World Chess Championship 2024 day 1 – dominance shaken

Dramatic start of the World Chess Championship 2024, as Ding Liren stuns Gukesh with the black pieces in game 1. In just a few hours Ding Liren left all experts, pundits, and statisticians jaw-dropped by playing solid, yet aggressive chess, while keeping his composure and taking the chances. The expectations that Gukesh was loaded were best summed up in a meme by Agadmator.

But that was not the only shakeup of the day. Chessbase India’s coverage crushed in numbers the market leader Chess.com – all language version of Chess.com’s coverage combined had less viewership than the single stream of Chessbase India! And this is despite Google doodle powering extra numbers. The desire of the chess audience for something different than Chess.com’s regular streams was obvious already during the Olympiad, but now it is more real than ever, with Chessbase India leading the show and alternative services like Carlsen’s Take Take Take appearing on the market.