The 2024 Chess Olympiad is gearing up for an intense showdown as World Chess Champion Ding Liren from China expressed his anticipation for a "special" battle against India. With both nations fielding exceptionally strong teams, the Olympiad promises a thrilling contest between two of the world's top chess powerhouses.Speaking ahead of the tournament, Ding Liren admitted that facing India in the Olympiad is always special. "It's possible something special will happen. Two very strong teams, it will be a good fight," he said in a chat on the FIDE YouTube channel.Liren also acknowledged the threat of Team India's formidable talent, D Gukesh."I can see my opponent (Gukesh) playing extremely well in this tournament. Maybe he is a favourite in the World Championship Match. He also has a higher rating than me," Liren observed."I have dropped a lot since last year, but I will fight my best to try to overcome the rating difference," he concluded.
Gukesh has mostly been coy about his plans for the world championship. When asked about it, he simply said, "this is an important tournament. I am looking forward to playing some good chess. My focus right now is the Olympiad."Meanwhile, led by D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi, the Indian men scored a 3-1 victory over Azerbaijan in the fifth round of the 45th Chess Olympiad.After scoring the fifth victory on the trot, the Indian men maintained a clean slate on ten points and they were joined by Vietnam who continued with their impressive show and downed Poland 2.5-1.5.The other two teams that joined the leaders’ pack were China and Hungary who scored identical 2.5-1.5 victories over Spain and Ukraine respectively.Ding Liren about the World Championship Match: "I can see my opponent (Gukesh) playing extremely well in this tournament. Maybe he is a favourite in the World Championship Match. He also has a higher rating than me. I have dropped a lot since last year, but I will fight my best… pic.twitter.com/5diZZywkN5
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 15, 2024
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