Google is celebrating the World Chess Championship final between China’s Ding Liren (the reigning champion) and India’s D Gukesh with an animated doodle. Two chess pieces are swapped in the doodle, which has the colours yellow, red, blue and white. The alphabet G in Google is crowned the king while others have been given the shapes of different pieces of the game. This year’s tournament marks the first time in 138 years that two Asian players are pitted against each other in the marquee clash, that is offering a prize of $2.5 million.
On clicking the doodle, users land on a page titled ‘Celebrating Chess’. It describes chess as “a two-player strategy game played on 64 black and white squares”.
“The game has been played since the sixth century in India, and the rules of the game began taking their modern shape in the 15th century. The first international competition was held in 1851,” the descriptor further reads.
The chess championship will take place from November 25 to December 13 at Singapore’s Equarius Hotel in Resorts World Sentosa.
“This November and December, top chess players globally will go head to head in Singapore in 14 classical games – each potentially lasting over four hours. The first player to win 7.5 points will become the world champion. In the event of a tie, look out for the upcoming rapid games, followed by blitz games, where each player only gets 3 minutes to checkmate the other,” the Google doodle page reads.
In the coveted tournament, Grandmaster D Gukesh is aiming to become the first Indian after Viswanathan Anand to win the title.
The majority of the chess world is rooting for the 18-year-old in-form Indian, who already displays the poise of a champion. What remains to be seen is how he handles the pressure of the big occasion during the fortnight-long showpiece.
