Did Ding Liren lose deliberately? Russian body chief raises doubts

While the chess world has been toasting the world title of D. Gukesh, there was a bitter after taste with a strong allegation from Andrei Filatov, president of the Russian Chess Federation and an honorary member of FIDE that Chinese Ding Liren had deliberately lost the championship.

The remarks, reported by Russian state news agency TASS, have stirred a debate while former world champion and Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik also expressed his doubts. ‘’The result of the last game caused bewilderment among professionals and chess fans. The actions of the Chinese chess player in the decisive segment are extremely suspicious and require a separate investigation by FIDE,’’ Filatov was quoted as saying.

‘’Losing the position in which Ding Liren was is difficult even for a first-class player. The defeat of the Chinese chess player in today’s game raises a lot of questions and looks like a deliberate one,’’ he added.

The controversy centres around Ding’s critical blunder in the final moments of the game, where his move Rook to f2 handed Gukesh a decisive advantage. Despite earlier evaluations indicating a drawish position, the error allowed Gukesh to press forward in a king-and-pawn endgame to secure victory. Kramnik, the Russian and a contemporary of Vishy Anand who had worked with budding Indian chess talents a few years back, made a cryptic post on his X handle: ‘’No comment. End of chess as we know it.’’

Meanwhile, world No.1 Magnus Carlsen has lauded Gukesh for making the most of his chances to be crowned the youngest-ever world chess champion but has ruled out the possibility of a title showdown with him as desired by the Indian teen.

In the post-event press conference, Gukesh stated that he would love to fight it out against Carlsen at some point. The Norwegian maverick decided not to defend his title in 2023 after winning the world championship in 2013.

‘’Winning World Chess Championship does not mean I am the best player, obviously that is Magnus Carlsen. I want to reach the level Magnus has achieved,’’ Gukesh said. ‘’Obviously playing against Magnus in the world championship would be amazing, it would be the toughest challenge there is in chess. It is up to Magnus, but I would love to test myself against the best player in the world.’’

Carlsen, a five-time world champion who is now averse to playing classical chess on a regular basis, was not game though. ‘’I am not part of this circus anymore,’’ said Carlsen in a general reference to world title clashes.