The World Championship showed us that Ding had found a way back closer to his previous level. I think that chess players should celebrate that possibility.
The final blunder seems obvious in retrospect but from what I have heard was not immediately obvious to the GM commentators.
It's sad that you make accusations without any more evidence than that.
I don't think there is any point in an investigation .
You heard it here first!
The president of the Russian Chess Federation is now calling for an investigation. This is being reported heavily in India.
https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/chess/andrei-filatov-accuses-ding-liren-gukesh-world-championship-9721733/
The World Championship showed us that Ding had found a way back closer to his previous level. I think that chess players should celebrate that possibility.
The final blunder seems obvious in retrospect but from what I have heard was not immediately obvious to the GM commentators.
It's sad that you make accusations without any more evidence than that.
I don't think there is any point in an investigation .
Not obvious immediately among the GM commentators? Yes, it was immediately obvious, at least among all the GMs I saw. There is a reactions video online and almost every commentator saw that offering a rook trade was a blunder.
There's a video showing Magnus, Hikaru, the announcers, etc. seeing the move. They ALL reacted with genuine shock when they saw Ding's championship-losing blunder. Hikaru in particular was losing his mind. He was SPEECHLESS 💀
Its amazing the conspiracy theories that pop up on just about anything of note. Here are a couple of comments I saw concerning this accusation of Ding purposefully losing.
"It is really sad that the biggest names in Chess have more respect for a man who said "Meh, I'm too bored now, I will not defend my title", than it does for a man who went through immense mental and emotional struggles and still showed up and elevated his game to try to defend his title, or for the kid who earned his way to the table and showed immense composure at just 18 years of age."
"If you guys dont remember it was a Russian Player too , who accused Gukesh of cheating when He won Candidates .. so it was Obvious there would be someone who try to create some controversy around it , to feed their ego and ashamed soul and besides it doesn't matter now !! Nepo Lost 2 times on same stage , was He lost on purpose ?"
The World Championship showed us that Ding had found a way back closer to his previous level. I think that chess players should celebrate that possibility.
The final blunder seems obvious in retrospect but from what I have heard was not immediately obvious to the GM commentators.
It's sad that you make accusations without any more evidence than that.
I don't think there is any point in an investigation .
Not obvious immediately among the GM commentators? Yes, it was immediately obvious, at least among all the GMs I saw. There is a reactions video online and almost every commentator saw that offering a rook trade was a blunder.
The key word is reactions. The video is focusing on the reactions of 2600+ rated players assessing the evaluation of a 3400 rated chess engine, rather than the potential plans that those same players presented before the blunder was played.
If you spent any time watching the live streams you would have noticed that Chess24 and TakeTakeTake suggested the faulty defensive plan of Rf2 and hiding the king in the corner. GM Mathew Sadler was analyzing the position in a stream and was already calling the game a draw and talking about tiebreaks (His viewers had to tell him to turn on the engine to see that the move was a loss). I can't judge for certain that Chessbase India would have clocked that Rf2 was a blunder without the evaluation bar (There was a couple second gap between when the move was made and the reaction to the move.
I don't have access to the live stream of Hikaru's coverage but considering how he does his recaps and his skills in general, I'm assuming that he noticed why the blunder cost Ding the game without the evaluation bar.
David Howell on the FIDE Coverage was one of the few players that I know of who didn't suggest the losing move 55.Rf2 and suggested a safer alternative in 55.Bg2.
Using game 14 as evidence that Ding intentionally threw the World Championship is ridiculous. Gukesh's victory is well deserved and Ding deserves nothing but respect for taking the match to 14 games.
That makes sense! No GM would make a blunder like OFFERING a rook trade in that position! Magnus and the other GMs were speechless when Ding blundered.
Ding had made his point that he is equal or better than gukesh, retaining the world championship was no longer his ultimate desire.
That makes sense! No GM would make a blunder like OFFERING a rook trade in that position!
GMs are fully capable of blundering, even in a world championship game.
Remember when Nepo trapped his own bishop for no reason at all, in his game against Magnus?
Competing on the biggest stage must surely be a lot of psychological pressure. Plus, it's easy to miss something simple, when you're busy calculating other lines.
Its amazing the conspiracy theories that pop up on just about anything of note. Here are a couple of comments I saw concerning this accusation of Ding purposefully losing.
"It is really sad that the biggest names in Chess have more respect for a man who said "Meh, I'm too bored now, I will not defend my title", than it does for a man who went through immense mental and emotional struggles and still showed up and elevated his game to try to defend his title, or for the kid who earned his way to the table and showed immense composure at just 18 years of age."
"If you guys dont remember it was a Russian Player too , who accused Gukesh of cheating when He won Candidates .. so it was Obvious there would be someone who try to create some controversy around it , to feed their ego and ashamed soul and besides it doesn't matter now !! Nepo Lost 2 times on same stage , was He lost on purpose ?"
Just today I watched a short clip where Kasparov argued exactly against this point. The match may have been the FIDE World Chess Championship, but there is no question that the #1 player in the world is Magnus Carlsen. It's a similar situation that Anatoly Karpov faced in 1975; no one seriously believed that Karpov was better than Fischer, at least not yet. Fischer was the #1 player in the world, even though Karpov was world champion. Is it fair? It is neither fair nor unfair - it's just the way it is. Ding Liren vs Gukesh is not a match against the #1 player vs a challenger, or even the #2 or #3. And that' partly what makes the whole thing meaningless.
Its amazing the conspiracy theories that pop up on just about anything of note. Here are a couple of comments I saw concerning this accusation of Ding purposefully losing.
"It is really sad that the biggest names in Chess have more respect for a man who said "Meh, I'm too bored now, I will not defend my title", than it does for a man who went through immense mental and emotional struggles and still showed up and elevated his game to try to defend his title, or for the kid who earned his way to the table and showed immense composure at just 18 years of age."
"If you guys dont remember it was a Russian Player too , who accused Gukesh of cheating when He won Candidates .. so it was Obvious there would be someone who try to create some controversy around it , to feed their ego and ashamed soul and besides it doesn't matter now !! Nepo Lost 2 times on same stage , was He lost on purpose ?"
Just today I watched a short clip where Kasparov argued exactly against this point. The match may have been the FIDE World Chess Championship, but there is no question that the #1 player in the world is Magnus Carlsen. It's a similar situation that Anatoly Karpov faced in 1975; no one seriously believed that Karpov was better than Fischer, at least not yet. Fischer was the #1 player in the world, even though Karpov was world champion. Is it fair? It is neither fair nor unfair - it's just the way it is. Ding Liren vs Gukesh is not a match against the #1 player vs a challenger, or even the #2 or #3. And that' partly what makes the whole thing meaningless.
Gukesh himself said Magnus was still the strongest player in the world. Don't blame Gukesh or Ding for following the rules laid out for the title. In his prime Ding was over 2800 and no doubt he would have beaten Gukesh if not for the problems he has suffered the last couple of years. At Ding's peak Carlsen would have had his hands full since he only managed to defeat Ding one time in 10 classical chess games with the other nine being draws.
This was a crazy tournament but the last game is seriously suspicious.
I'll get to that in a moment, but consider this: in several of the games, and in fact in the tournament overall until the last game, Ding Liren was outplaying Gukesh. I would say that Gukesh only really beat Ding Liren in one game. The other decisive games were decided either by Ding Liren committing some blunder in time trouble, or by Ding Liren simply outplaying Gukesh.
But the last game is really what makes me think that there is a fly in the ointment. Ding Liren should have easily drawn the last game. Any 1500 rated player in that position knows that you don't trade rooks, and if you do, you make sure not to trade the bishops. Why Ding Liren OFFERED a rook trade while his bishop in the corner is inconceivable.
Unless someone paid off Ding Liren. And why not? It isn't as though he's raking in the cash like other World Champions. He isn't making anywhere near what Magnus Carlsen makes, not even as much as Kasparov made.
Now, for the record, I am not saying this is the case. But I would strongly suggest that FIDE investigate. Not that they will. But I will say that Gukesh is not as good as Ding Liren, and not as good as Magnus Carlsen.