Chess - Path towards World Chess Championship (Gukesh Dommaraju vs Ding Liren)

[SaiWa]

The last round of the FIDE Candidates 2024 is a crazy end. 4 candidates are vying for the spot and it's coming down to the wire.

Gukesh has the lead (8.5) but the 3 others candidates are sitting at 8.0 points. A dream end round where the top four are fighting each other and a win (or loss) can determine who becomes the candidate.

Gukesh - 8.5 pts
Ian (Nepo) - 8.0 pts
Hikaru - 8.0 pts
Fabiano - 8.0 pts



UPDATE:

Gukesh vs Hikaru- Heading towards a tie. It would knock out Hikaru out of contention and boost Gukesh to a 9.0 score. It would force Fabi or Nepo to fight for a win to force a tie.

Fabi vs Ian - Fabi is slightly winning but he has less time and a blunder could cost him the win.

 

[SaiWa]

Fabi and Ian reach time control (extra 30 mins) but the advantage Fabi had practically disappeared... ooof...

 

[Sweater of AV]

Pretty surprising Gukesh is doing so well. He'd be the youngest to ever win. I'd like to see him pull it off. The loss to Alireza in the first round was rough. It's impressive he bounced back.

I picked Hikaru pre-tournament. Didn't think anyone outside of Hikaru, Caruana, or Nepo would win.

 

[SaiWa]

Gukesh forced the tie and knocks out Hikaru. Ever a maid never the bride is Hikaru's story IMO.

So now it's up to Fabi and Ian. Fabi had all the advantages but time trouble has plagued him in the late game and he's squandered everything down to an equal position. If anything Ian could have easily forced a tie long ago but because he has so much time he's playing on to see if Fabi can make a critical mistake. A tie knocks them both out so they're going all out. One must win to get 9pts and force a tiebreaker with Gukesh.

NOTE: Millions if not almost billion+ Indians are staying up and praying for a tie.

 

[SaiWa]

Pretty surprising Gukesh is doing so well. He'd be the youngest to ever win. I'd like to see him pull it off. The loss to Alireza in the first round was rough. It's impressive he bounced back.

I picked Hikaru pre-tournament. Didn't think anyone outside of Hikaru, Caruana, or Nepo would win.

Yeah i was rooting for Fabi. He was in solid form heading into the tourney.
NOTE: Also thought Alireza would do much better but apparently not.

It's looking like a draw. Textbook as the announcer are claiming.
But they're playing on due to the importance of the game.

 

[ChessJitsu]

what happened to the Chinese champion who beat Ian last year?

 

[Sweater of AV]

what happened to the Chinese champion who beat Ian last year?

He'll be defending his title against the winner of this.

 

[SaiWa]

what happened to the Chinese champion who beat Ian last year?

He's the defending champion. He will face the winner of the FIDE Candidates.


on a separate note: It is very surprising that you do not know this considering your screenname and avatar... lol.

 

[helax]

Damn Hikaru got bounced. Thought he had a good chance today

 

[SaiWa]

Damn Hikaru got bounced. Thought he had a good chance today

He always has a good chance. The best chance. Ever since Magnus gave up his title he was the favorite EVERY time but finds ways to cough up the chance to compete for the World title.

He supposedly is playing his best chess because he "literally doesn't care" but I think deep down he should care even more because I think he lost his edge at the Candidates. He will go down as a chess player that never won the title.

 

[SaiWa]

It's over.. tie. I feel for both. They tried and couldn't get it done. I have a soft spot for Ian as a player. Wish he had beaten Magnus that a few years ago.

Gukesh is the youngest candidates winner!

 

[ChessJitsu]

He always has a good chance. The best chance. Ever since Magnus gave up his title he was the favorite EVERY time but finds ways to cough up the chance to compete for the World title.

He supposedly is playing his best chess because he "literally doesn't care" but I think deep down he should care even more because I think he lost his edge at the Candidates. He will go down as a chess player that never won the title.

would you say Hikaru is the Dustin Poirier of the chess world?

 

[SaiWa]

would you say Hikaru is the Dustin Poirier of the chess world?

You called him the "Nakamura" of the chess world... LOL.

Definitely not. He's a top tier player. Not middling, as in middle village per the definition of Nakamura.

Dustin Poirier?... Better than that. Hikaru wins a ton of tourneys though. Chess has so many different formats and he dominated in all of the other ones at one time or another. He just never won it all at the classic format.

 

[Sweater of AV]

Good for Gukesh. Well deserved.

 

[SaiWa]

Lets hope Ding has fully recovered from whatever his illness he had that forced him to miss 9 months of activty. He's supposedly not motivated and his Tata Steele performance was rather disappointing considering he is the World champion right now.

 

[ChessJitsu]

He's the defending champion. He will face the winner of the FIDE Candidates.


on a separate note: It is very surprising that you do not know this considering your screenname and avatar... lol.

I got 2nd place in a local tournament today:

 

[Madmick]

All just to find out who would lose to Magnus if Magnus didn't get bored thumping them over and over.

 

[Sweater of AV]

Lets hope Ding has fully recovered from whatever his illness he had that forced him to miss 9 months of activty. He's supposedly not motivated and his Tata Steele performance was rather disappointing considering he is the World champion right now.

Ding played a Fischer-Random tournament shortly after Tata Steel and he was still struggling badly. If his form doesn't improve drastically then Gukesh will run through him. It's weird, no one really knows for certain what happened to him. There was a rumor it was due to mental health issues but who knows.

 

[SaiWa]

All just to find out who would lose to Magnus if Magnus didn't get bored thumping them over and over.

I've wondered if all these top players feel relieved cause they have a shot at being world champion or cheated because deep down inside they are competing for a title that's not lineal. Maybe a bit of both...

Because Magnus vacated his title it has allowed someone as young as Gukesh a legitimate shot at winning the title at 17 years old which would make him the youngest ever (previous record held by Kasparov at 22 years old). That would be a crazy and an unbeatable record IMO. The stars are practically aligned for Gukesh. Ding has been AWOL for a while and hasn't played much (or well) since his return so he appears extremely vulnerable right now.

 

[Madmick]

I've wondered if all these top players feel relieved cause they have a shot at being world champion or cheated because deep down inside they are competing for a title that's not lineal. Maybe a bit of both...

Because Magnus vacated his title it has allowed someone as young as Gukesh a legitimate shot at winning the title at 17 years old which would make him the youngest ever (previous record held by Kasparov at 22 years old). That would be a crazy and an unbeatable record IMO. The stars are practically aligned for Gukesh. Ding has been AWOL for a while and hasn't played much (or well) since his return so he appears extremely vulnerable right now.

Gukesh winning might be the only development that would inspire Magnus to return.