We are hours away from the start of the 13th installment of Gukesh and Ding Liren clashing for the crown of World Chess Champion.
After 12 matches, both players have won two matches each, with the remaining eight matches ending in draws. This leaves the fate of the 2024 World Chess Championship in the hands of the remaining two games.
But what if two classical games cannot decide the world champion?
If both players are tied after 14 games, the fate of the world champion for at least a year will be decided in quick time control games.
FIDE and the organizers for the 2024 World Chess Championship have put in place a format for tiebreaks (games that are played under rapid time control).
What is the tiebreak system in the World Chess Championship?
In the first round of tiebreaks, Gukesh and Ding Liren will face each other in a four-game playoff. In this playoff, each player has only 15 minutes left on the clock and will receive an increment of 10 seconds for each move.
To compare this to the current time control that Gukesh and Ding are playing, both players have 120 minutes to make the first 40 moves. Once they make their 40th move, they get 30 extra minutes for the rest of the game and 30 extra seconds for each move from move number 41 on. So far, it has at least one game spanning more than five hours.
But if this round of tiebreaks played in four games does not produce a winner, the time controls become faster and faster in the World Chess Championship.
Both players will be required to play a two-game playoff and both players will initially have only 10 minutes left on the clock. Gukesh and Ding will get a five second boost for each move.
If it still doesn’t throw the champion, the rules will make the matches even faster. There will be a two-game playoff with a three-minute time limit per player (with two-second increments per move).
If the World Chess Championship is decided by tiebreak, how much money will the players earn?
Each player receives $200,000 for each game won at the World Chess Championship. The remaining amount of the prize fund will be divided equally among the players. This means both players have earned around Rs 3.4 crore for their two wins.
But if the winner of the World Chess Championship is decided on a tiebreak, the prize money will be divided as follows: the winner will get $13,00,000 (about Rs. 11 crore), the runner-up will get $12,00,000 (about Rs. 10). crore).