Chess World Cup
Out of the darkness – the depressed world champion surprises everyone
World chess champion Ding Liren fell into depression after winning the title in 2023. To defend his title, he will compete against an 18-year-old prodigy – the outcome is unclear.
When Ding Liren plays chess, he often looks quite distressed. He then places his head in both hands or supports himself with one as he plays through the next move. The whole weight of the world seems to be on his shoulders at this moment. That’s how it was in March 2023 when the 32-year-old Chinese ascended to the throne of the chess world in Astana, Kazakhstan. That’s how it is now in Singapore, where Ding is defending his title against 18-year-old Dommaraju Gukesh. And as the reigning world champion, he is still considered an outsider.
But to the surprise of most experts, the Chinese won the first game. The second game on Tuesday ended in a draw after 23 moves. Ding leads by 1.5 to 0.5 points. If there is a draw after 14 regular games, a tiebreak in rapid chess decides. Ding proved last year that he has the nerve to do it. At that time he beat the Russian Jan Nepomnjaschtschi in the tiebreak, who couldn’t withstand the pressure and made mistakes.
World Chess Championship: Many experts see Gukesh ahead
It remains to be seen whether Ding can actually defend the title with the lead behind him. Before the World Cup duel, the vast majority of experts saw the young challenger as the clear favorite. Gukesh is considered the new chess prodigy. In the qualifying tournament for the World Cup he defeated the three heavyweights Nepomnyashchi, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. The Chess Olympics, the sport’s premier team competition, was won by India thanks to its strongest player.
Ding, on the other hand, only delivered mediocre performances in the run-up to the tournament. “I looked at my past games and realized that the quality was very low and that my fighting spirit is not that good because even with better positions I only get a draw. I don’t know the exact reasons, but I am far from mine Top performance away,” was his self-assessment. He also didn’t exactly exude optimism about his chances: “I’m very worried that I could lose devastatingly. Hopefully that won’t happen.”
The Chinese player’s decline in performance this year has a lot to do with the mental health issues Ding is struggling with. After his success in spring 2023, he fell into a deep depression and disappeared from the scene for months. During this time he did not play any tournaments. He himself spoke openly about his suffering in interviews. After winning the world title he fell into a “darkness”. “But after that I couldn’t sleep anymore. I struggled with insomnia for months. My doctor prescribed me medication and I was in the clinic twice,” he said in an interview with “Zeit”. For a professional chess player, such a psychological crisis can be life-threatening.
Thing reports back from the “darkness”.
In Weissenhaus, Schleswig-Holstein, he met the best chess players in the world at a freestyle tournament, including long-time world champion Magnus Carlsen. Ding didn’t win a single one of his 13 games and he even lost ten. Things continued to be so disastrous. Of the 20 games in classical chess immediately before the World Cup, he only played one victoriously and slipped to 23rd place in the world rankings – and that as world champion.
So the omens for Singapore were not good. But with the opening game win and the current lead, Ding has shown that he can continue to play at the highest level. Maybe Magnus Carlsen is right. The Norwegian chess genius (world champion from 2013 to 2023) said beforehand that Ding could defend his title if he wins the first game. The case has now occurred.
Source: Stern

I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.