Bengaluru: Ding Liren has a World Championship match to play in two months. He has dropped out of the top 20 in the world in the live ratings and hasn’t had a classical win in months. His challenger to the world title, Gukesh has just had a rampaging, 9/10, individual and team gold run, and moved up to be ranked No 5 in the world. The 18-year-old Indian on the cusp of 2800, is already being seen as an overwhelming favourite against the reigning world champion. There’s one guy though, who was there to throw an arm around Ding after every round during last year’s World Championship and he is counting on a fightback.

“For most of us, (to become a world champion) is just a dream,” Richard Rapport, who worked with Ding as his second during his 2023 match against Ian Nepomniachtchi, told HT in an interview. “People can, you know, attack Ding and say whatever they want. He was the world No 2 for a really long time. I think how he will play the match is going to be very different from how he plays these tournaments. He knows he has a chance to defend his world title. I don’t think the match will be as one-sided as maybe people back in India would like it to be.”

During last year’s match, Ding was emotional, and offered revealing answers about the state of his mind during post-game press conferences. He was never ahead on scores until the end of the final game, which won him the title.

“I’ve met champions but I don’t think from these current times, many could have pulled off what Ding did last time. It definitely shows character. That’s why I think even though he has not been in great form for a very long time, while Gukesh has been in great shape, the match will have surprises in store for us.”

As second, the Hungarian GM calls his experience ‘weirdly draining’ but one that he found himself missing later.

“You are invested and you really care and it’s weirdly draining, demanding, and stressful, but when it was over, I have been kind of missing it. So, for me it’s a very strange emotion when I think about the match.” Beyond his creative opening ideas, Rapport also offered Ding emotional support in what appeared to be a challenging match for him, as he struggled to keep himself together. “Our collaboration may have ended but we are still on friendly terms.

“The one memory that’s always going to stay with me is the lead up to the win. The drum roll… you know that he’s going to win the game, because Ian played on for kind of forever,” Rapport laughs. “Ding was kind of under pressure in that game, and then he played actually reasonably well and he consolidated that and we were all like, ‘oh, shit, this is going to blitz’. And then he played Rg6. Overall, it was not the most insane risk of all time, but he just had it in him to play on, after suffering so much with Black in the match.” This time, he says, he’s “very doubtful” to be in Singapore for the match.

One of the two draws Gukesh played in 10 games at the Olympiad, came against Rapport. “Gukesh played very well at the last Olympiad as well and was also amazing at the Candidates…Both Gukesh and Arjun are capable of scoring many wins…maybe not against the very elite guys because they are usually much more solid....It’s useful for team events, especially because, in these events, you only need one win. So, if you have two guys who are doing it, it will work out well for the team. Against the USA, when Pragg lost, these two guys won two important games. That was a crucial match for India. It’s pretty remarkable, honestly and very impressive.”

Rapport will be part of the Global Chess League that starts next week, with world No 1 and five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen as his teammate in the Alpine SG Pipers side. “It’s obviously special because, I feel like Magnus generally must win everything. He has more or less done that. Maybe not for the national team, but the rest. Also, this is something he hasn’t won yet. So, I’m looking forward to seeing him try extra hard and also try to keep up my level.”

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