Teenage champion

I would want to congratulate Gukesh Dommaraju, who, at the age of 18, has become the 18th FIDE World Chess Champion. He triumphed over the defending champion – now the former World Champion – Ding Liren, in a 14-game match that captivated chess enthusiasts around the globe, no less many from Malaysia seeing this as an opportunity to cross into Singapore and witness a classy World Chess Championship match, so close to home.

Fortune often favours the bold and the foolhardy, but in Gukesh's case, it was the courageous who were rewarded. Throughout the match, the 18-year-old Indian challenger maintained relentless pressure on the Chinese defending champion. In nearly every game, Ding Liren found himself perilously behind on time – with each player allotted two hours to complete 40 moves. However, except for the final game, Gukesh often found himself burning his own time, searching for the perfect move, but without success. This impatience led to two losses, as Ding capitalised on his opponent’s inaccuracies. Ding's own three losses to Gukesh were the result of catastrophic blunders, always at critical moments when his time management was in disarray. As the saying goes, the final blunder is always the most fatal. In the end, after nearly four weeks of intense chess, Gukesh emerged victorious with a 7½-6½ score, claiming the coveted title.

With the World Chess Championship title now moving from China to India, it seems to me that the so-called Big Dragon Project has ended with a whimper. While not a complete failure as it did achieve several goals, its eventual decline has been disheartening. I had hoped that Ding Liren’s tenure as World Chess Champion would inspire the Chinese Chess Association to greater heights. Yet, in the past year, I have seen little to convince me that the game is thriving within their population. Is Xie Jun still the President of the CCA? If so, it seems she is not functioning effectively enough. The signs of decline were already apparent a few years ago. Even before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of Chinese players attending the annual Malaysia Chess Festival was reducing. The subsequent lockdowns only exacerbated the issue, and, since the reopening of international travel, few Chinese players have ventured to compete. I believe that, in the years to come, the decline of chess in China will become ever more apparent. Meanwhile, with Gukesh’s victory, the centre of gravity has undeniably shifted more definitively towards the Indian sub-continent.