World Chess Championship 2024

World Chess Championship 2024

2024
	Defending champion	Challenger
	Ding Liren	Gukesh D
	Born 24 October 1992 31 years old	Born 29 May 2006 17 years old
	Winner of the World Chess Championship 2023	Winner of the Candidates Tournament 2024
←  2023 2026  →

The World Chess Championship 2024 will be a chess match between the reigning world champion Ding Liren and the challenger Gukesh D to determine the World Chess Champion. The date and place have not yet been announced. It will be played to a best of 14 games. In case of a tie, players will proceed to tiebreaks to declare the winner. ^[1]

After acquiring an unspecified illness, ^[2] Ding was absent and subsequently withdrew from several chess tournaments, including the Asian Games and the Grand Chess Tour following the 2023 World Chess Championship. Despite this absence, Ding returned to classical chess at the 2024 Tata Steel Chess Tournament and reaffirmed his intention to recontest his title at this World Chess Championship. ^[3]

Candidates Tournament

Main article: Candidates Tournament 2024

The challenger, Gukesh D, qualified by winning the Candidates Tournament 2024 in Toronto, Canada, which was an eight-player double round-robin tournament. ^{[4] [5]} It took place from April 3 to April 22, 2024. ^{[6] [7]} Fabiano Caruana won the 2023 FIDE Circuit yet qualified through his success as third place in the Chess World Cup 2023, allowing Gukesh to qualify to the tournament, as the second-place finisher, of which he ultimately won.

The eight players who competed were: ^{[8] [9] [10]}

Qualification method	Player	Age	Rating	World ranking
		(April 2024)
2023 World Championship runner-up	Ian Nepomniachtchi [lower-alpha 1]	33	2758	7
The top three finishers in the Chess World Cup 2023 [lower-alpha 2]	Magnus Carlsen (winner, withdrew)	33	2830	1
	R Praggnanandhaa (runner-up)	18	2747	14
	Fabiano Caruana (third place)	31	2803	2
	Nijat Abasov (fourth place, replacement for Carlsen)	28	2632	114
The top two finishers in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2023	Vidit Gujrathi (winner)	29	2727	25
	Hikaru Nakamura (runner-up)	36	2789	3
Highest place in the 2023 FIDE Circuit not already qualified [lower-alpha 3]	Gukesh D	17	2743	16
Highest rating for January 2024 not already qualified [lower-alpha 4]	Alireza Firouzja	20	2760	6

Results

Standings of the 2024 Candidates Tournament

Rank	Player v t e	Score	SB	Wins	Qualification		GD		HN		IN		FC		RP		VG		AF		NA
1	Gukesh D  (IND)	9 / 14	57	5	Advance to title match				½	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	1	1	0	1	1
2 [lower-alpha 5]	Hikaru Nakamura  (USA)	8.5 / 14	56	5			½	½			½	½	1	½	½	1	0	0	1	1	1	½
3 [lower-alpha 5]	Ian Nepomniachtchi  (FIDE)	8.5 / 14	56	3			½	½	½	½			½	½	½	½	1	1	1	½	½	½
4 [lower-alpha 6]	Fabiano Caruana  (USA)	8.5 / 14	54	4			½	½	½	0	½	½			½	1	1	½	1	½	1	½
5	R Praggnanandhaa  (IND)	7 / 14	42.5	3			0	½	0	½	½	½	0	½			½	1	½	½	1	1
6	Vidit Gujrathi  (IND)	6 / 14	40.25	3			0	½	1	1	0	0	½	0	0	½			1	½	½	½
7	Alireza Firouzja  (FRA)	5 / 14	32.75	2			1	0	0	0	½	0	½	0	½	½	½	0			1	½
8	Nijat Abasov  (AZE)	3.5 / 14	25.5	0			0	0	½	0	½	½	½	0	0	0	½	½	½	0

Source: ^[14]

Tie-breakers for first place: (1) results in tie-break games for first place;

Tie-breakers for non-first place: (1) results in tie-break games for first place, if any; (2) Sonneborn–Berger score (SB); (3) total number of wins; (4) head-to-head score among tied players; (5) drawing of lots. ^[15]

Note: Numbers in the crosstable in a white background indicate the result playing the respective opponent with the white pieces (black pieces if on a black background). This does not give information which of the two games was played in the first half of the tournament, and which in the second.

Championship match

Match regulations and format

The regulations and format of the world championship remains the same of that in the 2023 edition.

The time control for each game in the classical portion of the match was 120 minutes per side for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves, and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting with move 61.

The match will be best of 14 games; a score of at least 7½ would win the world championship. If the score is equal after 14 games, tiebreak games with faster time controls will be played:

• A match consisting of 4 rapid games with 25 minutes per side and a 10-second increment starting with move 1 would be played. If a player scores 2½ points or more, he would win the championship.
• If the score is equal after the rapid portion, a mini-match of two blitz games would be played, with a time control of 5 minutes per side and a 3-second increment starting with move 1. If a player scored 1½ points or more, he would win the championship. If the blitz mini-match is tied, another mini-match with the same conditions would be played to decide the winner of the championship. A drawing of lots would take place before each mini-match to decide which player plays with the white pieces.
• If both blitz mini-matches are tied, a single blitz game with a time control of 3 minutes per side and a 2-second increment starting with move 1 would be played, and the winner would win the championship. A drawing of lots would decide which player plays with the white pieces. If this game was drawn, another blitz game with reversed colours would be played with the same time control, and the winner would win the championship. This process is repeated until either player wins a game.

Players are not allowed to agree to a draw before Black's 40th move. A draw claim before then is only permitted if a threefold repetition or stalemate has occurred. ^[16]

Previous head-to-head record

Head-to-head record ^[17]

		Ding wins	Draw	Gukesh wins	Total
Classical	Ding (white) – Gukesh (black)	0	0	0	0
	Gukesh (white) – Ding (black)	2	0	0	2
	Total	2	0	0	2
Blitz / rapid / exhibition		0	1	1	2
Total		2	1	1	4

Notes

1. Russian players' flags are displayed as the FIDE flag, as Russian and Belarusian flags have been banned from FIDE-rated events in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. ^[11]
2. The regulations stated that it would be the top three finishers other than Ding and Nepomniachtchi. (And that if both finished in the top four of the World Cup, then the World Cup qualifiers would be the other two players in the top four; and two players with the highest rating in the January 2024 ranking list would qualify for the event instead of one). However neither of these players reached the World Cup semifinals: Ding elected not to play, and Nepomniachtchi lost in the fifth round.
3. Fabiano Caruana finished first in the 2023 FIDE Circuit, but had already qualified for the Candidates through a third place finish at the Chess World Cup 2023. As a result, the qualifying spot was awarded to the highest finisher of the FIDE Circuit who had not already qualified for the event (Gukesh D). ^{[12] [13]}
4. Provided the player has played at least 4 classical time control tournaments eligible for the 2023 FIDE Circuit.
5. SB scores, total numbers of wins
6. SB scores

References

1. "FIDE World Championship Cycle 2023-2024". FIDE . Archived from the original on 30 August 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
2. Svensen (TarjeiJS), Tarjei J. (2023-11-04). "Ding Reveals Reason For Withdrawals, Expects Comeback In 2024". Chess.com. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
3. Tarjei J. Svensen. "2024 Tata Steel Chess: World Champion Ding Returns, Carlsen Missing". Chess.com.
4. Sunaadh Sagar (April 22, 2024). "D Gukesh, aged 17, wins FIDE Candidates 2024; will play Ding Liren for World Champion title". ESPN . Retrieved April 22, 2024.
5. "Indian teenager Gukesh to challenge China's Ding for world chess title". Al Jazeera English . 22 April 2024.
6. "Toronto will host the 2024 FIDE Candidates Tournaments". FIDE . 27 March 2023. Archived from the original on 9 July 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
7. Levin, Anthony (28 March 2023). "FIDE Candidates, Women's Candidates 2024 To Be Held In Toronto". Chess.com . Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
8. "FIDE reforms qualifications paths to Candidates Tournament". FIDE . 7 January 2023. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
9. Green, Nathaniel (15 December 2022). "FIDE Announces 2024 Candidates Tournament Qualification Paths". Chess.com . Archived from the original on 14 April 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
10. McGourty, Colin (15 December 2022). "FIDE revamp Candidates qualification system". Chess24. Archived from the original on 21 December 2023.
11. Doggers, Peter (28 February 2022). "FIDE Condemns Military Action; Takes Measures Against Russia, Belarus". Chess.com . Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
12. Svensen, Tarjei (13 December 2023). "FIDE Clarification On Candidates Race Draws Reactions". Chess.com . Archived from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
13. "FIDE Circuit 2023". FIDE . Archived from the original on 2024-01-29. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
14. "FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024". candidates.fide.com. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
15. Regulations for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024, (PDF) FIDE
16. "FIDE World Championship Cycle". International Chess Federation (FIDE). Retrieved 2024-04-22.
17. "Gukesh vs. Ding". Chessgames.com . Retrieved 22 April 2024.

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