Ding Liren won the 2023 World Chess Championship by defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi, after reigning champion Magnus Carlsen declined to defend his title.

Gukesh won the eight-player Candidates Tournament held in April 2024 to win the right to challenge Ding for the World Championship.

[4][5] Ding withdrew from tournaments including the 2023 Asian Games and did not enter the first four events of the 2024 Grand Chess Tour.

His poor results led several chess grandmasters to express concern about Ding's overall ability to defend his world championship title, notably Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura.

[12] Reflecting on his poor form in an interview during the 45th Chess Olympiad, Ding admitted that Gukesh is "playing extremely well in this tournament.

[16][17] Fabiano Caruana won the 2023 FIDE Circuit, but had already qualified for the Candidates through the Chess World Cup 2023.

Hence, Gukesh qualified for the Candidates via the FIDE Circuit, after overtaking Anish Giri with a win at the Chennai Grand Masters tournament.

[37] The first move of each classical game was ceremonially performed by guests invited by the organizers: The regulations and format of the world championship are slightly different from the 2023 edition.

[55] A poll of various grandmasters before the match began found Gukesh a substantial favorite, mainly because of Ding's poor form over the past couple of months.

[57] In an October 2024 interview, Gukesh commented that he generally did not "believe in predictions and who are the favorites", and stated that he tried to "be at [his] best every day and play a good game".

[61] Ding Liren was working with Richárd Rapport,[62] who was also his main second in the 2023 championship,[63] and Ni Hua.

Ding surprised observers by playing the French Defense, which has traditionally been considered a "solid" opening, but some lines are quite combative.

[clarification needed] Ding had previously played it in game 7 of the World Chess Championship 2023 against Ian Nepomniachtchi.

[38][68] This also marked the first time in 14 years that a win was registered in Game 1, after Veselin Topalov defeated Viswanathan Anand with the white pieces during the World Chess Championship 2010.

[70] At the post-game press conference, Ding was elated with his performance, stating, "Well, of course I feel very good—I haven't won a single classical game for a long time and I managed to do that!"

After Ding opted for the traditional Giuoco Pianissimo, commentator David Howell expressed surprise at the choice of 1.e4, noting that "He rarely employs the king's pawn openings until the last few months, when he has been experimenting a bit with it – he doesn't seem like a natural e4 player to me, but here we are!

Gukesh responded by playing g5 himself, and both players believed the position to be good for White, but computer analysis suggests otherwise.

Ding played an unconventional system beginning with 1.Nf3, resembling a Queen's Indian Defense with colors reversed, which surprised Gukesh but was not particularly aggressive.

took Ding by surprise since the knight can be easily kicked out with f4, but Gukesh believed that, "[f4] looked like a move which would turn out to be risky in the long run".

Pieces were traded and the two ended up in a queen-and-rook endgame where White has a four-on-three majority on the kingside, and Black has a passed pawn on the c-file.

Ding played the London System, an opening he won with in the sixth game of his previous match against Ian Nepomniachtchi.

Gukesh commented, "I never really felt in danger because I thought once I take on c4... maybe I'm slightly worse, but it should be really hard to convert it with White because you can't really push the queenside pawns that easily and you always have some play on his king."

Ding responded well to Gukesh's draw rejection, and Peter Leko believed his decision might have been "a huge mistake" and called the move "psychological games".

Ding chose a line similar to the Retreat Variation of the Bogo-Indian Defense with 3...Bb4+ and 4...Be7, also employing the Closed Catalan structure with 7...c6 and 8...Nbd7.

Gukesh confused his preparation to fall into a poor position, but Ding underestimated his chances and failed to capitalize.

(which Magnus Carlsen called a move he would only consider if he were very inspired or in very bad shape)[90] he offered the d4-pawn, but Ding believed his opponent and played 17...Qe8?

!, a move GM Magnus Carlsen criticized as "ambition without ammunition"[94] since although it avoided a draw, it led to a position in which only Ding could be better.

For his part, Carlsen acknowledged that Gukesh has time and room to improve, and might even be the one to knock him off the top spot.

[94] Gukesh's win turned him into an instant celebrity in his home country of India, with a massive crowd greeting him on his return.

[96] For Ding, the match exceeded expectations because he played strong chess following a period of poor form.