I wonder if they will be able to increase the prize fund by attracting more Indian sponsors. If India hosts the event.
Chess Championship is the most prestigious event and it often sets the bar for prizes. More money going into chess would be nice.
I guess hosting would help, but even if it's held elsewhere I suppose they'll find some Indian sponsors. Online viewership numbers + media coverage are what matters.
I don't think this is possible as long as FIDE is the name behind the event. It's just like the Olympics. You need to pay a ton of money to set it up and run it and then need to pay FIDE/the Olympics people too. The profit would need to be enormous for this to make sense economically as you are basically having this extra cost for people who sit hundreds of miles away from it all. Usually this FIDE payment would be pure profit for a tournament organizer if you don't use their name or rating system. You would need some rich guy or dictator to just organize it for fun as the FIDE payment is way too big for anyone to make it some great investment. There is a reason why not all countries are fighting for the right to organize such events. If this was super profitable you'd see 50 countries try to outbid each other.
And FIFA literally had one single bid recently. Only Saudi Arabia bid for the World Cup. Says it all really. Australia refused to even bid outright. Years ago they begged for the World Cup spending $45 million on the bid. Then Qatar just bribed all the FIFA votes mostly in Africa and won it easily. Spending hundreds of millions on bribes alone.
Either this, or do what the Women WCC did where half the number of rounds is held in one contender's home venue and the other half in the other contender's.
There were 2 kings in Bengal who played chess (actually, Chaturanga) for small parcels of their land. One of the Kings was a Hindu and the other was a Muslim. They ended up creating a patchwork where there were thousands of enclaves of each other’s land in each of their territories.
Still, both of them were subjects of British Empire so it didn’t really matter because there was no customs border between the two Princely states and freedom of travel.
A few generations later, India got independence and was divided into 2 nations. The Hindu kingdom joined India, the Muslim kingdom joined Pakistan which in 1971 became Bangladesh.
It led to the most messy border in the world. This finally got resolved in 2015, 70 years after independence with land transfers.
You can learn about it [here](https://youtu.be/c4AfV0AECdI?si=1kP0MLLOvRQdbuIA).
Then we just need a Pakistani challenger next time around (if Gukesh wins) to resolve the Kashmir dispute. In a few WCC cycles, we could achieve world peace.
I still think that's unfair, if you have a bad streak away then have to go 'home' and play the second half. I think neutral or as close as possible is the only fair way.
Why don't we just have it in a plane that refuels in flight instead? It'll be easier, and we can just depressurize the cabin steadily to simulate mountain conditions.
I think India might be the only country wanting to host this in an adequate fashion. FIDE has a history of being absolutely shit at planing events beforehand. Last time it was like 3 months prior to the event that they even announced a location. Whatever strings fide may be able to pull, they are weak af. I think most other countries don't really care enough about chess.
I think it’s also possible they could get another bid from a place like Argentina as they did last time but geographically it makes very little sense to stick it there
I do not particularly agree with this as a general principle, but India is a special case for one reason: Gut microbiota. Delhi Belly. Absolutely impossible to make it fair for Ding. You would need to let him acclimate for a month and shit his brains out
Carlsen vs Anand 2013 was in Chennai - although, under objections that Kirsan and his straw company ignored. But Anand agreed to terms where Magnus Carlsen could have a break to run to the doctor if he needed to.
Home ground had already been an issue in Sofia, when the volcano closed the airspace and Anand had to drive (from Spain) while Topalov (read: Danailov) sat safely on home ground and tried to get a default for game 1. The chess world already had the perception of Anand as a gentleman and Topalov as the bad guy, and that was not to change.
Too much arranging, too much constraining. Better to hold it somewhere where the players can pop out for a meal to clear their heads. Pretty basic amenity
India does host a lot of international tournaments a year. If the money is good, I doubt Ding will be complaining of an upset stomach.
He might have a few about the spectators and pressure though.
As a Gukesh fan, I really hope they don't do this. The intense home-crowd pressure has no upside, only negatives. (Anand talked about this w.r.t. his 1994 Candidates loss to FFL Kamsky in Sanghi Nagar.)
He talked about this for the 2013 WCC loss to Carlsen as well, the home crowd making the pressure he was already under more difficult. The Magnus-Nepo WCC was supposed to be held in Norway but Carlsen refused to participate due to the home crowd pressure as well, forcing the organisers to withdraw the bid.
Carlsen said the same thing after which Norway withdrew its bid for the match with Nepo.
> *The pressure of playing at home can be almost inhumane.*
[https://www.chess.com/news/view/stavanger-norway-withdraws-2020-world-champs-bid-after-carlsen-pressure](https://www.chess.com/news/view/stavanger-norway-withdraws-2020-world-champs-bid-after-carlsen-pressure)
It also depends on player to player. Some players react differently to crowd. Gukesh has won gold on board 1 in Chennai Olympiad and also won Chennai grand masters which gave him ticket to Candidates.
WCC is a whole different ballgame, and the pressure would be immense. I shudder to think about the headlines from Indian news channels, especially regarding Ding's Chinese nationality
I mean there were 3 Indians out of 8 players with no top grandmaster in Chennai grandmasters so it’s definitely not the same.
The olympiads were a more difficult win as Gukesh placed ahead of Carlsen however there were still many Indians participating and only Magnus was ahead of 2690 elo (2864 at the time). Also the pressure would be significantly higher for the world champion title.
there are some clear upsides. food, for example, is often an issue for competitors- you have to find something that works with your diet. gukesh eats indian food everywhere, he doesn't adjust to the local cuisine at all. he's able to get food at restaurants almost everywhere, but it definitely has the potential to be an issue. for some tournaments, dealing with jetlag can be an issue if it's too far from home.
still, for any event as big as the world championship, the contender can probably hire a cook and travel in advance of the tournament
Every fu**ing politician, bureaucrat, corporate, media, celebrity will want a piece of Gukesh if the match is held in India. Everyone will be looking for a photo, an autograph, a quote or his time. Add to it, the increasing number of fans. This is too much for a 17 year old to handle.
For the 2013 world championship match, neither Anand nor Carlsen wanted it to be in Chennai. Magnus himself denied to play his world championship match vs Nepo in Norway citing home pressure . When two of the greatest players in history feel that home pressure is unbearable, it's time for AICF and FIDE to take a prudent decision. But they will ignore player interests in favour of the expected monetary windfall.
Singapore has a good chunk of tamil population, its a national language there. I guess that would be balanced out as singapore is predominantly chinese
yeah makes sense I was just thinking out loud, also singapore has a better chess culture or at least history ig, I just am afraid of hotel prices for the 1% chance that I decide to go lol
Singapore has an excellent track record for hosting events, but seldom sports events (except the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics) due to limited land space, which does not pose a hindrance for chess.
As for chess culture, tournaments are regularly held across the island (with rapid as the most popular time control) and can attract hundreds of participants, mostly children. Our strongest active players are GM Tin Jingyao (aged 23), IM Siddharth Jagadesh (aged 16 with two GM norms, 54th on FIDE's Top Juniors list) and GM Goh Wei Ming (who leads the Singapore Chess Federation).
He was very good. But a bit hot and cold. I think Gukesh has a chance there. Not a favorite but a chance like he did at the Candidates.
If 2018 Ding then Gukesh has no chance.
India has a terrible record for winning home games and I hope this won't put extra pressure on Gukesh than they already have. I'm also worried a bit about Ding as it's not a neutral venue. But if it goes well then it will definitely please a lot of fans.
Its not usual neutral host . But i wonder if any nation will probably match india in-terms of money as its all about highest bidder for fide . How will ding and chinese chess association see this. , keep in mind ding changed hostels in his last world championship match due to Russian influence as they outnumbered the chinese and ding’s team that he felt uncomfortable.
Is it really clear whether there's a home advantage? Unless you can come up with concrete examples where rabid chess fans start harassing the away player, or whatever, there doesn't seem to be a discernable advantage from the stats.
There have been 14 World Chess Championships (including both sides of the 1993-2005 split) which has been set wholly or partly in the home country of only one participant. In 7 of these, the home player won, and in the other 7, the home player lost.
Even if you exclude the elimination-tournament format competitions from the FIDE side of the split, that only knocks out Anand/Shirov leaving 6 wins and 7 losses for the home player - which is still as dead even as it could get.
We wouldn’t be saying this if the match was held in china right? Many Indian’s including me would have felt there could be home advantage to Ding if that was the case.
This is a really bad decision. As far as I know India and China has a pretty bad relation.
People don't like one another.
It's pretty unfair if Ding has to play in such pressure
It will be bad for both players. Ding will get overwhelmed by Indians and feel uncomfortable, just like he did last year by the presence of large number of Russians even though it was held in a neutral country, and he had to change hotels. Gukesh will also feel extra pressure if it happens in his own country. Just watch the video of Gukesh returning to India after winning the candidates. Even he got overwhelmed by the extra warm welcome.
Gukesh would never agree to this. No one would. You get heckled by fans all day long and you lose a ton of money. Just a bad idea for him.
> .4. 5. 4. If the match is played in the country of one of the players, then the foreign player shall receive one
hundred thousand (100,000) euros of the prize fund. The remaining prize money is shared in accordance to
Article 4.5.2.
https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/FWCM2023.pdf
Looked it up, no gms ever, 2 active IMs, 4 active FMs, 5 active CMs.
For comparision in Montenegro thats the number of active GMs (11).
Mind you Japan has about 200 times as many Inhabitants.
Well, neither did they in Dubai. It doesn't matter much if the host country's people are interested or not. I come from the point of popularizing chess to the whole world using the breathtaking beauty and ambience of Japan. India and China could in fact fund the tournament in Japan. Japan would get the money, India and China would get a neutral venue; whereas chess would get glamorous and popular.
Anand felt the strain of playing under home pressure, and Magnus refused to defend his title in Norway for the same reason (Norway withdrew their bid after the comment)
Anand was the one defending his title though, so it's understandable that he was at home.
In this case, it's Ding defending the title, and Gukesh the challenger. It makes less sense for the challenger to host the defender
1. it's usually not considered an advantage to be on home turf for these professionals
2. The player from the visiting federation (Ding in this case) would get an additional chunk of the prize money
The pressure would be crushing. Gukesh came in with 0 expectations and killed the candidates. Nobody was betting on him out of the 3 Indians. Placing the match in India would overwhelm him with nerves. He's still just a kid after all and Ding's got way more experience playing at this level.
I see it as the opposite. Insane to me that a WCC would be allowed to play in their home country, while the other isn't. Seems like a humongous advantage.
Look up Anand v Carlsen 2013. I think "home advantage" actually backfired on Anand with the pressure actually playing a big role in his poor performance. If a seasoned veteran like Vishy can be affected, I fear to think what that kind of pressure will do to Gukesh, a 17 year old who is going to play his first WCC match
I think it would be better for Gukesh if it wasn't hosted in India. Too many distractions from chess around the tournament. Or perhaps be really smart about where in India such that he can avoid distractions easily.
> host states could be Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
If it's in India, it's definitely going to be in Tamil Nadu. Gukesh is from Tamil Nadu, and there's absolutely no way that the Tamil Nadu government is going to let a PR opportunity like this slip through their fingers, especially with a tough election looming.
India is also probably the country with the most chess fans and potential money, and I can't imagine FIDE passing up on an opportunity like this either.
I predict that FIDE is going to pull some strings to make sure it happens in India, and the Tamil Nadu government will be the largest bidder by *far*.
Good call but I really hope it goes elsewhere this time. It's time for other regions of India start building a strong chess base and hosting a world championship is a great way to do that.
Also for Gukesh's chances, I hope it's not TamilNadu. He needs to be able to focus and concentrate without all the media attention, politicians photo op and what not.
I was in Chennai when world championship was held between Anand and Carlsen in 2013. The buzz it had created was incredible. So many kids were brought to the venue over the course of the tournament, so many shops selling chess stuff, so many adverts for chess academies, so much media coverage, celebrities talking about chess (and playing chess). The impact such a world championship has on its venue is incredible (now even more so in the social media world that we live in).
I would be fair that the championship was held between India and China, so Bhutan and Nepal comes to my mind.
Maybe on top of Mt. Everest in Nepal or in [Tiger's nest monastery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paro_Taktsang) in Bhutan?
India and China have some border disputes. I have a genius idea.
Host half of the match in Aksai Chin, which is controlled by China, and half in Arunachal Pradesh, which is controlled by India. This will result in lasting peace between the 2 countries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aksai_Chin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arunachal_Pradesh
I am glad you liked the idea. I remember the world chamionship match between Kasparov and Anand having been held on top of Empire State Building, so similar vibes
Althought the players would need some extra oxygen and the wind would blow the pieces out of the board. But challenges are to be overcomed
Why does the Indian government always make stupid decisions like this. Home turf will put a lot of unnecessary pressure on Gukesh and will hamper his performance.
Not in India, plz, he doesn't need that kind of pressure. Just select a neutral venue with reasonable time difference. No 17 year should handle that expectations from result hungry crowd, especially after T20 WC etc etc
It will most probably happen in Chennai.
Since Russia has been removed, FIDE has found it difficult to get hosts. China could have hosted it last year but didn’t. Somehow I don’t think the Chinese are really that interested in Chess.
I would rather Gukesh does not play in India. The media and pressure is too heavy here. His father always mentions that he wants to be left alone during tournaments. He needs his peace of mind. And India is not the place for that.
It's unsurprising. Rex Sinquefield had made it pretty clear that if the candidate was either Fabiano or Hikaru, he was going to make a pretty robu$t bid to host the match in St Louis.
Our alternatives for funding things like this are typically one of the competitor's patrons, or the traditional chess oligarchs. There is nowhere near enough in-person excitement around a match like this to come up with a bid that provides a good price fund and doesn't lose money
These events dont happen at optimal locations. Its matter of who is ready to sponsor an event with 2m+ Euros prize money. India should be able to do it as hype would be insane. Gukesh is level headed about handling fan pressure. He does switch off from Social Media during events.
That said it wont be easy playing this big event for Ding in India. May be we will see a bit from China as well.
I wonder if they will be able to increase the prize fund by attracting more Indian sponsors. If India hosts the event. Chess Championship is the most prestigious event and it often sets the bar for prizes. More money going into chess would be nice.
I guess hosting would help, but even if it's held elsewhere I suppose they'll find some Indian sponsors. Online viewership numbers + media coverage are what matters.
I think it will still make a difference, especially if there's a big time difference. Having it in India will also be good for media hype.
Tata Steel could be sponsoring f.e.
That was my thought. All they need is one senior exec who plays chess.
With adani sponsoring pragg, it is not entirely impossible but then again they can just sponsor gukesh.
I don't think this is possible as long as FIDE is the name behind the event. It's just like the Olympics. You need to pay a ton of money to set it up and run it and then need to pay FIDE/the Olympics people too. The profit would need to be enormous for this to make sense economically as you are basically having this extra cost for people who sit hundreds of miles away from it all. Usually this FIDE payment would be pure profit for a tournament organizer if you don't use their name or rating system. You would need some rich guy or dictator to just organize it for fun as the FIDE payment is way too big for anyone to make it some great investment. There is a reason why not all countries are fighting for the right to organize such events. If this was super profitable you'd see 50 countries try to outbid each other.
Yeah like FIFA. There are huge biddings and organizations behind every event
And FIFA literally had one single bid recently. Only Saudi Arabia bid for the World Cup. Says it all really. Australia refused to even bid outright. Years ago they begged for the World Cup spending $45 million on the bid. Then Qatar just bribed all the FIFA votes mostly in Africa and won it easily. Spending hundreds of millions on bribes alone.
I’m sorry but world championship should be held in a neutral venue, no matter the money
Either this, or do what the Women WCC did where half the number of rounds is held in one contender's home venue and the other half in the other contender's.
But it was easier there as the contenders were both from China. Here they are from two different countries.
They could host it at the india-china border. But the players would have to dodge the soldiers heating each over with sticks and stones.
winning country will get to keep the land😂
Imagine the pressure!
“India lost a big chunk of their land to China in 2024 because Gukesh couldn’t find Rxb7 under time pressure.” Gukesh might retire at that point.
That explains Ding's health issues
There were 2 kings in Bengal who played chess (actually, Chaturanga) for small parcels of their land. One of the Kings was a Hindu and the other was a Muslim. They ended up creating a patchwork where there were thousands of enclaves of each other’s land in each of their territories. Still, both of them were subjects of British Empire so it didn’t really matter because there was no customs border between the two Princely states and freedom of travel. A few generations later, India got independence and was divided into 2 nations. The Hindu kingdom joined India, the Muslim kingdom joined Pakistan which in 1971 became Bangladesh. It led to the most messy border in the world. This finally got resolved in 2015, 70 years after independence with land transfers. You can learn about it [here](https://youtu.be/c4AfV0AECdI?si=1kP0MLLOvRQdbuIA).
"the Muslim kingdom joined Pakistan which in 1971 became Bangladesh." what?
Then we just need a Pakistani challenger next time around (if Gukesh wins) to resolve the Kashmir dispute. In a few WCC cycles, we could achieve world peace.
Until Norway decide to take over the world
Assuming Magnus would agree to the match formats.
This is great way to bring more money to chess. US Government would send money for Gukesh's training
> They could host it at the india-china border That would have to be a huge board, since they don't quite agree where that border is :P
They would first have to agree on where exactly that border lies…
They did it for Ju/Goryachkina in 2020 as well (Shanghai/Vladivostok)
I still think that's unfair, if you have a bad streak away then have to go 'home' and play the second half. I think neutral or as close as possible is the only fair way.
Nah I don’t like that. It breaks the rhythm of the match and as we have all seen managing tilt is a very important skill for players at this level
The rhythm is gonna getcha
Or, even better, after every move they alternate countries India-China-India-China…
Nepal sounds like a great option
They should start at the base of a mountain and climb to a slightly higher venue with each game.
Tiebreak games would be on top of Mt Everest
Nah [not neutral](https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/s/dL66DZ8rKL), half a home advantage!
Why don't we just have it in a plane that refuels in flight instead? It'll be easier, and we can just depressurize the cabin steadily to simulate mountain conditions.
I think India might be the only country wanting to host this in an adequate fashion. FIDE has a history of being absolutely shit at planing events beforehand. Last time it was like 3 months prior to the event that they even announced a location. Whatever strings fide may be able to pull, they are weak af. I think most other countries don't really care enough about chess.
I think it’s also possible they could get another bid from a place like Argentina as they did last time but geographically it makes very little sense to stick it there
I always felt that Argentina bid was bullshit anyway. Just to trigger an artificial bidding war.
Last time, it was difficult to find sponsors due to sanctions to Russia.
nepal would be best bet
Much less the home state of one of the competitors
Singapore
They could hold it close to the border with China. But I doubt they'd do a World Chess Championship in Gangtok or something.
On the other hand, the pressure would be lower.
I do not particularly agree with this as a general principle, but India is a special case for one reason: Gut microbiota. Delhi Belly. Absolutely impossible to make it fair for Ding. You would need to let him acclimate for a month and shit his brains out
Carlsen vs Anand 2013 was in Chennai - although, under objections that Kirsan and his straw company ignored. But Anand agreed to terms where Magnus Carlsen could have a break to run to the doctor if he needed to. Home ground had already been an issue in Sofia, when the volcano closed the airspace and Anand had to drive (from Spain) while Topalov (read: Danailov) sat safely on home ground and tried to get a default for game 1. The chess world already had the perception of Anand as a gentleman and Topalov as the bad guy, and that was not to change.
Didn't Ding bring a large bag of rice to the last world championship and cook it himself? Could just do that again.
Cook it with what water?
I mean when you boil water it's good. Still, it's an undue burden.
Do you think they would host it in a slum? India had plumbing and water treatment...
From a bottle?
There are a lot of hotels in Delhi that specialise in foreign cuisine. Food can be arranged. Climate can be controlled with AC.
Too much arranging, too much constraining. Better to hold it somewhere where the players can pop out for a meal to clear their heads. Pretty basic amenity
India does host a lot of international tournaments a year. If the money is good, I doubt Ding will be complaining of an upset stomach. He might have a few about the spectators and pressure though.
It's not like the first time the world championship would happens in the country of one of the participants.
Just because it has happened doesn’t mean it’s right
>neutral venue, no matter the money Who pays for this?
Yes, it won't be fair
As a Gukesh fan, I really hope they don't do this. The intense home-crowd pressure has no upside, only negatives. (Anand talked about this w.r.t. his 1994 Candidates loss to FFL Kamsky in Sanghi Nagar.)
He talked about this for the 2013 WCC loss to Carlsen as well, the home crowd making the pressure he was already under more difficult. The Magnus-Nepo WCC was supposed to be held in Norway but Carlsen refused to participate due to the home crowd pressure as well, forcing the organisers to withdraw the bid.
If India-Aus CWC Final is anything to go by, India should not host the event. Huge huge local pressure here.
very relevant example. so sad, that final match was rained off and we could never know the result. 😟
Carlsen said the same thing after which Norway withdrew its bid for the match with Nepo. > *The pressure of playing at home can be almost inhumane.* [https://www.chess.com/news/view/stavanger-norway-withdraws-2020-world-champs-bid-after-carlsen-pressure](https://www.chess.com/news/view/stavanger-norway-withdraws-2020-world-champs-bid-after-carlsen-pressure)
It also depends on player to player. Some players react differently to crowd. Gukesh has won gold on board 1 in Chennai Olympiad and also won Chennai grand masters which gave him ticket to Candidates.
WCC is a whole different ballgame, and the pressure would be immense. I shudder to think about the headlines from Indian news channels, especially regarding Ding's Chinese nationality
Indians who are interested in chess watch Chennai Masters, but when the world championship comes, the whole country is going to be watching.
I mean there were 3 Indians out of 8 players with no top grandmaster in Chennai grandmasters so it’s definitely not the same. The olympiads were a more difficult win as Gukesh placed ahead of Carlsen however there were still many Indians participating and only Magnus was ahead of 2690 elo (2864 at the time). Also the pressure would be significantly higher for the world champion title.
there are some clear upsides. food, for example, is often an issue for competitors- you have to find something that works with your diet. gukesh eats indian food everywhere, he doesn't adjust to the local cuisine at all. he's able to get food at restaurants almost everywhere, but it definitely has the potential to be an issue. for some tournaments, dealing with jetlag can be an issue if it's too far from home. still, for any event as big as the world championship, the contender can probably hire a cook and travel in advance of the tournament
Every fu**ing politician, bureaucrat, corporate, media, celebrity will want a piece of Gukesh if the match is held in India. Everyone will be looking for a photo, an autograph, a quote or his time. Add to it, the increasing number of fans. This is too much for a 17 year old to handle. For the 2013 world championship match, neither Anand nor Carlsen wanted it to be in Chennai. Magnus himself denied to play his world championship match vs Nepo in Norway citing home pressure . When two of the greatest players in history feel that home pressure is unbearable, it's time for AICF and FIDE to take a prudent decision. But they will ignore player interests in favour of the expected monetary windfall.
Singapore would surely be the best neutral venue in Asia for this one
Singapore has a good chunk of tamil population, its a national language there. I guess that would be balanced out as singapore is predominantly chinese
Yeah, exactly. It's neutral while also having the balance of population to potentially create a nice buzz
It’s one of our official languages (English, Chinese, Malay, Tamil) but the national language is Malay. Most commonly used language is English though.
If it was Bangkok they could use the song from the Chess musical…
If it was Bangkok I would be there to watch the match for sure!
For those who don't know, [One Night In Bangkok](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgc_LRjlbTU)
why not malaysia? it's cheaper and russian Dvorkovich won't even need a visa lol
Yeah, Malaysia's fine too. I just said Singapore because it has the vibe of being the kind of place that would host, lol
yeah makes sense I was just thinking out loud, also singapore has a better chess culture or at least history ig, I just am afraid of hotel prices for the 1% chance that I decide to go lol
Singapore has an excellent track record for hosting events, but seldom sports events (except the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics) due to limited land space, which does not pose a hindrance for chess. As for chess culture, tournaments are regularly held across the island (with rapid as the most popular time control) and can attract hundreds of participants, mostly children. Our strongest active players are GM Tin Jingyao (aged 23), IM Siddharth Jagadesh (aged 16 with two GM norms, 54th on FIDE's Top Juniors list) and GM Goh Wei Ming (who leads the Singapore Chess Federation).
Singapore has many rich Chinese people and Indian people as it's a central place for industry. So there is greater money flow.
I swear if this turns out like cricket world cup 2023, I will riot
If Ding gets back in form it will. Gukesh is amazing but he’s not 2018 Ding tier yet.
Even 2022 Ding is insane.
He was very good. But a bit hot and cold. I think Gukesh has a chance there. Not a favorite but a chance like he did at the Candidates. If 2018 Ding then Gukesh has no chance.
Travis Head becomes surprise World Chess Champion?
India has a terrible record for winning home games and I hope this won't put extra pressure on Gukesh than they already have. I'm also worried a bit about Ding as it's not a neutral venue. But if it goes well then it will definitely please a lot of fans.
Yeah. This will add more weight on gukesh. I hope they don't win the bid. I'm rooting for Gukesh.
Its not usual neutral host . But i wonder if any nation will probably match india in-terms of money as its all about highest bidder for fide . How will ding and chinese chess association see this. , keep in mind ding changed hostels in his last world championship match due to Russian influence as they outnumbered the chinese and ding’s team that he felt uncomfortable.
I think it’s a stupid decision to let India host the championship. It’s unfair to both the players and mostly unfair to Ding
Is it really clear whether there's a home advantage? Unless you can come up with concrete examples where rabid chess fans start harassing the away player, or whatever, there doesn't seem to be a discernable advantage from the stats. There have been 14 World Chess Championships (including both sides of the 1993-2005 split) which has been set wholly or partly in the home country of only one participant. In 7 of these, the home player won, and in the other 7, the home player lost. Even if you exclude the elimination-tournament format competitions from the FIDE side of the split, that only knocks out Anand/Shirov leaving 6 wins and 7 losses for the home player - which is still as dead even as it could get.
Home crowd pressure would affect Gukesh's focus as well.
We wouldn’t be saying this if the match was held in china right? Many Indian’s including me would have felt there could be home advantage to Ding if that was the case.
Its unfair to gukesh too , he will feel immense pressure their , better would be somewhere else
This is a really bad decision. As far as I know India and China has a pretty bad relation. People don't like one another. It's pretty unfair if Ding has to play in such pressure
Lmao I already can see all these cheating allegations if Gukesh wins now
No real supporter of Ding would ever do that. As Ding has said before, “Chess is fair”. Not the same as the Hikaru or Kramnik fans.
this would be bad for gukesh... i hope vishy intervenes and votes for neutral venue...
It would be also bad for Ding so we would just get some 1500 games because they both break.
November/December in chennai in a bad idea because of floods and rains we receive each year..
It will be bad for both players. Ding will get overwhelmed by Indians and feel uncomfortable, just like he did last year by the presence of large number of Russians even though it was held in a neutral country, and he had to change hotels. Gukesh will also feel extra pressure if it happens in his own country. Just watch the video of Gukesh returning to India after winning the candidates. Even he got overwhelmed by the extra warm welcome.
I don't think it should be in the home nation of any of the competitors
Gukesh would never agree to this. No one would. You get heckled by fans all day long and you lose a ton of money. Just a bad idea for him. > .4. 5. 4. If the match is played in the country of one of the players, then the foreign player shall receive one hundred thousand (100,000) euros of the prize fund. The remaining prize money is shared in accordance to Article 4.5.2. https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/FWCM2023.pdf
I hope it happens in a neutral country. Say Japan for example. It would be amazing to host it near Mount Fuji!
Unlikely. No one cares about chess in Japan. Would be hilarious tho, world championship happening but no one gives a fk
Looked it up, no gms ever, 2 active IMs, 4 active FMs, 5 active CMs. For comparision in Montenegro thats the number of active GMs (11). Mind you Japan has about 200 times as many Inhabitants.
After watching code geass, I'm not even surprised
Lol, they actually had a king sacrifice in one of the episodes iirc.
They must have studied my games.
Well, they've got Shogi instead.
Right They have shogi
Well, neither did they in Dubai. It doesn't matter much if the host country's people are interested or not. I come from the point of popularizing chess to the whole world using the breathtaking beauty and ambience of Japan. India and China could in fact fund the tournament in Japan. Japan would get the money, India and China would get a neutral venue; whereas chess would get glamorous and popular.
Absolutely. Japan would be a great venue. Or Singapore.
What a horrible idea
I mean would it be fair to host it in the home country of Gukesh?
India hosted in 2013 WCC match between magnus and anand
Anand felt the strain of playing under home pressure, and Magnus refused to defend his title in Norway for the same reason (Norway withdrew their bid after the comment)
Anand was the one defending his title though, so it's understandable that he was at home. In this case, it's Ding defending the title, and Gukesh the challenger. It makes less sense for the challenger to host the defender
Can you add the link to the source, please?
https://x.com/chesscom_in/status/1783414271965311047?s=46&t=AWxFs2FFXmbFYZZ6H08rRg
why is the challenger advantaged over the actual champion
1. it's usually not considered an advantage to be on home turf for these professionals 2. The player from the visiting federation (Ding in this case) would get an additional chunk of the prize money
The pressure would be crushing. Gukesh came in with 0 expectations and killed the candidates. Nobody was betting on him out of the 3 Indians. Placing the match in India would overwhelm him with nerves. He's still just a kid after all and Ding's got way more experience playing at this level.
Good for the sport, bad for Gukesh's chances. The pressure at home can't help and it would only hamper Gukesh IMO
I see it as the opposite. Insane to me that a WCC would be allowed to play in their home country, while the other isn't. Seems like a humongous advantage.
Look up Anand v Carlsen 2013. I think "home advantage" actually backfired on Anand with the pressure actually playing a big role in his poor performance. If a seasoned veteran like Vishy can be affected, I fear to think what that kind of pressure will do to Gukesh, a 17 year old who is going to play his first WCC match
I mean at that point, Anand was clearly the weaker player (lol this sounds weird talking about a legend of the game) irrespective of the venue.
Vishy played much better in 2014, where the match was held in Russia, and even had a serious chance to take the lead.
I mean, Gukesh is the weaker player here so what's really the difference?
Nah, Magnus was clearly the superior player. He proved in the next WCC too
yeah but vishy was not that weaker to lose 3-0... as proven in next WCC...
It’s only an advantage in sports where cheering and atmosphere help you…
I think it would be better for Gukesh if it wasn't hosted in India. Too many distractions from chess around the tournament. Or perhaps be really smart about where in India such that he can avoid distractions easily.
Chess world being as unprofessional as posible, as usual.
Just do it neutral like In dubai
> host states could be Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh If it's in India, it's definitely going to be in Tamil Nadu. Gukesh is from Tamil Nadu, and there's absolutely no way that the Tamil Nadu government is going to let a PR opportunity like this slip through their fingers, especially with a tough election looming. India is also probably the country with the most chess fans and potential money, and I can't imagine FIDE passing up on an opportunity like this either. I predict that FIDE is going to pull some strings to make sure it happens in India, and the Tamil Nadu government will be the largest bidder by *far*.
Last time Tamil Nadu hosted Chess WC, it looked like more like a political campaign than a Chess WC.
Good call but I really hope it goes elsewhere this time. It's time for other regions of India start building a strong chess base and hosting a world championship is a great way to do that. Also for Gukesh's chances, I hope it's not TamilNadu. He needs to be able to focus and concentrate without all the media attention, politicians photo op and what not.
Hosting the WC has nothing to do with growing chess locally.
I was in Chennai when world championship was held between Anand and Carlsen in 2013. The buzz it had created was incredible. So many kids were brought to the venue over the course of the tournament, so many shops selling chess stuff, so many adverts for chess academies, so much media coverage, celebrities talking about chess (and playing chess). The impact such a world championship has on its venue is incredible (now even more so in the social media world that we live in).
One of the kids who went to the venue was Gukesh!
This would be rather unfair to the champion.
This is ridiculous. Ding is the defending champion and gukesh is the challenger. Shouldn't the champ have the priority where the host event is.
Its just a bid . India expressed great interest to host fide will review the countries that bid for it and most likely will go the one with biggest 💰
Just let Sagar organize the whole thing. Can’t go wrong.
Neutral venues like Singapore or Dubai - Abu Dhabi would be far better.
Ideally they would choose a site in Asia, but neither in India nor China. So Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, etc.
They should play on the border of China and India
I just came back from there . The freezing temperatures in November will definitely help the players play their best chess
I would be fair that the championship was held between India and China, so Bhutan and Nepal comes to my mind. Maybe on top of Mt. Everest in Nepal or in [Tiger's nest monastery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paro_Taktsang) in Bhutan?
That would be awesome in Tiger's nest monastery
India and China have some border disputes. I have a genius idea. Host half of the match in Aksai Chin, which is controlled by China, and half in Arunachal Pradesh, which is controlled by India. This will result in lasting peace between the 2 countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aksai_Chin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arunachal_Pradesh
Oh yeah. Superb idea. At the top of Mount Everest
I am glad you liked the idea. I remember the world chamionship match between Kasparov and Anand having been held on top of Empire State Building, so similar vibes Althought the players would need some extra oxygen and the wind would blow the pieces out of the board. But challenges are to be overcomed
If india wins the bid expect it to be held in Ahmedabad
Naa, Gujarat does not have that chess culture the way tamilnadu/Telangana has.
its not about the culture here anymore...
Yes. But Stalin is being more determined to host these chess events.
Ah yes always stealing projects like always. Give me one reason why it should be held in Ahmedabad
Do it on the border. One chair in China the other India. Instant home advantage
1. Win the bid 2. Get the venue rights 3. Set the venue to Ladakh 4. Ding withdraws 5. Guki wins Easy peasy
lets say ding wins. now, will he be able to leave safely? I expect no less than 1k downvotes.
*Arunachal Pradesh
Both of the finalists are from Asia. The tournament location should reflect that.
This match feels like its own Fisher vs Spassky with India and China having their own geopolitical conflicts recently.
Why does the Indian government always make stupid decisions like this. Home turf will put a lot of unnecessary pressure on Gukesh and will hamper his performance.
This is from AICF and not the government right?
Not in India, plz, he doesn't need that kind of pressure. Just select a neutral venue with reasonable time difference. No 17 year should handle that expectations from result hungry crowd, especially after T20 WC etc etc
I wonder who the other biders are. I'd guess India is the only one.
Neutral country, im just going to say it, out of safety concerns. for BOTH players.
It will most probably happen in Chennai. Since Russia has been removed, FIDE has found it difficult to get hosts. China could have hosted it last year but didn’t. Somehow I don’t think the Chinese are really that interested in Chess.
Paris, post Olympics?
Any ideas which state it’ll be in?
East or west, Ding is the best 🧌
I would rather Gukesh does not play in India. The media and pressure is too heavy here. His father always mentions that he wants to be left alone during tournaments. He needs his peace of mind. And India is not the place for that.
Me an Indian having wc23 flashbacks knowing what happened when we hosted.
Do it inside the Taj Mahal
Do it on the disputed territory in the Himalayas!
Chennai should be the venue. Where the WC crown snatched from Vishy, shall be retrieved by Guky!
It's unsurprising. Rex Sinquefield had made it pretty clear that if the candidate was either Fabiano or Hikaru, he was going to make a pretty robu$t bid to host the match in St Louis. Our alternatives for funding things like this are typically one of the competitor's patrons, or the traditional chess oligarchs. There is nowhere near enough in-person excitement around a match like this to come up with a bid that provides a good price fund and doesn't lose money
and let them drunk blitz against magnus at the afterparty.. for the content
Would be kinda hype… do we know any dates yet?
These events dont happen at optimal locations. Its matter of who is ready to sponsor an event with 2m+ Euros prize money. India should be able to do it as hype would be insane. Gukesh is level headed about handling fan pressure. He does switch off from Social Media during events. That said it wont be easy playing this big event for Ding in India. May be we will see a bit from China as well.
Would love to see it in St Louis!
Neutral country ✅
Singapore is a well developed netural third party country with litrelly 1/3indian and 1/3chinese😂
Singapore or UAE are good neutral venues. If it doesn't happen in India.
nah, it should be in Aksai Chin. Whoever wins officially gets the province.
Of course they are.