Chess

Gukesh is not deceived by Ding's subpar play prior to the World Chess Championship, saying, "One of the best in the world for a decade."

If you are in Singapore and are not well-versed in the world of chess, you would have no idea that a World Championship is set to begin in the city in two days. Chess is clearly not a popular sport, especially in Singapore. But it remains a big occurrence. The world championship has returned to Southeast Asia for the first time in 45 years, following the 1979 event held in Baguio, Philippines. It is also the first time in history that two Asian players will compete for the world championship.

Ding Liren and D. Gukesh. China and India. There are many of these two countries in Singapore, which is why FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich explains, "From [a] FIDE perspective, immediately after the Candidates, we wanted to host this match in Singapore." The CEO of the Singapore Chess Federation, GM Kevin Goh, also stated that hosting this world championship was on his radar right away.

Singapore is seeking to make its imprint on the global stage by hosting major sporting events. They were close to winning the bid to host the World Athletics Championships in 2023, but lost to Budapest. They will host the World Aquatics Championships next year. The world's biggest football clubs frequently come here for pre-season.

This is a country that now expects the top athletes in the world to compete in its world-class facilities. Both Gukesh and Ding have received a hearty welcome, with the monsoon well and truly settling in in the city-state. Ding even mentioned receiving handwritten letters from admirers upon his arrival in Singapore.

The overly dramatic build-up to, instance, the 2023 Chess Olympiad in Chennai hasn't quite happened. There are no hoardings or painted bridges every few hundred meters proclaiming that the World Championship is taking place. In actuality, there was no exterior signage at the hotel where the press conference was held on Saturday that would have given anyone the impression that the event was taking place inside. That is similar to the difference between Gukesh and Ding, the two main characters.

Gukesh was beaming, first with his coach Grzegorz Gajewski and father Rajnikanth, and then with a number of other people who wished to speak with the 18-year-old for a minute or two. Ding remained silent, sitting in a chair designated for media representatives, and appeared to be thinking alone.

Gukesh acknowledged that he was a little anxious, but he said that he was simply thrilled to be at this point. In contrast, Ding was much more quiet and talked about "being at peace" at the moment, which is a step up from a few months ago when he was struggling with mental health concerns.

Ding also mentioned the necessity of putting his personal life aside and concentrating solely on chess. In contrast, Gukesh dismissed any hints that he had a life outside of chess. Ding said that he had just spent the last three weeks preparing seriously. Gukesh claimed that ever since he won the Candidates tournament in April, this was all he could think about. Gukesh said he has enjoyed the process and that it has helped him learn new things every day, while Ding joked that his coach calls him lazy because he doesn't remember a lot of things.

"The person who wins last has the biggest smile," Ding remarked, laughing. "Everyone will choose to win first."