1 week Ago
Amid heavy criticism from former World Champions over the quality of the D Guksh vs Ding Liren World Championship final in Singapore, International Chess Federation (FIDE) president Arkady Dvorkovich on Friday said mistakes in sports are part and parcel of the game and fingers should not be pointed at players of this calibre for an error in a high-pressure situation. In the dying stages of the last game (14th), defending champion Ding committed a blunder that allowed the 18-year-old Indian challenger to turn the tables in the final, which seemed like it was heading towards an inevitable tiebreak. Ding's mistake was slammed by former champion Vladimir Kramnik, who termed it "childish".
The Russian Chess Federation chief went to the extent of calling Ding's mistake "deliberate" and demanded an investigation . The FIDE president, however, downplayed the criticism surrounding the quality of the final, which Gukesh won, making him the youngest-ever world champion in the history of chess. "Sports is about mistakes, without mistakes, there would be no goals in football.
Every sportsman makes mistakes but that's what we are excited about, whether the opponent can find the way to use a mistake," Dvorkovich said during the closing ceremony of the championship. He congratulated Gukesh and Liren for their performance in the showpiece. Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik was not impressed with the quality of chess on display during the match, calling it the "end of chess as we know it.
" In his reaction, Kramnik wrote on 'X', "No comment. Sad. End of chess as we know it.
Never yet has a WC title been decided by such a childish one-move blunder." Carlsen raises questions over final, Anand counters Five-time world champion, Norway's Magnus Carlsen too has been critical of the quality on display in earlier rounds, saying, "This does not look like a game between two World Championship contenders. It just looks like maybe the second round or third round of an open tournament.
" However, legendary chess player and five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand advised Gukesh to ignore those questioning the standard of the World Championship title showdown, saying criticism always comes with success. "I feel very happy. I was literally watching history being made yesterday," Anand told PTI Videos.
"It (criticism) comes with every match. To be honest, I think it just comes with the territory. You ignore it and that's all.
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