Each win to fetch Rs 1.67 crore! Here's the prize money distribution for Gukesh vs Liren World Chess Championship Match

Ding Liren (L) with the world championship title' D Gukesh (L-R).

Credit: Reuters, PTI Photos

FIDE, the international chess authority, has decided to tweak the prize money distribution of the upcoming World Chess Championship final between India's D Gukesh and China's Ding Liren. Changes have also been made to the match format.

What was the earlier rule of prize money distribution?

Instead of the earlier 60:40 distribution between the winner and loser respectively, FIDE has decided to incentivise clear wins this time.

'Each player will receive $200,000 (Rs 1.67 crore) for each game they win,' FIDE stated on its official website, adding that the remaining prize money will be split between the players.

In last year's chess world championship final between Ding and Ian Nepomniachtchi, among the 14 games that were played, 11 ended in draws.

What if the match still goes to a tie-breaker?

If the match is still decided through a tie-breaker, the winner will end up getting $1.3 million while the loser will get the remaining $1.2 million.

FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky told Hindustan Times, “If someone wins (or loses) with a serious gap, it should be rewarded proportionally. We had the same principle introduced first in the Candidates.”

What is the new format of the match?

The 2024 World Chess Championship will be played in a revamped format. In the last final, Ding managed to beat Nepomniachtchi in tiebreaks after scores were tied following their 14 classical games.

In the tiebreaker, four rapid games, each of 25 minutes, had to be played with a 10-second increment per move. If scores were level even after that, a blitz playoff of two games (each of five minutes) along with a three-second increment per move were in order.

However, the match did not go to the blitz round as Ding pocketed the match in the last game of the rapid round.

This time around, there will be a gradual decrease of time controls in the tiebreaker games. If there is no result after the 14 classical games, four rapid games of 15 minutes (along with an increment of 10 seconds increase per move) will be played. This will be followed by two rapid games again, this time of 10 minutes with 5-second increments per move.

If the scores are still tied after these six games, there will be a two-game blitz playoff of three minutes with a 2-second increment per

If this also ends in a draw, another 3-minute game will be played with a 2-second increment per move.

This format will be replayed until a decision is reached.