By our Special Correspondent
Monday’s game 1 win over Gukesh, Ding’s last win in the classical format had come in January at the Tata Steel Masters tournament. He had gone winless in 28 games. In the 304 days since he beat Dutch GM Max Warmerdam in Wijk aan Zee on January 27 and his win over Gukesh in game 1 at Singapore, the world had written Ding off. His body language was dissected. Players who had played against him spoke of how physiologically shaky he seemed on the board. He himself spoke candidly of his fear of “losing too badly” to his teenage challenger.
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