It might not be close

On Monday, Ding Liren, the reigning world champion, began a match in Singapore to defend the title against the 18-year-old player Gukesh Dommaraju. According to many of the world’s best players, and Ding himself, he is the underdog in the match. Never has a chess world championship titleholder seemed as vulnerable. But now Ding is up on the scoreboard after a remarkable win on opening day. This is what the New York Times published before the start of the match.