11.25.24 World Chess Champion Ding Liren came out of the gates fighting to win Round 1 of the World Chess Championship being played in Sentosa, Singapore. Here's a game recap with links to keep you current on the Match.

Apparently Ding Liren did not get the memo that he was the longshot to win this Match by a margin of roughly 20% to 80%. Playing the French Defense in Game 1 (an opening he used in his World Championship Match vs. Nepomniachtchi) a Steinitz Variation ensued in which Ding found himself seriously behind on the clock--at move 14 Ding was more than 52 minutes behind Gukesh.

Gukesh played up to his 10th move with 1:59 minutes still on his clock. His first think came after Ding's 10...Qa5.

At the outset, Gukesh appeared very confident and Ding just the opposite. Ding looked nervous, took exceedingly long to come up with a plan and appeared unsure of himself. This state of affairs took an amazing turn with a huge shift in momentum in the middlegame when Ding actually went ahead on the clock on move 21. Ding bashed out 23...Rc4 instantly and then held both the time and space advantage. All of a sudden Gukesh was trying to get himself out of a stranglehold.

By move 30, Judit Polgar commenting for Chess.com said, "It would be fantastic for Gukesh to save a draw but it's not so easy."

Ding sat at the board, unmoving for over four hours. The only time he got up was after Black's 41st move Qxa2. When he came back to the board, there was only one more move made for each player before Gukesh offered his hand in resignation.

In terms of World Chess Championship Match history, Black has won the first game of the Match 11 times. Nine of those 11 times, the player who won the first game with the black pieces went on to win the Match.

Dommaraju Gukesh wondering what went wrong in Game 1. (image courtesy FIDE/Maria Emelianova)

Livestream, Schedule, Current Match Score and More:
>> Official Site of the 2024 FIDE World Chess Championship <<

>> Replay Game 1 <<