The World Chess Championship in Singapore?!

 The idea of it, let alone its successful completion, was in totality a most far-fetched dream materialised.

When I first read about Singapore's bid for the FIDE World Chess Championship, my senses tingled, akin to a discovery of a new planet. One had the right to be a skeptic as the idea of running a World Class chess event in Singapore was unthinkable owing to the high costs of staging it, coupled with a total lack of interest on chess by the local sports authorities and powers that be. Since the bid was announced in many international media channels, a quiet sense of optimism crept in. Weighing the odds of the 3 bids (2 from India), I was confident that if the funding could be secured in Singapore, we would host it. The good news to all chess fans in Singapore came on Monday 1 July as FIDE announces that Singapore would host this iconic event at the Equarius Hotel in RWS Sentosa.

As the day approached, I stepped into the hotel and was ushered in silence to the playing hall which Game 5 was featured.  Ding drew first blood with Black on Game 1, Gukesh struck back at Game 3 so the score was tied at  2-2 this point. There was total silence in the playing hall as the 2 players sat and waited for the ceremonial first move to be played by the guest of honour, Mr K Shammugam. 

The audience would be requested to leave the hall 30 minutes from play to deposit their phones and re-enter. These were part of the Fair Play measures to ensure no transmission of moves. 

There was a screen displaying the moves played (the internet station was manned by GM Alex Colovic)

Game 5 was a dry draw. I revisited the WCC on Game 14 (the last game)

  The position progressively turned into a dry late middlegame with pieces traded, though Ding had to part with a pawn to reach the R and B endgame which seemed tenable. Disaster struck on move 55 where a hasty Rf2 to exchange Rooks lead to a lost K and P ending, deemed impossible for a player of Ding's calibre. Hence the Russian Federation took to launching a protest claiming the game was rigged. 

  I believe that under long periods of pressure to defend, it is possible that one desires to relieve that pressure at the first opportunity. Therefore Ding's error was understandable. In the press conference, he admitted that he survived Game 13 and that took a lot out of him. Though he is relatively young at 32, his general health (esp mental) was not strong enough to withstand the tolls of defence and he only saw his error after Gukesh could not conceal his good fortune. A new World Champion was crowned, with the orchid laurel instead of the one usually made of fig leaves. 

Now that the event is ended, most of us walk away as it fades into memory. As an organiser myself, it is timely to THANK all the people who made this happened. Firstly the 2 that took the leap of faith by creating the bid. Jimmy Tan and Kelvin Goh. Not only did they follow through every detail from the conception of the bid to the opening ceremony, being at the event every single day to ensure nothing was amissed. Next the whole SCF adminstration for support and concurrently running 2 tournaments back to back during the WCC! Ms Thanda and IA Tan Thiam Wah, it must have been a traumatic 3 weeks but I'm sure it was worth every moment. Then the volunteers who manned the Fan Zone which is incessently buzzing with Chess personalities, streamers and GMs giving simuls and lots of fans playing blitz. Not forgetting Peck Seah who was coordinating the bus schedules amidst other duties and clearly working overtime. These, my dear readers, are the unsung heroes that made the event apart from those who presented and participated in it. My sincere thanks and congratulations to you  all. You have made Singapore proud.