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Chess: Gukesh and Sindarov play for the world title in Geneva
From 22 November to 12 December, world champion Gukesh defends his title in Geneva against Javokhir Sindarov, who is rated above him.
SportChess
The World Chess Championship opens in Geneva on 22 November. India's Gukesh Dommaraju, champion since beating Ding Liren in 2024, defends his title against Uzbekistan's Javokhir Sindarov, winner of this year's Candidates Tournament. Both players are 20: it is the youngest title match in history.
The format is the classic one: 14 games at most, the first to 7.5 points wins, with rapid tiebreaks on 12 December if the scores are level. Unusually, the challenger is rated well above the champion: Sindarov is world number 4, Gukesh only number 26.
On paper, then, Sindarov starts as favourite. But a world championship match is like no tournament: three weeks against the same opponent, where opening preparation and nerves count as much as rating. And Gukesh has already been through that pressure.
My view
I can't wait to see the first games, or rather to read the summaries and analysis: that is often where you can tell which side has the better preparation.
Sources
Written with the help of AI from the sources cited, reviewed and approved by Nathan Lefeuvre.
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