When Ding Liren competes for the world championship chess crown in Singapore over the next three weeks, the likable Chinese player will not — as most of his predecessors had — be sitting at the board as the top player. Instead, he is the underdog.

“I was a bit anxious and tended to think too much," Ding told the Chinese news agency Xinhua, describing his somewhat puzzling recent crisis of form. After winning the World Championship title in a close and nerve-wracking match at the start of 2023, not much has gone right for Ding.

“I still believe that I can turn things around, maybe even in the World Championship itself," Ding said. But a look at the world rankings is sobering: The world champion is currently 23rd.

Dommaraju Gukesh: Self-confident artist

His opponent is quite different. Dommaraju Gukesh may only be 18, but he has won almost everything there is to win this year: first place in the World Championship Candidates Tournament in spring, then victory with the Indian national team at the Chess Olympiad. He is now ranked fifth in the world.

Gukesh is seemingly unstoppable. If the self-confident chess artist is victorious in the three-week duel over 14 games stretching until mid-December, he would be the youngest world chess champion of all time. But there is still a long way to go.

“Ding already knows the situation; Gukesh doesn't yet. That can be a problem for Gukesh," Jan Gustafsson, the German national chess coach, told DW. Despite all the difficulties, Ding also has great mental strength under pressure.

Chess enthusiasm in India

In India, the title match has been a hot topic among sports fans for weeks. The recent successes of Gukesh and his equally young colleagues Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi have triggered a great deal of chess enthusiasm on the subcontinent. The top Indian grandmasters are now almost as popular as the country's cricket stars.

Now chess fans are hoping that Gukesh will follow in the footsteps of Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand, a five-time world champion who laid the foundations for the chess boom in his country.

Even if the media coverage has increased compared to two years ago, people are taking a much more sober view of the duel in China. 

"When Ding Liren won the men's world chess championship, public interest in chess tournaments increased even further," chess official Xie Jun told DW. The four-time world champion comes from China, a country that has dominated the women's title in recent years.

A fringe sport in China

In China, chess is also a matter for the state. Over the past 30 years, a comprehensive chess promotion system for chess players, especially for women, has emerged. Part of this is the 'men helping women' training model, in which the best male players support their female teammates.

Despite all the successes and the return of Chinese men to the world's top players, chess remains a marginal sport in the country. One reason for this is that chess is not the only intellectual sport that is popular.

"Xiangqi [Chinese chess] and Go have a much broader base among the population," explains Xie Jun, who is also vice president of the World Chess Federation FIDE.

Whoever wins the world championship in Singapore, Xie Jun believes one thing is already clear: "The center of chess is increasingly shifting towards Asia."

It is not only in China and India that the traditional board game is booming. In Uzbekistan, Iran and Kazakhstan, too, more and more people are playing chess — and playing it very well.

This development is also attracting sponsors. In the past, World Chess Championships were mainly financed by companies with close ties to Russia. With Internet giant Google now one of the sponsors of the $2.5 million (€2.4 million) final, the pieces are in place for a new era.

This article was adapted from German