In an exclusive chat, Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay shares his views about the upcoming FIDE World Championship 2024 between India’s D Gukesh and China’s Ding Liren.

Prediction

Pravin Thipsay: I think there has been a consensus on this. Nobody, except Caruana, is predicting that the defending champion will be doing well. This includes Carlsen, Kasparov, and Ding himself. They all see Gukesh as a top….as a favourite to win.

Gukesh has a higher rating for the last one and a half years. If you look at the rating performances, the graphs are completely different. Gukesh has been playing above 2800 in all tournaments except the last one. And Ding’s rating performance is much below his capability.

So, I think it will be a very one-sided match; more one-sided than Kasparov-Short or Spassky- Fischer.

Ding’s below-par average

Pravin Thipsay: If Ding continued to play as well as he did in 2018-16, it would have been a strong match. Ding, once upon a time, was a very strong player. While he had a 95-game unbeaten, he broke the record of world champion Mikhail Tal.

But Ding’s record lasted only for one year because in 2019 Magnus Carlsen crossed 100. But then Ding was an accurate player; he was correct with good technique and very focussed. He was a balanced player about initiatives and attacks, and always played for a win.

But at the same time, Ding was a sort of wild-card entrant in the Candidates. He finished second there, even without realising that he could be playing the world championship match. But the match didn’t look like a world championship match. So when Ding became champion, people were not willing to consider him as the best player in the world.

It happened to Karpov also when he first became the world champion. Karpov won the match in 1975 by default as Fisher did not play. At that time the world refused to recognise him as the best player. But Karpov came first in almost all tournaments in 1975-76 and the fraternity started considering him as the best player.

What Ding did was exactly the opposite course. He didn’t play any tournament after becoming world champion. So he lost his form and confidence. I think he has just self-destroyed his career in one and a half years.

Gukesh’s strength

Pravin Thipsay: Gukesh is generally playing a lot of flawless games. And he can play 50-60-70 moves flawlessly. He even doesn’t allow equal positions to end in a draw.

He keeps his position alive and doesn’t allow simplification. Gukesh plays over the board. He doesn’t prepare beyond 7-8 moves, he is aware of what is to be done and why it’s to be done. It’s all known to him.

So a very mature way of playing, very accurate, accuracy-based play and lot of imagination involved. He can maintain uncertainty and ambiguity for others in his position. And apart from playing strength, Gukesh is so confident in himself that he knows that if something goes wrong, then tomorrow is the day.

Ding’s slight chance

Pravin Thipsay: Ding is, even today, more or less like a child. When he loses his reaction is in public, which happens to a child and he doesn’t have self-confidence. If he loses, he tries to bounce back but he is shaken. So overall, Gukesh and Ding are conflicting personalities.

Just one or two things where Ding is better than Gukesh. In the endgame, I haven’t seen Ding making any mistakes. The accuracy-level of Ding to defend in the endgames is extraordinary. And second is, in Blitz and Rapid, he is a stronger player. He is the only player who had been world rapid number one apart from Carlsen and Nakamura. So if the match ends in a 7-7 draw and the Blitz and Rapid come into the picture, then I would say it’s Ding who is more likely to retain the title. So Ding’s agenda will be to survive the main classic.

Anand and Gukesh

Pravin Thipsay: Well, I think there are very few things that are common between Anand and Gukesh. I would say that they are more dissimilar than being similar.

Gukesh is a player who doesn’t prepare much and he wants everything on the board. Anand is of course very well prepared, he believes in preparation. Anand has a great sense of accuracy and initiative when it comes to your kingside attack, whereas Gukesh is very not particular of ending the game with a kingside attack. Anand’s initiatives, strength, and attacking power probably are more, whereas Gukesh’s originality is more. 

Anand always took the help of the engine for preparation. And that was one of the important factors. About Gukesh….Gukesh never takes the help of the engine and that is how he has increased the strength. Gukesh is a fantastic defensive player and Anand was never a good defensive player.

Message to Gukesh

Pravin Thipsay: Well I think ‘ Be Yourself’ is the message from me….’ Be Yourself and You are all there.’