Defending champion Ding Liren of China on Monday ended a long winless run to beat teenage challenger Gukesh Dommaraju of India in the opening game of their International Chess Federation World Chess Championship match.
Ding, 32, had not won a classical chess match since January and he appeared to be on the defensive early on against his opponent, who played with the white pieces, and took up a great deal of his time allotment to contemplate each move.
However, he turned things around with a bold attack by his queen, and put 18-year-old Gukesh on the back foot and also left him facing time pressure.
Photo: AFP
Ding managed to press home his advantage in masterful fashion and although Gukesh was able to extend the contest, he eventually conceded the game after 42 moves in more than four hours of play.
“For sure I was nervous... It would be surprising if I said I wasn’t nervous, I was surely nervous,” Gukesh told reporters after the match. “But after the game started, I calmed down... I think I was playing some good chess ... and then I kind of flipped.”
Ding, who took a nine-month break from chess last year due to personal difficulties and depression, said he had ample time to prepare for the match since his last classical game two months ago.
The result ended a run of 28 classical games without a win for Ding, who had been winless since beating Dutchman Max Warmerdam in January.
As of press time last night, Ding and Gukesh were playing Game Two.
Luka Doncic on Monday scored 36 points as the in-form Los Angeles Lakers powered to their sixth straight victory with a 100-92 defeat of the Houston Rockets. A crucial showdown between the third and fourth-ranked NBA Western Conference teams ended with the Lakers pulling away in the final minute of the fourth quarter to claim an impressive win on the road. The victory gives the Lakers (43-25) a valuable cushion over the Rockets (41-26) as they jostle for post-season positions in the West. Doncic was once again instrumental in dragging the Lakers over the line while a hard-nosed defensive effort
‘THAT’S US’: Before each WBC game, Venezuelan players gather around a drum in the dugout for the tambor, coastal Afro-Venezuelan music and dance Venezuelan players on Monday night danced in the dugout before the first pitch, then pranced past Italy and into their nation’s first World Baseball Classic (WBC) final. Ronald Acuna Jr, Maikel Garcia and Luis Arraez hit run-scoring, two-out singles in a rapid seventh-inning rally that sparked a 4-2 victory and vaulted Venezuela into a title matchup against the US. Players celebrated in the clubhouse before quickly turning focus to the final. “A lot of dancing,” Garcia said. “We have to show the world who Venezuela is.” Before each WBC game, Venezuelan players gather around a drum in the dugout for
Japan’s national baseball team manager Hirokazu Ibata has said he would step down following Japan’s 8-5 loss to Venezuela in Miami in the quarter-finals of the World Baseball Classic. The newspaper Sports Hochi reported Ibata saying it was his “intention to resign.” Japan are the defending champions and had won the event three times. It marked Japan’s first failure to reach the WBC semi-finals despite a team stacked with MLB talent including Shohei Ohtani. “The result is everything,” Sports Hochi reported Ibata as saying. “Although we lost this time, I hope Japan will grow stronger and win next time.” Japan
Retired NBA big man LaMarcus Aldridge, a seven-time All-Star, is to visit Taiwan early next month for the first time to promote an NBA event, the league’s Taiwan Web site said on Monday. During his visit, Aldridge would meet fans on April 4 and 5 at Banciao Stadium in New Taipei City during the Rising Stars Invitational Taiwan Regional Qualifiers, NBA Taiwan wrote on Facebook. Tickets became available on FamiTicket on Monday at noon and can be reserved until 11:59pm on March 31, with a maximum purchase of two tickets per person, it said. The tickets are divided into three
RSS