New Ding-Gukesh World Championship Rules Encourage Faster, More Decisive Games
The upcoming 2024 FIDE World Championship between defending champion GM Ding Liren and the youngest challenger in history, GM Gukesh Dommaraju, will have a few differences from previous editions. FIDE has announced the official regulations, including changes aimed to encourage more decisive games in faster time controls.
Notably, the $2.5 million prize fund will be awarded in a way that incentivizes playing for wins: Each player will receive $200,000 for every game they win, and the rest will be split equally. If the match goes to tiebreaks, the winner will receive $1.3 million while the runner-up will receive $1.2 million (this split will also apply if the match ends 7.5-6.5 or 8-6 with 13-14 decisive games).
In past championships, there was no bonus for the number of wins. The match winner would receive 60% of the prize fund while the runner-up would receive 40%, unless the contest was decided by tiebreaks, when the split was 55:45.
Additionally, time controls will be faster. In the classical match games, players will have two hours for 40 moves and then 30 minutes for the rest of the game with a 30-second increment starting from move 41. Previously, players would receive an additional 60 minutes at move 40 and 15 minutes at move 60, with an increment from move 61.
The tiebreak system has also been adapted to favor shorter games with consideration for the players' preferences. In the announcement, FIDE explained:
After consultations with both players, the format for tiebreaks has changed to introduce a gradual decrease in time controls.
The playoff will start with 15-minute rapid games with a 10-second increment (instead of the previous 25-minute with 10-second increment). If needed, tiebreaks will progress to shorter rapid games and then to blitz.
The schedule for the championship also has a faster format. There will be three games followed by a rest day, with only four rest days in total. In 2023 for Ding vs. GM Ian Nepomniachtchi there were seven rest days, with no more than two games played before a rest day. It's closer to the schedule in 2021, when there were five rest days in GM Magnus Carlsen vs. Nepomniachtchi.
The full regulations for the 2024 FIDE World Championship are available here.
The 2024 FIDE World Chess Championship is the most important FIDE event of the year and determines who will be the World Champion. The reigning champion, GM Ding Liren, will face GM Gukesh Dommaraju in Singapore from November 25-December 13, 2024.
Previous coverage:
Vanessa West is a National Master, a chess teacher, and a writer for Chess.com. In 2017, they won the Chess Journalist of the Year award.
You can follow them on X: Vanessa__West
