Ahead Of title clash, Ding says he feels peaceful, energetic; confident Gukesh, who gets first white, says he can handle the nerves
When Ding Liren appeared for his press conference ahead of the World Chess Championship Match starting in Singapore from Monday, the Chinese world champion seemed to be in far better shape than he has been in some of his recent media interactions and during part of his title match last year.
Much of the news around Ding has revolved around his mental make-up ahead of this long-drawn joust with challenger D Gukesh. On Saturday, he strove to put those speculations to rest. “This time I feel peace and with a lot of energy,” he said.
“I hope we can put up exciting games like last time,” he added, referring to the six decisive results over 14 classical games with Ian Nepomniachtchi, followed by tiebreaks, that eventually gave China its first ever world champion.
On his experience in Singapore so far, the 32-year-old indicated that he didn’t feel too far from home. “This morning, I came across many fans. They gave me a warm welcome. They gave me a lot of gifts and handwritten letters. Nearly everybody here can speak Chinese,” he said.
All this sounded encouraging considering the recent setbacks that Ding has faced. A slip in rating to 2728 and further, slipping to the 23rd world rank makes him the lowest-ranked title contender ever going into the Singapore Match. Israel’s Boris Gelfand was ranked 20th, when he lost the match (via tie-break) to Viswanathan Anand in 2012. But Ding was also brave enough to speak, albeit in depressed tones on the interaction streamed on FIDE’s Youtube channel, of his recent games. He said he had re-visited them and still found that the results were anything but flattering.
“The quality is not so good, low quality,” confessed Ding, “My fighting spirit was not that high, and I made many short draws. I also drew some games in much better positions. Don’t know the exact reason.”
But he would also hit notes of optimism. “I intend to reveal some of my best games to regain some impressions. I want to show how I can be such a strong player (as I was). I need to regain my confidence, fighting spirit,” he said.
Matchplay chess is unique as compared to other sports because unlike the big-ticket finals in most other individual sport where the rivals are spotted only a few days in advance, here you know your opponent six months in advance, and prepare to hold your own in a series of games, 14 in this case. In that sense, professional boxing alone comes closest to Matchplay chess, giving both sport an added layer of the personality clash and an unmissable “either me or you” feeling. The “either me or you” feeling would come to the fore when you find yourself up against an 18-year-old Indian challenger and a current world No. 5, who will play white in the first of those 14 games.
Gukesh would confess in pre-match media interaction that he is not always super calm, but that maturity and focus is unmissable. “Even if my heart is beating fast and I am nervous, I know I can handle that as long as I am confident in my skills,” he said at Saturday’s press conference. “I don’t think I have anything to worry about,” he added simply.
Since Anand has taken him under his wings, three years ago, the Gukesh gem has been polished brighter. “My job is pretty clear,” he declared, “Just go to every game as the best version of myself and play the best moves and the position. If I do that, keep playing good chess and be in the right spirit, I am confident that I have all the chances in the world.”
“My whole life revolves around chess. My age helps me a lot because I don’t have much of a personal life, I mean,” he said.
