Ding’s early win

It may sound strange to say that Ding’s win in the first game of his world championship match came as a shock, but it did. His recent form had been shaky and his challenger Gukesh, heavily favoured by pundits, had the advantage of the white pieces. There was every reason to expect Ding to stick to classic match strategy which dictates a ‘safety first’ approach when playing black.

Gukesh opened with 1 e4, whereupon Ding usually prefers 1…e5 and plays in a solid, classical style. Instead, his choice of 1…e6 (the French defence) was, I imagine, perceived by Gukesh as a small provocation. It is likely that Ding’s second, the imaginative Hungarian grandmaster Richard Rapport and a renowned expert on the French, influenced his decision.

As a junior player, I watched the older children at Richmond Junior Chess Club play the French, and quickly adopted it myself. Looking back, it was an excellent opening for a developing player, since the basic strategic tension (space advantage vs counterattack) is easy to grasp, and the fundamentals of positional play, such as pawn breaks and outposts and bad bishops, all have a starring role.