Although world champion Ding Liren is already preparing for the world championship match against Gukesh, he does not yet know exactly where the match will be played in Singapore. So far, only the city has been confirmed. He has not yet signed the contract for the match, the Chinese player explained in an interview with ChessBase India boss Sagar Shah.

A large part of the defending champion's World Championship preparation will be of a practical nature. To get himself in shape, Ding Liren will play the Chess Olympiad and the Sinquefield Cup in the coming days after the Rapid and Blitz Team World Championships. “I don't want to miss the most important tournaments.”

The world champion also described the preparation with his second (whose identity Ding did not reveal) as a rather practical one. The World Championship assistant must be a very strong grandmaster, because the two play training games. This should lead to ideas that Ding Liren wants to explore further and apply in the World Championship match against Gukesh, much like he did two years ago against Ian Nepomniachtchi.

In the match against the Russian, which became the wildest World Championship match in recent history, Ding Liren relied on confronting his opponent at the board with a wide range of openings and structures rather than on concrete, in-depth theoretical preparation. In the course of the match, a leak occurred and some of the preparation games played online became public, but this proved to be a setback to be overcome in match practice.

Ding takes a similar view of the approach of his World Championship opponent Gukesh. The Indian trusts that he understands the positions he controls very well. He says that “taking his opponent by surprise in the opening” is not part of the concept of the youngest ever World Championship challenger.

Ding Liren had not expected Gukesh to win the Candidates Tournament. “The three players of the older generation had a better chance of winning, but Gukesh proved that he can be the one with the most staying power,” Ding explained. This victory by a 17-year-old shows the change in chess and marks the beginning of a new era - which Ding, as a representative of the “older” generation, would like to postpone for another two years in December.

He certainly sees opportunities for this. Ding is less satisfied with his results against his peers than with those against the juniors climbing up the world rankings. He last beat Gukesh twice, in Wijk an Zee in 2023 and 2024.

Ding Liren will be part of a strong Chinese team at the Rapid and Blitz Team World Championships in Kazakhstan. He arrived two days early from his Chinese homeland to avoid jet lag. Ding is looking forward to “being able to play in a relaxed manner” because it is not a central sporting competition. In the two-day blitz competition, Ding will reactivate his blitz Elo, which has been on ice. The last time Ding played rated blitz games was in 2019 before the pandemic.

With regard to the upcoming Chess Olympiad, Ding believes in the strength of the Chinese team, which he puts on a par with India and the USA. Ding sees team spirit as the most important factor, more important than the team's average score. This spirit carried the Chinese to the gold medal in 2018.

Ding likes to think back to that phase of his gala form with 100 games without defeat. Ding defended the Chinese first board in 2018 with a 2873 performance despite a double handicap. A broken hip meant he could only walk on crutches and in pain. To avoid going to the toilet during the games, Ding Liren played the Chess Olympiad without drinking - and remained undefeated.

With crutches and a special chair, without a drink: if you've ever wondered how tough Ding Liren is, you've probably missed the 2018 Chess Olympiad.

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