D Gukesh Vs Ding Liren, FIDE World Chess Championship 2024: Format, Rules, Matchdays

Though he is all of 18, Gukesh is being considered by many experts as the favourite for the title, including Liren himself. The Chinese GM said in an interview that he sees himself as the underdog in the title match, revealing his worries that he might lose “very badly” to his young challenger.

“Clearly, I’ll be the underdog approaching this match, Gukesh is in top form, I hope I can become a totally different player and at least give him a fight to slow down his pace to have some winning chances,” Ding said.

If Gukesh does indeed win, he would be the youngest-ever world champion in chess history at 18. The Chennai lad has already scripted history by becoming the youngest winner of the prestigious Candidates tournament at the age of 17, by way of which he has qualified for the championship match.

Before the much-awaited match begins in Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa, let us look at its format, rules and matchdays.

World Chess Championship 2024: Format

The match will be played over a period of three weeks, comprising 14 classical games and four rest days. The first player to get to 7.5 points will be crowned the champion of the 2024 edition. If the players are tied on points after the 14 games, tiebreaks will be played on December 14 to decide the winner.

World Chess Championship 2024: Rules

Each of the 14 classical games will follow the time control of 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment starting from move 41.

As for the tie-breaks, the rules have been changed as against the previous World Championship match in 2023. After consultations with both players, the international chess federation (FIDE) has announced that the format for tiebreaks has changed to introduce a gradual decrease in time controls. The rules can be understood better through FIDE's graphic below.

World Chess Championship 2024: Matchdays

Below are the 14 matchdays and four rest days of the high-takes clash:

Game 1: November 25

Game 2: November 26

Game 3: November 27

Rest Day 1: November 28

Game 4: November 29

Game 5: November 30

Game 6: December 1

Rest Day 2: December 2

Game 7: December 3

Game 8: December 4

Game 9: December 5

Rest Day 3: December 6

Game 10: December 7

Game 11: December 8

Game 12: December 9

Rest Day 4: December 10

Game 13: December 11

Game 14: December 12

Tie-breaks (if needed): December 13

All the games will commence at 2:30pm IST (5pm local time).