File image of Ding Liren speaking after his victory in the FIDE World Chess Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan in April 2023. (AP Photo/Stanislav Filippov)
World champion Ding Liren has admitted in a searingly honest interview that he is ‘worried about losing very badly’ to India’s Gukesh in the World Chess Championship battle.
Ding Liren has had a wretched run of results ever since he became the 17th world champion in the history of the sport last year by prevailing over Ian Nepomniachtchi.
“I will be the underdog approaching this match (against Gukesh). I hope I could become a totally different player (by the world championship),” Ding Liren admitted in an interview with the chess app Take Take Take after the final round of the Chess Olympiad in September this year.
While Ding Liren said that he was not worried about facing the in-form Gukesh by pointing out that he was yet to lose to Gukesh in a classical match (barring at the Freestyle Chess event where starting positions were not the same as in conventional chess games), the Chinese GM did add: “I’m worried about losing very badly. Hopefully, it won’t happen… Gukesh is in top form recently. He’s the best player in the Olympiad. I hope I can become a totally different player (by the world championship). At least to fight, to slow down his pace, to have some winning chances.”
The World Chess Championship will start later this month at Singapore. Many grandmasters have picked Gukesh to become the 18th world champion based on the form of both players.
When asked what had been holding him back, a very candid Ding Liren said: “I’m feeling not so bad, but also not so good. I have tried to find my best shape, but actually I didn’t manage to do that. My game has many mistakes in every part of the game. Sometimes I managed to create many chances. I got winning positions, but I couldn’t convert them. It’s the same problem, time from time… Maybe I’m not so eager to play. I don’t have this ambition to win the game. Every time I came to the playing hall, maybe I was not in a very good mood. And after the game, especially if I drew the game, I realized I missed a huge chance. I’m not so happy with the results. This goes in a circle from time to time.”
In sharp contrast to Gukesh’s form coming into the world championship, Ding is in the middle of what he called his longest ‘un-winning streak’, where he had not won a game in the classical format since the Tata Steel event in Wijk aan Zee at the start of 2024. But he said he now needed to show that he deserved the support he was getting from fans.
“Although I played so badly (in recent tournaments) there are still so many players who support me. Maybe I need to show that I deserve this kind of support. If I continue to play so badly or without a fighting spirit, I may not deserve it,” Ding Liren said frankly. “I hope you will see the same me as the last World Championship match.”
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