Ding will face a stern challenge from the 18-year-old Gukesh, who "doesn't make any mistakes at all" and has had a terrific run in 2024.
The para-athletes outnumbered the able-bodied ones in the list this time due to the magnificent Paris Paralympics performance in which they returned with 29 medals, including seven gold and nine silver.
The British GM pulled off a scintillating victory over Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan to tie the World chess final 2.5-2.5.
GM Michael Adams made it to the finals of the World Chess Championship with a 2.5-1.5 win over GM Teimour Radjabov.
After beating Tatiana Kosintseva in the first game the Indian ace lost to the Russian in the second in the World women's chass championship.
Gukesh aims to keep improving after becoming India No 1 without sponsorship support
The 17-year-old Gukesh is in joint lead with Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi.
World Champion D Gukesh has taken the joint lead at the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament after defeating his fellow Indian, P Harikrishna.
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand continued to struggle against nemesis Magnus Carlsen of Norway and lost after a blunder in the fourth round of Grenke Chess Classic now underway in Baden-Baden, Germany.
Anand went down to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France in what was his second straight loss following a defeat against Alexander Grischuk in the previous round.
10-year-old Praggnanandha is the world's youngest chess International Master. His sister Vaishali is a Woman's International Master.
The All India Chess Federation (AICF) on Saturday said it will be bidding to host the 44th Chess Olympiad later this year after the prestigious event was moved out of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
Dommaraju Gukesh, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Rameshbabu Vaishali and men's team captain Srinath Narayanan landed Chennai on Tuesday morning.
The event is held over 11 rounds in both open and women's categories with likely participation of over 2,000 players.
Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi crashed through the defences of world number three Hikaru Nakamura of United States, while R Praggnanandhaa went down to compatriot D Gukesh in the second round of Candidates chess tournament in Toronto.
Former women's World champion Susan Polgar feels that the rising strength of Indian players makes them favourites to grab three out of the six medals at stake.
Indian Grandmasters Vidit Gujarathi and Sahaj Grover maintained a clean slate, defeating Tomas Laurusas of Lithuania and Vyacheslav Lozhnikov of Kazakhstan respectively in the second round of the World Junior Chess Championship in Kocaeli, Turkey.
'The win will change a lot of things in Praggu... the confidence in his potential will be one of them. The win has ensured a lot of visibility which will give him a lot of opportunities.'
World Championship challenger D Gukesh on Sunday said he didn't think about his personal achievements and was prepared to do "whatever it takes" to secure India's maiden gold medal at the Chess Olympiad following near-misses in previous editions.
The Indian eves came up with a spectacular performance to crush Armenia 3.5-0.5 in the fourth round and take the sole second spot in the World Team Chess Championship Mardin, Turkey.
Zimbabwe will be the second time that the leg-spinner will represent India at the international level. Few are aware that the then junior national chess champion represented India at the World Youth Chess Championship in Greece in 2002.
Viswanathan Anand had to be content with second place in the World Blitz Chess Championship after scoring 28 points, three behind the winner, Magnus Carlsen, of Norway.
Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk of Russia won the event.
Russian race walker Lashmanova banned, to be stripped of 2012 London Olympics gold
Chess great Magnus Carlsen is launching a world Freestyle Chess tour as the variant of the game, also known as Chess960, is gaining in popularity, the world number one announced on Friday.
India's chances of a medal went up in smoke as the team crashed to a heavy loss against Georgia in the seventh round of the World Women's Team Chess Championship in Chengdu, China.
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand played out a draw with table-topper Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the third round to open his account in the Sinquefield Cup -- a part of the Grand Chess tour.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand squandered away a good start and could just end Day 1 on a fifty percent score after the end of the fifth round of World rapid chess championship in Berlin.
Six players -- Dubov, Nakamura, Aronian, Carlsen, Radjabov and So -- share the lead with 4.5 points after eight rounds.
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand continued with his winning ways and scored a second victory against Luke McShane of England to secure a commanding lead in the preliminary round of the London Chess Classic at the Olympia in London.
Praveen Kumar expressed his sentiments without naming anyone, saying he would have been happier if other Paris Paralympics medallists had also been honored.
The 44th edition of the prestigious event will witness a record 188 teams in the Open section and 162 in the women's side.
The Delhi lad drew with Jekhongir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan in the 11th and final round to emerge triumphant in the World Youth Chess Championships.
"The crucial moment was the win against Magnus Carlsen, because he had come back after a defeat against Bu Xiangzhi. He seemed to be in great form, as always.
Sahaj Grover, Y Sandeep, V A V Rajesh and N Srinath topped their respective groups in the fourth round
World No. 10 Indian, playing with black pieces, had to be at her defensive best to avoid conceding the game.
Gukesh had an exciting match against Nepomniachtchi out of a Catalan opening game on Tuesday.
'In the second half I had chances in many games. Today was a bad game, I won't draw too much out of it.'
Gukesh's journey wasn't easy as his family dug into their savings and also turned to crowd-funding to fuel his dream.
