Picture Credit: X
India has submitted two bids to host the World Chess Championship 2024 match between the champion Ding Liren from China and the challenger Dommaraju Gukesh from the South Asian country, provisionally scheduled to happen between November 20 to December 15, 2024. The third bid to host the coveted title match of the FIDE World Championship Cycle came from Singapore.
According to the Business Standard, the All India Chess Federation (AICF) has reportedly backed the bid from Delhi, and at the same time, they accused the Tamil Nadu government of acting unilaterally by bidding for Chennai to host the World Chess Championship 2024 match. Emil Sutovsky, CEO of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), confirmed the bids from Delhi, Chennai, and Singapore on his X account before laying out the steps on what will happen next.
He wrote on X, “Three bids to host the FIDE World Championship Match-2024. Chennai, Singapore, New Delhi (in order of submission). All meet the criteria. Next week FIDE Council to discuss it - representatives of the bidders invited to share details and take questions. Final decision in June.”
Notably, Dommaraju Gukesh became the youngest challenger for the World Chess Championship title in history after winning the Candidates Chess tournament earlier this year. The 17-year-old, who is mentored by the five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, became the youngest Candidates Chess champion last month, improving on the record set by Garry Kasparov nearly 40 years ago.
India hosted the World Chess Championship match last time in Chennai in 2013, where Magnus Carlsen defeated Vishwanathan Anand to become the new champion for the first time in his illustrious career.
