Welcome to ESPN’s live blog of the 2024 FIDE World Chess Championship between reigning champ Ding Liren of China and his 18-year-old challenger Dommaraju Gukesh of India.
Gukesh got off the mark in the 14-game Championship with a solid draw that Ding Liren was happy to accept in game 2 on Tuesday. This puts the score at Ding 1.5 – 0.5 Gukesh ahead of today’s game 3, which starts at 2.30 PM. We will have all of the action covered right here on our live blog, which will be right below the following update.
Unlike game 1, where nerves seemed to get the better of Gukesh in the face of an unorthodox defence from Ding, the 18-year-old held firm in game 2 despite Ding employing a e4 opening. Although one of the most common openings in chess (it’s moving the King’s pawn up two squares), it is one that Ding didn’t employ at all in the last World Championship. Gukesh, though, wasn’t thrown by this unpredictable attack and battened down the hatches early on and then made sure to keep things tight through the middle game.
As early as the 23rd move, with 35+ minutes left on both players’ clocks, they called it a draw by repetition. This move, presumably to conserve energy from Ding in the face of what could potentially have been a tricky endgame, will boost Gukesh’s confidence ahead of game three — where he will be playing with white again — even though Ding’s strategies with black are usually excellent (as we saw in game 1).
The live blog will appear right below here:
