In less than three weeks, Ding Liren will defend his world championship crown against India’s D Gukesh. The 18-year-old from Chennai is bidding to become the youngest-ever world champion in history at Singapore in a battle that starts this month. In sharp contrast to Gukesh’s form going into the world chess championship battle, Ding Liren has been in a wretched rut ever since he became the world champion in 2023. Grandmasters who have played him have even speculated that he does not seem to enjoying the feeling of playing chess at all. Ding Liren’s predecessor on the throne, Magnus Carlsen, has offered some insight into what has gone wrong with the Chinese grandmaster. “I think people realise that the World Championship is a very tough thing. It’s one thing to prepare for the world championship. But I don’t think you can quite prepare for the intensity of the championship without actually playing it. A lot of people find it tough both to play but also to recover. What I think happened with Ding is that …