In a large room separated from spectators by a one-way glass panel, two chess combatants Wednesday faced each other in a silent battle of cunning, calculation and patience.
World chess champion Ding Liren, 32, from China, is defending his crown against 18-year-old Indian prodigy Gukesh Dommaraju, who is seeking to make history by becoming the youngest ever undisputed titleholder in the sport.
Excitement has gripped chess enthusiasts since the World Chess Championship duel opened in Singapore on November 25.
Hundreds of fans — local and from abroad — have flocked to a posh Singaporean hotel to watch the matches with players relying more on a mastery of strategy than brute force.
Vivaswan Damle, 29, an investment advisor from Pune in India, took time off from work to fly to Singapore to watch the tournament.
“I was expecting Gukesh to dominate but Ding has been quite strong,” he told AFP, but he still expects his compatriot to win.
The score is tied at 6.5 apiece after the 13th game ended in a draw in five hours, late Wednesday.
The rivals will go for the win in the final 14th classical game on Thursday, with Ding pushing the white pieces.
Another draw, however, will extend the match into a series of faster-paced games on Friday to break the tie.
“It’s kind of fitting that the match has gone so close because we both have showed a lot of fighting spirit,” Gukesh said after Wednesday’s game.
‘Inspire the kids’
Singapore, one of Asia’s richest countries, outbid the Indian cities of Chennai and New Delhi for the right to host this year’s tournament, offering itself as a more neutral venue.
Singaporean Preeti Aggarwal, 42, brought her eight-year-old son Aadi Singal to the venue on Wednesday with the boy’s own chessboard.
At the fan zone, Aadi laid out his chessboard, waited for a friend to arrive and they began playing.
“He likes to play chess, so I want to encourage him. And this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for kids in Singapore to see the world champion competing,” she told AFP.
“I’m sure this is going to inspire the kids a lot.”
Other fans just lazed on beanbags and watched the match live on television screens, with commentary on the intricacies of the moves.
Interactive screens where fans can read information about their chess idols are mounted around the room.
Nearby is a bigger and special room for VIPs and paying fans where they can watch the players through a one-way glass panel.
While no roaring crowds of thousands are present, the struggle inside the carpeted arena is intense. It is a battle of the mind where every move is a strike and every counter is a parry.
The tournament has exceeded expectations, said Singaporean financial consultant and chess enthusiast Lee Peng Keong, 43.
“Chess is already doing well in Singapore. But with this World Chess Championship, it’s just going to create another level of boom,” he said.
He is rooting for Ding, a native of China’s so-called “chess capital” of Wenzhou.
“It’s really very exciting. There were so many draws and then all of a sudden there were two decisive games,” Lee told AFP.
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