Favourite tourist venue doubles up as battleground for world chess  

Khel Today Bureau

Singapore: With just a few more days to go for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2024, the two contenders the reigning world champion Ding Liren and Dommaraju Gukesh have moved their focus from the attractions in the Island country to the chessboard for the next couple of weeks.

A country that is known for its tourist attractions will be the cynosure of all eyes for the next few weeks of the World Chess Championship match.

Chess is known to have some fabulous venues for the title matches. And Singapore’s famous luxurious Resorts World Sentosa, a premier resort known for its world-class facilities and stunning location, is the latest in the line for 2024. The playing hall is located in Equarius Hotel, a 5-star hotel with stunning views of the surrounding rainforest canopies.

Amidst all this the next few weeks, Indian sports fans will be focussed on the chess board, as Gukesh bids to become the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to become the World Chess Champion.

Anand, who will turn 55 on December 11, won the World Chess championship five times in different formats between 2000 and 2012.

Gukesh has made history as he is the youngest winner of the ultra-competitive Candidates tournament at the age of 17 which earned him a shot at the world championship crown. Now, at the age of 18 he could be the youngest ever world champion in history as Gukesh looks to script history when he takes on world champion Ding Liren.

The clash will see two Asians battle it out for the crown for the first time ever.

A favourite with global tourists, Singapore has a bit of everything – from international cuisine to iconic sights and entertainment and fashion. The Sentosa Island itself is a major attraction, which brings in millions of tourists each year and the Gardens by the Bay and the Mandai Wildlife Parks are a big hit with Orchard Road providing world-class shopping.

For Indians, Little India with authentic Indian food and shopping is a popular place.

The World Chess Championship match takes place over three weeks, with 14 match days and 4 rest days planned. The match will consist of 14 classical games. Each game will follow the time control of 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment starting from move 41.

The $2.5 million World Championship will make a departure from previous matches with specific distribution of funds based on game outcomes. Each player will receive $2,00,000 (approximately Rs 1.68 crore) for each game they win. The remaining prize money will be split equally between the players. If the winner is decided on a tie-break, the prize money will be divided as follows: the winner receives $13,00,000 (approximately Rs 10.9 crore), and the runner-up receives $12,00,000 (approximately Rs 10.1 crore).

Plenty of grandmasters, from Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Anish Giri have already given Gukesh better odds at winning the event.

The first player between Gukesh and Ding Liren to reach 7.5 points will be the winner of the 2024 World Chess Championship. But in the case of both players being tied on points after 14 games, tiebreaks will be played the next day to decide the winner.

Alongside the World title match, there will also be the Singapore International Open and the National Age Group Championship. The Singapore International Open 2024 will be held at Resorts World Sentosa, the same venue as the World Championship match while the National Age-Group Championship 2024 will be held at One Tampines Hub.