Dommaraju Gukesh takes on Ding Liren in World Chess ...

Dommaraju Gukesh, left, of India plays Ding Liren of China during Game 1 of the FIDE World Chess Championship. Photo: THEN CHIH WEY / Xinhua via AFP

The FIDE World Chess Championship kicked off in Singapore last night - with the incumbent champion taking an early lead.

The head to head battle doesn't feature world number one Magnus Carlsen - the man widely regarded as the greatest player of all time - with the Norwegian electing to no longer play in the tournament.

Dommaraju Gukesh, an 18-year-old Grandmaster from India, is facing the reigning world champ, 32-year-old Ding Liren from China.

The pair are playing a gruelling 14 games in a classical time control - games which can last several hours - with shorter rapid and blitz games as tie breaks.

During the opening press conference, the young Indian chess prodigy praised his competitor.

"It's pretty clear who I am going to face. I'm going to face Ding Liren, who is one of the best players in the world for more than a decade."

Gukesh, despite being the challenger, is seen by many as the favourite for this match up.

Until last night, Grandmaster Ding Liren hadn't won in classical chess for more than 300 days, citing a crisis of confidence.

"My fighting spirit is not so high.

"I've made many short draws. I also drew in some much better positions. I don't know exactly the reason behind it, but it's far from my peak performance."

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Meanwhile, India is quickly becoming the country to beat in chess.

Since Vishy Anand became the country's first Grandmaster in the late Eighties, India has produced another 84 GMs - three of whom are currently in the world's top 10.

India also took home double gold at the recent chess Olympiad, winning both the open and women's team events.

While India's Gukesh is a rising star, China's Ding has years of competitive play on his side.

The reigning champion has re-employed fellow Grandmaster Richard Rapport as his training partner for the championship.

Ding admits his preparation started a little late, telling journalists at the pre-match press conference, "I started preparing for this tournament three weeks ago, I guess."

Ding has had a bumpy road to this World Championship, dropping from third to 23rd in the world rankings.

Just a few months ago, the chess world was shocked when he blundered check mate in just two moves against Magnus Carlsen and finished that tournament in last place.

Fans are eager to see whether the influence of Rapport will lead to more unconventional opening ideas, like the ones seen in the last World Championship.

A notable moment of last year's tournament was a deviation on move four of the second game. Ding looked like he was playing into the Catalan opening but chose to play h3 over the natural g3 on the fourth move.

Commentators Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky and Grandmaster Anish Giri were shocked by the move. "No Nimzo for us today, it's got to be a Catalan. Woah, what? The g pawn is the one, it's the other pawn, it's not that one. He played h3, this is crazy!"

In the first round on Monday, Guskesh played white, opening with e4, and Ding responded e6 the French defence. This response to e4 is not typically played by highly rated Grandmasters, but this is the second world championship that Ding has played the opening.

Ding clutched the win in the first game, but with 13 games to go and potential tie breaks to play, the winner won't be decided until mid-December.

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