At the five-star Equarius Hotel, not far from the S.E.A. Aquarium at Resorts World Sentosa, a “fish tank” is being carefully prepared.
The special creation, however, will not host any sea specimens over the next three weeks. Instead, from Nov 25, it will enclose the stage for the World Chess Championship title clash between China’s reigning champion Ding Liren and India’s young contender Gukesh Dommaraju.
“The players will be playing in an isolated room, with serene conditions to prevent external interference,” said Singapore Chess Federation CEO Kevin Goh. “Spectators can view the players in action only through the ‘fish tank’, which will work like a one-way mirror.
“At any one time, only 300 spectators are allowed inside the playing hall to watch the contest through the ‘fish tank’.
The World Chess Championship begins with an opening ceremony at the Capitol Theatre on Nov 23. Thereafter, the action will switch to Sentosa, with Gukesh and Ding starting their first match on Nov 25 at 5pm.
They will play 14 matches in total till Dec 15, with the first player to win 71/2 games taking the title. If the score is equal after 14 games, the winner is decided by a tie-break. There are rest days after Games 3, 6, 9 and 12.
“Undoubtedly, this is a unique event that will create intrigue and suspense in this country and overseas,” said Goh. “Hosting this tournament will further cement Singapore’s reputation as the region’s capital for sporting events.”
Already, the Ding and Gukesh clash is being viewed through a geopolitical lens, symbolising not just Asia’s ascendance on the global chess stage long dominated by Europe and America, but also taking place at a time of growing rivalry between China and India.
Singapore is in the spotlight as the platform where geopolitics will be in play, in a way not dissimilar to the attention focused on the Donald Trump-Kim Jong Un summit in 2018 and the Ma Ying-jeou-Xi Jinping meeting in 2015.
The atmosphere will also be similar to what happened at Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1972, when the World Championship match between American genius Bobby Fischer and the Soviet Union’s Boris Spassky was widely viewed as being a challenge by the West against Soviet hegemony.
“Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind”, Fischer said at the time.
For sure, millions of people in India and China will be rooting for their respective compatriot when the action unflods on Sentosa, with leaders Narendra Modi and Xi expected to watch the outcome closely.
China has been producing top players since 1976, while for a long while, India, where chess is said to have originated around the 6th century AD, has had only five-time world champion Vishwanathan Anand to speak of.
Over the past five years, though, it has been a virtual chess revolution in India, with a host of youngsters now figuring in the world top 20.
At just 18, Gukesh, born in Chennai to a Telugu family originally hailing from Andhra Pradesh, is the youngest ever world title challenger in history. Should he emerge victorious, he will break Russian Garry Kasparov’s record for the youngest world chess champion at age 22, which has stood for 28 years.
Gukesh’s rapid rise has been nothing short of spectatcular even for a sport where child prodigies are the norm. With a mature and patient but aggressive playing style, his string of recent successes, including a record-breaking performance while leading India to a historic gold medal at the World Chess Olympiads in September, has meant that he is the strong favourite for the title.
On the other hand, Ding, 32, has been in poor form over the past year, and has publicly spoken about his struggles with depression.
At his peak, however, he has played brilliant chess, and he came back from behind three times in the World Chess Championship 2023 match to defeat his Russian opponent Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Indian media believes his “depression” is a tactical ploy. Ding cannot be entirely written off, especially given his greater experience and resilience in high-stakes matches.
