders.
Gukesh is by far the youngest challenger ever, and obviously, if he wins, he will become the youngest ever world champion.
Beginning with a bang Readers may be wondering what "classical" means. In chess, it is shorthand for a long time control. This match will ideally be decided over 14 games played out at long time controls with alternating colours.
Right now, the match is tied after nine games. If the players are tied at the end of 14 games, there will be a series of four games at shorter time controls. And if that does not break the deadlock, the time controls will get progressively shorter until the match is decided (see accompanying box).
Gukesh has done something unimaginable by making it to a title match at 18 by winning an extremely tough Candidates Tournament in April, edging out seven top grandmasters.
The young man has been cited as world champion material since he became a Grandmaster at the ripe young age of 12. Apart from winning age group titles, Gukesh has picked up individual gold medals as the best top board player at two successive Olympiads, and spearheaded an Indian gold winning performance in 2024.
This story is from the December 07, 2024 edition of Business Standard.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the December 07, 2024 edition of Business Standard.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
NTA to be restructured, will only focus on higher edu entrance exams
The NTA will not conduct any recruitment exams from 2025, instead will only focus on higher education entrance tests, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced on Tuesday.
Digital scams: NPCI lists 'tricks' to watch out for
With incidents of online frauds, including 'digital arrests' on the rise, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) that oversees India's retail payment systems has issued an advisory outlining steps to protect users against such scams.
Data breach, regulatory uncertainty hurdles in AI implementation: Deloitte
As Indian companies implement artificial intelligence (AI) in systems and processes, cyberattacks, data breaches and regulatory uncertainty about the new technology have become a concern, according to a survey.
Four of 10 in rural, semi-urban India prefer UPI: Report
Only about four out of ten users in rural and semi-urban India have the country's real-time payments system, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), as a preferred mode of transaction, with about two only preferring cash, according to a joint report by EY and CII.
IBA seeks training sessions by CBI to tackle bank fraud
The Indian Banking Association (IBA) has suggested to the finance ministry to direct public sector banks (PSBs) to organise regular training sessions by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for bankers to enhance vigilance and prevent fraud.
BITTER CHILL PILL
LNG, or chilled natural gas, is a $29 billion opportunity. So, what is keeping the sales low?
Assess employment growth prospects, infra before investing
The weighted average price of newly launched projects in the top 30 Tier-II cities surged by up to 65 percent between December 2023 and October 2024, according to a recent report by PropEquity.
Booster dose for Piramal Pharma on growth hopes
JM Financial initiates coverage on the stock with a 'buy' rating
LARGECAP CUTOFF LIKELY TO TOUCH ₹1 TRILLION
The market capitalisation (mcap) cutoff to qualify for mutual funds' (MFs') largecap universe is likely to go up for the fifth consecutive time to touch the ₹1 trillion mark for the first time.
Oberoi Realty: On a strong growth foundation
Oberoi Realty is a Mumbai-focused real estate player across residential, retail, hospitality, and social infrastructure.
